In Context: 5 Web Perspectives On A Story In The News

Student drinking: the good, the bad, and the ugly

(Mail Online) A British university student died after falling in an alpine river on her way home from a pub. Rachel Ward was on a week-long ski trip organized by a group called ‘On the Piste.’ Hundreds of university students take the trip to the French Alps each year.  Ward apparently got lost on her way back from a popular bar for British tourists.  The post-mortem examination showed there was alcohol in Ward’s blood.  Experts said that people should avoid drinking excessively in ski resorts. The article cites a group called “Alcohol Concern,” which bashes On the Piste for organizing a “sporting holiday that is a thinly-veiled drinking trip.” The article also cites a liver specialist who mentions statistics concerning the connection between deaths in young people and drinking.

1.

University students don't know when to say when

CBC
The CBC examines how student drinking can lead to student violence by discussing how Queen’s University has cancelled its infamous homecoming for the next two years. Queen’s Principal Tom Williams said the cancellation is the result of the unofficial party on Aberdeen Street that follows homecoming. Williams said this year’s party resulted in “an unprecedented number of police charges, arrests, violent incidents and injuries.” Queen’s is not the only university dealing with student drunkenness. Last summer in France a student died after drinking too much in a post-exam celebration. A 2004 survey found that 32 per cent of undergraduate students at Canadian universities drink excessively. Institutions worry that students who binge drink will die of alcohol poisoning, from choking on their own vomit or from drinking-related violence. Canadian universities won’t release the number of students who have died from drinking-related tragedies but a number of U.S. universities have reported a number of student deaths from alcohol poisoning.

2.

Student drinking under control, says Alberta college

Grande Prairie Ink

There is a growing concern that university students binge drink too often, resulting in hangovers, missed classes, failing grades and alcohol poisoning. One Alberta college claims its students know how to drink responsibly, thereby avoiding many of the adverse affects of drinking. Grande Prairie Regional College hasn’t seen any of these negative affects of drinking in their students, said vice-president of academics Susan Bansgrove. The college follows the province’s liquor regulations regarding serving alcohol, said Jules LaPrairie, vice-president lounge programmer for the students association. The institution said if they felt alcohol abuse  was a growing problem at the school they would take action. The author of GP ink lists data showing that one-third of university students drink excessively; however, there is no research to indicate that the Grande Prairie Regional College’s claims are accurate. The school assumes its students aren’t drinking excessively because they haven’t had any problems “all year.”

3.

The fight to lower the drinking age in America

The Guardian
In this blog posting the author discusses the various reasons for and against lowering the drinking age in the U.S. One hundred and twenty-nine university heads created a petition demanding U.S. Congress lower the national drinking age from 21 to 18. The academics have also formed a lobby group called the Amethyst Initiative. Amethyst has several reasons why it believes the drinking age should be lowered to allow its students to enjoy an occasional brewski after class. The group claims that underage drinking is more appealing to students because of the forbidden fruit syndrome, and may even encourage binge drinking. The group also states that it is hypocritical for the U.S. to allow 18-year-olds to fight and potentially die for their country in Afghanistan while denying them the right to die drunk. The author of the blog reminds the reader that while some of the group’s points are valid, there are also reasons for keeping booze away from teenagers who are just learning how to drive.

4.

Is wine good for you?

TODAYshow.com
A resounding cheer was heard ‘round the world when scientists announced that drinking wine was good for you. People immediately started buying merlot by the case and patted themselves on the back for it. Wine’s benefits lie in its alcohol content and non-alcoholic phytochemicals. According to Joy Bauer, nutritionist and diet editor for Todayshow.com, “wine has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease, some cancers, and slow the progression of neurological degenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease.”  The key thing to remember about the “wine is healthy” rule is moderation. Men should have no more than two drinks per day ; women have to stick to one glass a day in order to reap the health benefits.

5.

Women who binge drink more likely to engage in unsafe sex: study

CBC
Women who binge drink increase their chances of having unsafe sex and contracting sexually transmitted diseases, a U.S. study found. The study will be published in the November issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. Binge drinking is defined as having five or more drinks at a time. Researchers looking at the correlations between binge drinking and sexually transmitted diseases found that women who binge drink tend to have more unsafe sex, including having multiple partners and engaging in anal sex, leading to increased risk of contracting gonorrhea. The article cites data from the study, the amount of participants, and the conclusions the researchers came to from the results. The author also quotes experts in this field, such as an assistant professor of medicine at John Hopkins University medical school.