Despite Ball State's efforts to curb binge alcohol use, heavy drinking remains a problem for some students, a problem bigger than just the next day's hangover.
"We see a lot of people with physical injuries, broken bones, bruises or sprains and cuts ... from falling and hurting themselves while they're intoxicated," Dr. Kent Bullis, medical director of the Amelia T. Wood Health Center, said.
"Some of the biggest health problems [with alcohol] are associated with poor decisions people make when they're intoxicated."
Indiana University student Jarrod Polston, 18, died on Saturday at Studebaker West after consuming alcohol and methadone, campus officials and Delaware County Coroner Jim Clevenger said at a Sunday news conference.
This isn't the first time a college student has died close to campus due to alcohol or drugs. In June 2000, graduate student Craig R. Burk, 23, died after drinking GHB (Gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid, most often referred to as a date rape drug) and then going to the Locker Room in the Village, news reports at the time said. Three years ago Andrea Tallant, 19, died in a car accident after driving the wrong way on Interstate 69. Her blood alcohol concentration was .18.
With the prevalence among college students of drinking before a party or event, commonly known as "pregaming," more and more young adults are binge drinking.
A report by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, based at Columbia University, found that half of all full-time college students binge drink or abuse drugs each month. Additionally, binge drinking rates jumped 16 percent from 1993 to 2001.
Alcohol and your body
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines binge drinking as consuming five or more drinks for men, or four or more for women within a two-hour period.
"Alcohol penetrates into the brain and when someone passes out, it is essentially because the alcohol has caused the brain to shut down and quit functioning normally," Bullis said.
Highly intoxicated people can suffer blackouts, or periods in which they appear to be functioning well enough to walk or drive but are unable to remember anything later.
Once alcohol begins to affect the brain's hippocampus, the part which mostly controls memory, the conversion of short-term memory to long-term memory is affected. Blackouts can be partial (fragmentary) or complete (en bloc).
The pre-gaming culture and rapid alcohol consumption can lead to more frequent blackouts and alcohol poisoning, a 2007 study in the Journal of American College Health said. Seventy-five percent of 227 students in an e-mail survey said they had pre-gamed in the previous month before going to another event or bar.
"One of the biggest dangers with binge drinking is if someone drinks enough alcohol in a short enough period of time that they pass out while there's still a fair amount of alcohol in their stomach," Bullis said. "They may continue to absorb alcohol even after they've passed out. They can die from that."
He said heavily intoxicated people can lose the ability to swallow, have their blood pressure drop or go into shock.
Bullis said he understands the culture of experimentation on a college campus and said some of that can be good.
"I think it's good for them to learn how to drink alcohol in moderate amounts without drinking excessively to the point they lose their ability to make good judgments," he said.
Culture of drinking
Junior biology major Darren McGuire had to step in after a friend became dangerously drunk.
"I've had one of my friends be really ill before and we had to call 911," he said. "One of them got so sick we had to take him to the hospital."
McGuire indulged as a sophomore but has since cut back.
"I've actually limited my drinking," he said. "I haven't really drank much since then."
Even fraternities, often stereotyped as the hardest partiers on campus, have gotten the message.
Erik Charles, a sophomore telecommunications major, said alcohol education plays an important part in greek life at Ball State.
"They have several things through [out] my fraternity: They have people come from the Office of Student Life, they'll have guest speakers, they make an emphasis on responsible drinking," he said. "To do it safe in my frat they will cut you off if you are drinking too much."
Looking forward
The newest Princeton Review ranking of the nation's top party schools had the University of Georgia as No. 1. According to The Associated Press, for several years the university has worked to curb its partying reputation. Underage drinkers face immediate jail time instead of just a ticket. Parents are called for first offenses and second violations garner two semester suspensions.
Kay Bales, vice president for Student Affairs and dean of students, said alcohol education on campus is a yearlong campaign.
"I hope all of us ... make some assessment of how we behave ourselves and whether or not we're making the best choices for ourselves and others around us," she said.
Bales said Student Affairs is looking at making a "determination about if we will change course immediately or continue with what our stance has been."
On a college campus some amount of drinking may be inevitable. Charles, the fraternity member, said he's learned how to protect others who go too far, through a program known as TIPS, or Training for Intervention Procedures.
"I know the warning signs and all of the symptoms, so I know where to stop," he said.
Some parties include designated sober monitors who step in, said Charles.
"You just shift their attention and you snatch the drink from them."
Jack Meyer and Rhett Umphress contributed to this story.
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Center for Disease Control and Prevention statistics:
Standard drink equivalency
12 ounces of beer
5 ounces of wine
8 ounces of malt liquor
A shot of 80-proof liquor
BAC effects
.05 - Impaired judgment, exaggerated behavior, small-muscle control loss (eyes)
.08 - Poor coordination; self-control, reasoning, memory impaired
.10 - Slurred speech, deterioration of reaction time
.15 - Vomiting, major balance loss, emotional instability, partial amnesia
.25 - Stupor, loss of orientation, amnesia
.35 - Coma, part of brain controlling respiration affected, death
Binge drinking problems
Alcohol poisoning
Transmission of STDs
High blood pressure or stroke
Liver disease
Car crashes, falls, burns, drowning
Sexual dysfunction
Firearm injuries, sexual assault, domestic violence
Death
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