College Health Services and Drug and Alcohol Peer Advisors, who organized the event at Dartmouth, scheduled this year's screening for the weekend before Green Key with the hope that students would practice safe drinking habits over the big weekend.
"I hope people will be more informed in their choices about alcohol and what they're doing to their bodies," Shelley Maithel '11, a DAPA, said.
Several students interviewed by The Dartmouth questioned the event's efficacy in pushing students to monitor their drinking behavior. Laura Young '08 said she has attended the event every year for the water bottle and hoped to have "one in every color."
"I did not learn a lot about my own drinking habits," Young said. Young did say, however, that she would recommend that others attend the event because "a lot of people don't think about their drinking habits."
Before meeting with health professionals, students filled out an anonymous survey assessing their alcohol use. Questions on the survey included, "How frequently do you consume alcohol?" and, "How many drinks do you consume when you go drinking?" A health professional then used a point evaluation system to examine the survey and determine if the student abused alcohol. If a student scored above a certain level, he or she was referred to Dick's House.
"We hope this [event] will be a way for students to become familiar with [Dartmouth] health care services as well," said Brian Bowden, the coordinator of the Alcohol and Other Drugs Education Program at Dick's House and the principal organizer of this event.
After the screening, College Health Services distributed free water bottles to students. The biggest difference between this year's event and those of previous years, Bowden said, was the switch from Nalgene water bottles to Camelbaks because Nalgenes have been found to contain a possibly toxic and carcinogenic plastic.
Dartmouth's alcohol screening is one of the most elaborate in the nation, Bowden said. He expected approximately 1,000 students to participate in this year's event, a slight increase from the 980 students that attended last year. While this was Bowden's first year organizing the screening, Bowden said he made very few changes to the event.
For the first year, College Health Service also tried to collect data on campus-wide trends related to alcohol. The survey asked for a respondent's age, class year, race, and sexuality. It also asked students if they were a member of a Greek organization or a varsity or club athletic team. If they were a member of such a group, they could receive community service or philanthropy credit from their respective organizations for participating.
