It was a typical Saturday night on the Southwest campus at the University of Massachusetts Amherst when Ken Watkins received the write-up that would refer him to BASICS I. “I called and invited some of my friends over to play drinking games in my dorm room before we went out, something we did every weekend. Once my friends got to Emerson, my freshman dorm, they put my IPod on shuffle, and set the cups up for beer pong.”
A few hours passed and the noise level increased. Suddenly, there was a loud knock on the door and before Ken could warn his friend Erik, he swung the door wide open, only to see an angry resident assistant (RA) staring back at him. As the RA peered into the room littered with beer cans and abandoned Solo cups, the noise complaint took a back seat to the issue of alcoholic beverages.
The problem was that Ken and his friends were underage, and according to the guidelines of the Alcoholic Beverage Policy in the Code of Student Conduct, “No person under 21 years of age shall transport, purchase, sell, possess, or receive alcoholic beverages.” The Code of Student Conduct is a list of rules, regulations, policies, and procedures that all undergraduate students of UMass Amherst are responsible for complying with. Following the proper procedure, Ken’s RA proceeded to write himself, and all of his underage friends, up in a report based on his findings.
Adhering to protocol, all of the students were required to meet with the resident director (RD) to explain what had happened that evening. Since his RA blatantly saw the beer cans and other drinking paraphernalia in his room, Ken had no leeway to argue otherwise, and was referred to BASICS I. BASICS I is a two session program in which students complete an online assessment of their drinking habits and receive feedback from trained prevention specialists. “If I chose to ignore my referral to BASICS I, the university would have put a hold on my account. It happened towards the end of the semester and I needed to start enrolling in spring classes, which I couldn’t do unless I registered for BASICS,” Ken said.
As far as promising statistics are concerned, the BASICS program’s accolades stand to directly contradict the negative reviews the program receives from many UMass students. On the UMass campus, “Data show a 39 percent decline in binge drinking, a 26 percent decline in frequent binge drinking, and a 14 percent decline in underage binge drinking,” says BASICS project director Sally Linowski on the BASICS’ web page. Statistical data collected by the BASICS program reports positive campus wide results, however, students such as Eric Annable say otherwise, “In my opinion, BASICS is a ridiculous misuse of university funding and resources, as well as students’ time and money.”
“Student’s blood alcohol levels, as well as number of drinks, are reducing from session one to session two, which is the point of the program. Our goal is to talk about some ways where you can reduce your chance of negative consequences when drinking. We don’t want to waste students’ time with a conversation or direction that isn’t working,” said Diane Fedorchak, project director of the BASICS program at UMass.
Although the program was created to help college students make better alcohol-use decisions, many students tend to disagree with its results. “I got arrested outside of Hobart Street because I was walking around with wine in a water bottle. After a stressful week of schoolwork my friends and I like to drink because it helps us relax,” said UMass junior, Anna Guigli. “I had to pay $100 to go to BASICS, where I spent an hour on the computer and another hour in a pointless interview session. I didn't learn anything though, I felt like it was a waste of time.”
Time isn’t the only thing students feel like they are wasting. With fees starting at $100 for BASICS I, and increasing to as much as $175 for BASICS II and III, those referred to BASICS don’t like the fact that they are dipping into an already tight budget. “The fee is a deterrent helping students not to get in trouble again,” said Fedorchak. The cost of the deterrent is reciprocated in gift cards given to students who fill out a follow up survey three months after completing the program. The gift card, $30 in total, is a fraction of the BASICS fee and can only be used at the Campus Store.
The Campus and Community Coalition to Reduce High-Risk Drinking (CCC) have designed a “social norms” marketing campaign, based off of student survey responses, focused on UMass Amherst undergrads’ alcohol use. The University Health Services’ website defines the social norms of on campus drinking and attempts to elaborate on the topic. The site proclaims, “people who identify with a particular group, and care what those people think will be most influenced by the norms of that group.” This serves to explain the mass of flyers and posters around campus that state different statistical information gleaned from undergraduate surveys.
A team of staff members specializing in alcohol and substance abuse, along with a team of statisticians, work together to create the survey. “The numbers for the social norms campaign come from a survey that we distribute to a random sample of all of our undergraduate students via email. A certain percentage of these students reply and we run their responses through data analysis,” said Fedorchak. “We do have a representative sample, which is comprised of students from across all years and across demographics…”
Whether or not the student surveys are reliable sources is the end all be all for the social norms campaign. Michael Yandle, junior at UMass Amherst, argues that they are not. “The surveys take so long to finish that by the time you get half-way through, you start clicking random numbers or numbers you think they want to see. I don’t know one person that genuinely took the time to read through each question and answered them as honestly as possible.”
Fedorchak responded to the crux of the issue: “What if people don’t believe the statistics?” “It’s interesting because many students say ‘no’, they haven’t made a change in their drinking, but what we see is that they’re on average drinking two less drinks. This means their blood alcohol level is going down and they’re negative consequences are decreasing, so they are making changes…”
In spite of the negative feedback given by students, the BASICS program’s success on campus, as supported by statistics and federal awards, will continue to buoy the program in a sea of disgruntled undergraduates. For those who champion the program, the proof appears to be right in the statistical pudding. However, Fedorchak urges any and all with questions to stop by her office in University Health Services, “I would love to have students come and talk because we do want to keep making this program beneficial to them.”
