Town Hall meeting offers dialogue to promote alcohol awareness

The Southern University Campus Coalition held a town hall meeting in Blanks Hall that showcased a panel consisting of faculty and staff who shared a dialogue with approximately 30 students concerning alcohol awareness on Monday, March 31.
“According to the statistics from the Core Data survey at Southern University 54.2 percent of students who lived in the residence halls have drank alcohol in the past 30 days,” said Barbra Hunter, area coordinator of Residential Housing.
Those who attended the town hall meeting learned how drinking will effect them both academically and socially.
In the educational arena, the Core Data Survey stated that 55 percent of the students who admitted to drinking had grades of C-F. One example socially is with the Greek life on campus.
“I’m disappointed in the Greek organizations here on campus because I feel they should set a standard for other students, and I know that they are providing some of their pledges with alcohol,” said Robert Bennett, director of Student Life.
Students who attended the meeting were also informed of what could happen to them if they were caught drinking on campus.
“Before the students moved on to campus, they signed a housing contract. One of the items on the contract stated that they would not bring alcohol in the dormitories, and if they do, they could be asked to leave along with dealing with the legal consequences as well,” said Hunter.
Also at the meeting, the panelist discussed ways to have of fun without drinking.
“During alcohol awareness week that is sponsored by University Counseling Center, that takes place during first semester, we come up with a lot of fun activities to show students ways to have fun without alcohol like dances and creating mock tails,” which is another word for a non alcoholic cocktail,” said ValaRay Irvin, director of the University Counseling Center.
Underage drinking on college campuses was also discussed.
“Alcohol is a serious problem and when people think of drugs, they tend to think about illegal drugs. But, underage drinking is also illegal, and we are trying to change the dynamic of students to get them to focus on this problem by holding town hall meetings like this one,” said Murelle Harrision, chair and professor of the Department of Psychology.
As the town hall meeting came to a close, members of the panel stressed to the students how important attendance is at town all meetings.
“The only thing that is perplexing to me about this meeting is that the wrong people show up, the students who really need to be here are not here,” said Bennett