STUDENT SURVEY

About:
As a function of their grant, Students for a Safer Southside were requested to survey other students to evaluate how perceptions on enforcement and campus norms have changed based on increased alcohol awareness and increased enforcement.

Over the course of Spring Semester 2006, the students came up with twenty questions based off of similar surveys that had been conducted in the past.

Methods:
Students for a Safer Southside went to seven distinct and large classes at UC Berkeley to poll their peers. Survey administrators gained access to the 497 respondents by asking professors to allow a limited amount of time for the survey to be distributed and filled out by their students. Survey respondents were polled in the following disciplines:

Interdisciplinary Studies
Mathematics
Neurobiology
LGBT Studies
Anthropology
Political Science
Education

After 5-10 minutes, survey administrators gathered the hard-copy responses from their peers. Surveys were administered in April of 2006.

Results:
The survey finds that:

• A fourth of the student population (25%) drinks at least once a week with about half of those (46%) becoming drunk just as often. However, almost three-fourths of students (69%) have been drunk less than six times in the past year, emphasizing the disparity in drinking patterns and the skewed perception of college drinking.
• When comparing drinking habits by gender, there were little or no differences found, despite earlier literature citing men drink more often than women.
• Over two-thirds of students surveyed believe it is either "very easy" or "easy" for underage drinkers to obtain alcohol at an open party.
• When asked about the last open party or bar they attended, students noted several practices that carry serious implications as far as safety and health are concerned.
• When asked about citing party hosts of an out-of-control party for knowingly serving alcohol to minors, students were evenly divided regarding its effectiveness.
• Three solutions students favor most regarding problematic binge drinking: regulation of open parties, citing party hosts for underage drinking, and more alcohol-free activities.