Drinking can be seen as a rite of passage for college students, but there are resources on campus to help students make responsible choices.

The Substance Abuse and Violence Prevention Web site has two individualized assessments concerning drug abuse: e-CHUG and e-TOKE. In both of these resources, students can take an anonymous survey that will assess their drinking and smoking habits.

In the survey students are asked a number of questions about themselves and their drinking habits: how much he or she weighs, age, relatives with drinking problems, how much he or she drinks in a given week, what he or she drinks, etc.

At the end, students are told how their drinking compares to other college students, how much they spend on alcohol, how risky of a drinker they are and receive a personalized blood-alcohol concentration chart.

Sara Kellogg, assistant director of judicial affairs, said this kind of awareness program can be more beneficial than a group setting, such as a class or presentation, because it is targeted toward the individual.

“Most students are pretty responsible drinkers. That’s not everyone’s experience, so some students really don’t believe you when they hear you talk about that because they know the friends they went out with last weekend, you know, were different, so it didn’t look like that for them,” she said.

Most of the time, this is an optional assessment, Kellogg said. Anyone can log on to the department’s Web site and fill out the questionnaire. However, some students who violate Iowa State’s alcohol policies may be required to complete an e-CHUG assessment.

Dione Somerville, dean of students, also said if a student experiences an alcohol overdose, student assistance and outreach services will assist the student, usually in the form of an alcohol assessment or counseling.

In addition to this type of individualized program, there are also education programs that will go to certain classes to inform people about substance abuse.

Although it has been discussed, there is not a substance-abuse program that targets all students, Kellogg said.

“Based on a number of different factors, there is not still a required alcohol-education program,” she said.

Some of the challenges the university faces in reaching all ISU students is the number of off-campus students, she said.

Somerville said it is important not only that students are given the information, but also that it sinks in.

Depending on the individual student, information may not be meaningful. She also said group alcohol education classes that are required for all students do not always work.

“Sometimes that information does not register because they don’t have a context in which to digest it,” she said.

In addition to these awareness and drug education courses, there are also programs in place to give students an alternative to drinking. The most notable is ISU AfterDark. Somerville said there are a number of reactive ways to intervene to help stop irresponsible drinking, such as counseling and treatment.

However, a program like ISU AfterDark provides students with an alternative to drinking in the first place. ISU AfterDark is an attempt to “change the culture.”

“We want to help students and create an environment where it’s acceptable not to go and engage in high risk behavior,” Somerville said.

Denise Denton, senior lecturer in kinesiology, teaches a drug education class at Iowa State.

She said her course focuses on how the brain interacts with different drugs and what kinds of behaviors this creates. The course runs the whole gamut of drugs from “uppers” to “downers” to “all arounders.”

“The ultimate depressant is alcohol,” Denton said.

Denton said one of the biggest misconceptions her students have about alcohol is because it’s legal, they underestimate how powerful it is.

Denton said although substance abuse help is available, many of her students don’t know where to go.

She said she would like to see information about where to go for help all over campus.

She also said she would like to see support groups like Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon, specifically for students.

“I would like to see services just for college students,” she said.