millerboycott.com

Eleven Rice University students were hospitalized during this year’s annual “Night of Decadence,” a student-organized Halloween party hosted by a dormitory. The event has occurred since the 1970s and is a student run party, and students of  legal age are allowed to drink.

Rice, like many colleges, has struggled to change it’s alcohol culture, and even experimented with a hard liquor ban earlier this year. And yet, in sending eleven students to the hospital in the course of an annual Halloween party, eleven students were hospitalized. Rice officials said,

That is a large number. It is larger than it has been historically by a large amount actually, so we are concerned about that. We re-evaluate constantly. We are in constant dialogue with our student leaders to find the most effective ways to keep our students safe, to keep our students healthy. (And) to make sure that they have the proper information to make appropriate choices.

The ages of the students have not been released, and we will not use this as a forum for speculation. However, it is difficult not to recognize that increased restraint might not necessarily lead to responsibility.

For more information on the story, click here.

Choose Responsibility Blog

Two North Carolina State University students were arrested Tuesday night after a Sunday night car accident left a third N.C. State student critically injured. The tragic car and bicycle accident sent the student who had been riding a bike to Wake Raleigh Hospital, where the student reportedly had been upgraded to fair condition as of Tuesday night.

The driver of the vehicle who is accused of causing the accident reportedly will be facing charges of driving while impaired. Police subjected the driver to an alcohol test after the tragic crash and say the driver showed an alcohol level of 0.12 percent.

However, authorities later obtained a search warrant due to the injuries involved in the allegations. Police believe that other “impairing substances” may have been involved, and acquired a search warrant to obtain a blood sample from the driver. Results of the blood test are not expected to be returned for some time.

In addition to the DWI charges against the driver, a second student is facing alcohol-related charges related to the allegations. A 19-year-old junior at the school was charged Tuesday with underage possession of alcohol and aiding and abetting the driver in obtaining the alcohol. Police apparently believe the 19-year-old had aided and abetted the man accused of DWI in the purchase of beer.

The student charged with aiding and abetting, and underage alcohol charges was booked into jail Tuesday, with bail set at ,500.

University Police say that the accident occurred at 2:49 a.m. Sunday at an intersection. Police believe that the man accused of DWI made a left hand turn and struck the student who was riding his bicycle through the intersection. The student who was injured is believed to have suffered serious head trauma in the tragic accident.

Sources:

N.C. StateTechnician Online, “Biker hit by drunk driver,” Will Brooks, Feb. 20, 2012

News-Observer, “N.C. State student faces alcohol charges in car-vs-bike accident,” Feb. 22, 2012

Greenville DUI Attorney Blog | North Carolina Underage Drinking Lawyer | Pitt County First DUI Law Firm

The separation between the US and Canadian drinking ages was recently exacerbated when 26 Boston-area college students were cited at the US-Canada border for underage possession of alcohol.

The students, who were entering the United States via the Vermont border, had been visiting Quebec, where the drinking age is 18, the Boston Herald reports. While the purpose of the students’ trip to Canada was not specified, the citations indicate the distinction in drinking age made by the adjacent country’s borders.

Choose Responsibility Blog

The Chronicle of Higher Education reported this week that college students’ tendency to abuse alcohol significantly exceeds the tendency to abuse alcohol in their non-student counterparts. The article, which cites a 2009 report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, claims that 46.6 percent of college students have battled substance abuse versus only 30 percent of those not enrolled in college.

To make a conservative estimate, a traditional, four-year college might have a student body in which at least half of its students under the age of 21. Given the Chronicle’s news cited above where 46.6 percent of college students have had a drinking problem, arguably, at least half of these students with a problem were under 21.

Statistical information such as this refutes the impossible claims that current alcohol regulations in our country are preventing consumption by those who are underage. What’s more, the “bubble-like” college environment, where students are mostly surrounded by people their own age, can exacerbate unhealthy drinking behaviors. Many college students leave home without an understanding of how to imbibe responsibly and then mirror the dangerous habits of their peers, who have  just as little education on responsible consumption.

Choose Responsibility Blog

Barrett Seaman, author ofBinge, and Dr. William Dejong, professor at Boston University School of Public Health, will debate the 21 year old drinking age in an open forum at Sonoma State University on February 13. College students will have the opportunity in this open forum to make their voices heard and to speak candidly about drinking on their campus. Read the full article here.

Choose Responsibility Blog

A recent article published in Psychology of Addictive Behaviors (discussed here by The Vancouver Sun) has drawn attention to the important topic of college binge drinking. The research presented in the article highlights college students’ perceptions that the positive effects associated with drinking outweigh the negative consequences in terms of influence on future drinking. Unfortunately, there are negative consequences associated with dangerous alcohol overconsumption including death and injury as well as legal and academic problems for many college students each year.

Students overwhelmingly believe that a majority of the time their alcohol consumption levels are safe and generally acceptable. On occasions when college students do feel they have over-consumed, less than a quarter say they result in an experience they would never like to repeat. While a variety of experiences occur when they drink too much, the most frequently cited are short-term and related to the next day’s embarrassment and regret – being physically sick and humiliating oneself – not the serious and/or long-term negative consequences that parents and administrators worry about.

Our Stop College Binge Drinking initiative is a comprehensive, multi-faceted research effort designed to promote new ways of tackling the problem of dangerous alcohol overconsumption on campus among various members of the campus community. Our own research among college students and that from the student led campaigns on campuses corroborates the research findings presented in this article.

Century Council Blog

This morning we went to the official unveiling of Second Chance, a program for student drug and alcohol offenders launching in Arlington County, Virginia. Second Chance is a true community effort with support from the courts, law enforcement, treatment providers, educators and community leaders.

Unlike punitive measures currently in use, Second Chance allows first time student-offenders to quickly bounce back. Utilizing parental involvement to make sure the student stays on the right track, Second Chance encourages students to explore not only why they shouldn’t use drugs or alcohol, but why they used it in the first place.

By intervening early and offering student offenders positive choices to get back on track, we think this program holds a lot of promise for Arlington’s students. That’s why we were happy to sponsor the program. We think that if this program works in Arlington, there’s no reason it wouldn’t work anywhere else in the country.

We’ll be watching closely to see how it does.

Century Council Blog

1. LULAC fought discrimination against Latinos mainly through
A) lobbying efforts.
B) demonstrations and other protests.
C) the court system.
D) newspapers and other mass media.
2. “I began to realize what other minority people had discovered: That the only answer—the only hope—was in organizing. More of us had to become citizens. We had to register to vote. And people like me had to develop the skills it would take to organize, to educate, to help empower the Chicano people.”—César Chávez

Based on the quote above, how did César Chávez propose to fight against the discrimination against Latinos in American society?
A) By filing lawsuits
B) By starting letter writing campaigns
C) By holding voter registration drives
D) By protesting against discrimination
3. How did La Raza Unida and the United Farm Workers differ in their goals?
A) The United Farm Workers did not seek greater economic opportunities for Latino Americans, while La Raza Unida supported better job opportunities for Latinos.
B) La Raza Unida worked to mobilize Latino voters, while the United Farm Workers advocated for union recognition and better worker wages and benefits.
C) La Raza Unida did not seek greater economic opportunities while the United Farm Workers advocated for vocational training programs for Latino Americans.
D) The United Farm Workers fought for greater educational opportunities for Latino Americans while La Raza Unida organized boycotts to push for civil rights.
4. What did the political party La Raza Unida do to advocate for Latino civil rights?
A) It supported programs to bring more Latino workers to the United States.
B) It called for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing the civil rights of Latino Americans.
C) It supported legislation ending segregation in public places for Latino Americans in the American Southwest.
D) It worked to get voters to elect people who would call for job-training programs and more access to financial resources.
5. To push for better wages and benefits for farm workers, César Chávez organized a successful
A) march on Washington.
B) sit-down strike.
C) advertising and publicity campaign.
D) national boycott on grapes.
6. Who was the GI Forum founded to protect?
A) African American veterans
B) Women veterans
C) Mexican-American veterans
D) Veterans of Pacific Battles
7. What did LULAC support while fighting discrimination against Latino Americans?
A) Voting rights for Latino American citizens
B) Assimilation into American society
C) A fair wage for Latino farm workers
D) A separate but equal school system for Latino American students
8. In 1966, César Chávez and Dolores Huerta did which of the following to fight for Latino civil rights?
A) They merged their organizations to form the United Farm Workers.
B) They formed the political party La Raza Unida.
C) They organized a march on Washington to advocate for Latino civil rights.
D) They worked together for the passage of the Bilingual Education Act.
9. Which of the following organizations was NOT organized to promote civil rights for Latino groups?
A) Americans of Mexican Heritage
B) LULAC
C) United Farm Workers
D) American GI Forum
10. Latinos argued successfully for the addition of what in public education?
A) Bilingualism
B) Repatriation
C) Feminism
D) Legalism

1) C the court system

2) C By holding voter registration drives

3) B La Raza Unida worked to mobilize Latino voters, while the United Farm Workers advocated….

4) D It worked to get voters to elect people who would call for job-training programs and more access to financial resources.

5) D national boycott on grapes.

6) C Mexican-American veterans

7) B Assimilation into American society

A They merged their organizations to form the United Farm Workers

9) A Americans of Mexican Heritage

10) A Bilingualism

(:

Political Campaign Advertising

As you’ve probably noticed, we’ve spent the week on the road visiting schools across the country bringing the Ask, Listen, Learn program to hundreds of students. It’s been a great honor working with Representatives Gerlach, Grimm, Kind, Pallone and Dent as well as Attorney General Shurtleff this week. They all have a great passion for eliminating underage drinking and encouraging kids to live healthy lifestyles.

Today, we capped off the week with one last event. We visited Glendale Intermediate School in Salt Lake City, Utah with Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and John Freeman, the Deputy Director of the Utah Department of Alcohol Beverage Control. Everybody was really excited to begin the program and play the game. It’s always great to see the kids get excited to play a game that is educational and keeps them active.

All of us at The Century Council would like to thank all of the schools, the elected officials and everybody else who helped us put on this busy week of events. We wouldn’t be nearly as successful without all of their help!

Century Council Blog

It happens frequently at colleges and universities. A student party can grow large and law enforcement comes in handing out citations to students for underage drinking or possession. The drinking age in North Carolina is 21 and many college aged students are underage.

The difficulty with an underage drinking charge in North Carolina is that a conviction becomes part of an individual’s permanent criminal record creating adverse consequences that are difficult to remove after conviction.

A large party resulting in multiple citations for underage drinking played out Sunday morning in Winston-Salem. Officers from the city police department and Wake Forest Campus police received a tip regarding a disturbance on Polo Road in the city. Police responded to the house, which is owned by Wake Forest University.

Law enforcement says when they arrived at the fraternity house, they found many underage individuals attending a party. Of the estimated 200 to 300 revelers, law enforcement issued citations to 80 Wake Forest students for underage drinking. An underage drinking citation was also given to a non-student at the party.

The Fire Department was called in and additional citations were issued by the Fire Marshal. Authorities allege that plastic cups were taped over the fire alarm system inside the fraternity house. Impairing the fire alarm system is also considered a crime.

Many of the students attending the party now face criminal charges. Simply paying an underage drinking ticket is a conviction of a criminal charge under North Carolina law. In some cases, such charges could impact student scholarships and driver’s licenses as well as lead to other penalties here in North Carolina. With the increase in background checking, a criminal conviction can create difficulties in future employment opportunities after graduation.

Source: WFMY News 2, “Police: 80 Wake Forest Students Cited For Underage Drinking,” 15 Nov 2010

Greenville DUI Attorney Blog | North Carolina Underage Drinking Lawyer | Pitt County First DUI Law Firm