After the conduction of the alcohol and drug survey, it becomes obvious that the perception of drinking on campus out-weighs the act.
The survey covered a variety of things ranging from the use of hallucinogens to having a drink of wine or beer once a week.
One interesting observation of the survey results was the discrepancy between student’s perceptions and actual statistics. Here are a few:
-93.5 percent of students believe the average student on campus uses alcohol once a week or more, while only 68 percent of students actually consumed alcohol in the last 30 days.
-72 percent of students believe the average student on this campus uses some form of illegal drug at least once a week, while only 25.3 percent had actually used marijuana, amphetamines or sedatives in the last 30 days.
Some students were surprised by the results.
“That is way different than I thought it would be. I guess everyone thinks everyone else is partying, when in reality not much is going on,” Kaitlyn Wild, VSU freshman, said.
The majority of students thought VSU was average when it came to alcohol consumption. Breaking down percentages, 67.7 percent thought it was about the same as other campuses, 9.8 percent thought alcohol use was greater here than on other campuses, and 22.5 percent thought alcohol use occurred less here.
Close to one third of students said they would prefer not to have alcohol available at parties, and nearly 90 percent of students said they would prefer not to have drugs available at parties.
“Sometimes I just want to hang out and talk with people instead of seeing everyone stumbling around for a ping pong ball,” Andy Theisen, sophomore engineering major, said.
Ninety percent of respondents said they saw drinking as central in the social life of male students. Female students had a slight drop off, coming in at 76.2 percent.
Not all students believed alcohol use was that prevalent, even among male students.
“I do plenty of things like play tennis or go to Denny’s that aren’t related to alcohol at all,” Matt Vongsavahn, junior education major, said.
The survey respondents were 45.4 percent freshmen, 21 percent sophomores, 13.7 percent juniors, 15.7 percent seniors, four percent graduates and 0.2 percent other.