By Susan Torres
Jack Reynolds, like many students celebrating their 21st birthday, went to a bar to drink with friends. Between midnight and 1 a.m., the University of Michigan student consumed 16 drinks, sending his blood-alcohol level to .36, four times the legal limit to operate a motor vehicle.
He returned to his fraternity house, where he died from alcohol overdose.
Reynolds’ was one of 16 stories told on posters in the Snell Library quad yesterday. Each poster consisted of a black sheet of paper with a simple red silhouette of a head and a short story. Each of the 16 college students, 15 men and one woman, died of alcohol overdoses. Empty beer cans and beer balls were scattered around the posters.
The display, made for Alcohol Awareness Week, was designed to educate students about the dangers of binge drinking.
“It seems to be working,” said Rogan O’Handley, Student Government Association (SGA) vice president for student services. “We just want to educate students on the consequences of binge drinking and the lethal effects it can have.”
After over 100 gallons of alcohol were confiscated by the Northeastern Police Department during the first few weekends of school, a public dumping of the alcohol was proposed. After the idea was publicized in late September, but it was quickly shot down by students.
“I’m not going to do anything without the backing of the students,” said Chet Bowen, the university’s new alcohol and other drug education coordinator. “And the students didn’t back it. It was an easy decision.”
O’Handley said he heard students criticizing the idea of a public dumping and realized it wouldn’t effectively alert students to the dangers of alcohol.
“I heard from students objecting the police department [decision], saying it was almost adding insult to injury,” he said. “Yes, the alcohol was obtained due to illegal actions, but I didn’t think the dump was an effective way to convey the dangers of binge drinking. We wanted a more positive event.”
After scrapping the idea of a public dumping, student affairs and SGA started looking for ways to be more proactive about alcohol awareness. O’Handley said members of SGA preferred to educate students by telling stories of others who were just like them.
Bowen said one of his main focuses is to educate students, rather than simply punishing them when they are caught with alcohol underage or distributing to minors.
“I really hope for proactive strategies for drinking and binge drinking,” Bowen said. “I really want students to be aware of what’s going on, to educate the students, give them the statistics and let them know the real dangers of what’s going on.”
After reading about the 16 students who died from alcohol overdoses, junior American Sign Language (ASL) and interpreting major Letitia Bynoe said she thought it was an effective way to curb college drinking on campuses.
“Maybe it would be more effective if there were actual faces, though,” Bynoe said.
Not everyone agreed with Bynoe.
Steve Buslovich, a middler ASL and theatre major, said he didn’t think the display would prevent students from drinking.
“College students are going to drink no matter what,” Buslovich said. “After spending a year in Europe I realized the drinking laws here are crap. If there [were] no drinking age, people would be much more responsible.”
Although middler music industry major Jessie Goldbas said the posters were thought-provoking, she remains doubtful of their effectiveness.
“It’ll definitely get people to think,” she said. “I don’t know if it’ll curb them. A lot of these [posters] say it happened on their 21st birthday and mine’s in a week, so it definitely makes you think.”
Students said they had their own ideas on how to clarify the SGA’s message.
“Maybe a panel of someone who, fortunately, survived from overdosing,” Bynoe said. “They could talk about the effect it had on their lives.”
