By Rob Tokanel
The campus that sells shot glasses in the Bookstore and ping pong balls in Wollaston’s is now hosting the newly titled Alcohol Week.
In an attempt to make the event more approachable for students who may otherwise not have attended, Alcohol Awareness Week has been renamed this year to Alcohol Week, said Amaura Kemmerer, director of the Office of Prevention and Education at Northeastern (OPEN).
“Our first thought was that the phrase ‘alcohol awareness’ is inherently off-putting to people,” she said. “Everyone is aware of the part alcohol plays on college campuses, and we felt like the [previous] name lended itself to a negative connotation.”
Alcohol Week will be held today through Saturday, Oct. 25, and is sponsored by OPEN.
Kemmerer said the point is not to celebrate alcohol, but to maintain a serious dialogue about the issue without preaching to students.
“It’s a fine line because we don’t want to put ourselves in a position where we’re glorifying alcohol. But we’re also not a program walking around with a ‘just say no’ message, because that would be unrealistic,” she said.
OPEN has been working with the Resident Student Association (RSA) and Student Government Association (SGA), Peer Leadership, Pi Kappa Alpha, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Kappa Sigma, Delta Zeta and Sigma Alpha Mu in preparing for Alcohol Week.
Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity member Vin Alexis-Laona said he thinks the name change could be effective.
“I think [OPEN] was trying to make [the new name] get away from making people think this is a week of not drinking and it’s more about making the right choices if you’re going to drink,” he said.
Rachel Ruder, a freshman biology major who represented SGA in planning the events, said the groups have met weekly since the summer to brainstorm ideas to engage students throughout the week.
“I think it’s going to be really awesome, because we have a lot of great events planned,” she said. “Alcohol Week will be a fun way that students can learn and be aware about alcohol.”
The events will feature an opening resource fair in the Snell Library Quad with games including beer goggle tricycle races and give-aways coupled with informative demonstrations. Among the events planned for the week are a a Spanish wine tasting event tomorrow from 7-9 p.m. in the Xhibition Kitchen and a barbecue in the Library Quad from 6-8 p.m. on Thursday.
“We’ve tried to plan a variety of events that we hope will be appealing to lots of different types of students,” Kemmerer said. “A big part is providing resources to students about alcohol and information that might affect their decision-making processes.”
At Monday’s resource fair, students will have the opportunity to share their experiences with alcohol by posting them on a bulletin board set up by SGA. Erle Mornings will speak on Wednesday about losing two friends to alcohol while a student at Auburn University. To close the week, comedian Bernie McGrenahan will perform inspirational comedy about his own battles with addiction.
One of the major events of the week is the Zero Proof Date Auction that will be held Thursday night in afterHOURS. Organized by the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and Delta Zeta sorority, the night will feature auctions for dates that do not involve alcohol. All of the proceeds from the auction will be donated to Step Inc., an alcohol rehabilitation center based in the North End.
“We’re trying to promote that you can have a good time without alcohol,” Alexis-Laona said.
Kemmerer said the week is part of OPEN’s expansion and effort to connect with more of the student body. Formerly the Alcohol ‘ Other Drug Education Program, OPEN began operating in September with a wider and more comprehensive variety of services, including counseling sessions.
“The idea is to provide a larger scope of services for students around alcohol and drugs,” Kemmerer said. “We’re not the counseling center, but we are a place where students can come get confidential, nonjudgemental feedback if they need it.”
