The UTD Mercury

Media Credit: Lee Brown

The results of the Core Alcohol and Drug survey conducted by the UTD Student Counseling center Sept. 14-30 have been compiled and released.

The Core Alcohol and Drug survey, written and compiled by the SIUC/Core Institute of Carbondale, Ill., was conducted online. Students were not required to participate and individual responses were kept confidential.

The compiled data from the survey suggests that across the board, UTD students are less likely to consume, or have problems related to, drugs and alcohol than their peers at other universities.

Director of the UTD Counseling Center James Cannici said he was pleased with the survey, both in the number of students responding and the results.

"I felt the demographics of the survey were consistent with the overall demographics of UTD," Cannici said. "We had between 25 and 30 percent of students respond to the survey."

According to the results of the survey, the total number of students responding was 3,928 - 51 percent male, 49 percent female. Four respondents listed their sex as unknown. The largest number of respondents classified themselves as graduate students.

Cannici said some conclusions from the survey troubled him.

"While we're lower than average, we had 28 percent of students report binge drinking in the last two weeks," Cannici said.

According to the survey, the national average percent of students reporting binge drinking, defined in the survey as five or more drinks in one sitting, for that time period is 44.3 percent.

Cannici said the number of students reporting they had been taken sexual advantage of while under the influence of alcohol also concerned him.

"We had 4 percent of students report they've been taken sexual advantage of, if you multiply that by 14,000 students, that's not an insignificant number," Cannici said.

Of the 1,902 women responding to the question, 112 reported they had been taken advantage of while under the influence of drugs or alcohol while 67 of 1,976 men reported the same. Only 37 men and 18 women reported taking sexual advantage of another person.

Cannici said he was also concerned about the job UTD is doing informing students about campus drug and alcohol policies and available prevention programs.

"65 percent of students said they didn't know if UTD has drug and alcohol prevention programs," Cannici said. "We do."

"[The results] show we need to do a better job promoting and educating students about the programs available to them."

According to the counseling center's website, the center offers individual, group and alcohol and drug counseling, as well as psychiatric referrals.

For a full list of services available at the UTD student counseling center, see their website at www.utd.edu/counseling.

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