FSU Professors on Students and Drinking

In my last post, I examined how drinking affects how well Frostburg students do in school. Most students I spoke with admitted to skipping class due to heavy drinking the night before, and most also stated that they have gone to class hungover on multiple occasions. This week, I spoke with three FSU professors to see if they have ever noticed how drinking affects student's work, and if they remember ever having students come to class obviously hungover or even drunk.

Dr. Susan Gray, Health professor at FSU, stated that she has seen students lose focus in school and even drop out due to too much drinking and partying. She said, "I remember one student, a very likable, smart young man, who was a member of an athletic team here. Over the course of the semester, his attendance went down, he always seemed out of it, his grades were going down. Then, at the end of the semester, he and his buddies got drunk at Edgewood and ripped the fire extinguishers off the walls and sprayed the walls. Of course, all of this was caught on video. He ended up failing his classes and getting kicked out of the university. He had to pay a substantial amount of money for repairs for the damage." But luckily, he eventually cleaned up his act. "A few years later, he visited campus. He found me and told me he had recognized that he had an alcohol problem and he had turned his life around. Unfortunately, he had replaced alcohol addiction with tobacco addiction, and he was currently trying to overcome that problem." She stated that she does not find any student drinking stories funny or memorable, except in negative ways. She also stated that she has seen many female students end up dropping out due to emotional trauma and stress due to rape, which was usually fueled by alcohol.

Professor Sandra Saville, who teaches the IDIS 350 class Legal Issues in the Arts, could not recall any incidents that she has experienced at her time at FSU, but she did tell me about her son who had a drinking problem when he was in college. "My son and my adopted son went to Arizona State University. They were not very responsible...They would always attend class after having had a few drinks. Both of them dropped out," she said. Luckily, her sons were able to overcome their drinking problems and get their lives back on track. "Some students can drink all the time and still succeed, but for some it's a big lesson," she said.

Dr. Mary Anne Lutz, English professor, stated, "Oddly enough, I have no stories of drunken students in class. Hangovers, I'm sure. I just talk VERY LOUDLY. I did have one student come to a conference while stoned, but it's not a particularly amusing anecdote."

In conclusion, most professors here at Frostburg see drinking as a big problem that can have devastating consequences on students. Don't end up like the students in these stories! Drink responsibly and never let it interfere with your work.