The Collegian

Issue date: 10/30/08 Section: Focus

Media Credit: Andrew Dodson Drunk students on campus have found themselves in unfortunate situations. From paddle-boating to sleeping naked in a bathroom, Hillsdale College student have many party stories to share.

We've all heard it, usually shouted across campus amid raucous laughter, painfully detailed and ending with the words, "He was so drunk."

It's the Big Drunk Story.

"It's the college equivalent of the Big Fish Story," one male student said, "except that it's the Big Drunk Story. Everyone still wants to have the best one."

The best part about drinking, this student explained, is telling stories about it the next day.

But some students in the race for the best drunk story have ended up with embarrassing stories of injuries, tickets or breaking and entering.

Ask the female student who doesn't remember falling down stairs at an off-campus house and breaking her ankle. Or the male student who woke up in a strange house, in front of an open refrigerator.

Two out of every five college students are binge drinkers, and one in every four college drinkers has reported having forgotten where they were or what they did while drinking, according to a 2006 study by the Department of Health and Human Services.

These sorts of experiences make students wonder whether life is really more fun after 0.2 blood alcohol level.

"Hillsdale doesn't have a drinking problem," a female student said. "We have fun safely. But it's always fun until someone gets hurt, right?"



Police and paddle-boats

One male junior student met police several times while he was away in Grand Valley over fall break. After drinking at several house parties, he was headed home in a car full of friends when a police car pulled up behind them.

"I see red and blue, and I know we're getting pulled over," he said. "I got thrown in the cop car and interviewed. I forgot my own address."

After the car's driver was arrested and hauled off to jail, the student began to regain his memory. The citation he received helped, too.

Another benevolent friend then drove him back to the friend's house where he was staying. The male student decided to steal a paddle-boat and ride it the center of the lake behind the house. When a friend called to tell him that a noise complaint had been filed, he decided to dock the boat and go for a walk. He woke up to cars honking at him, in a ditch three miles away from the house and in a strange town.

Continued...

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