The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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February 28, 2008

Students have their say on panel

By Dan Linehan

MANKATO — Talk to the students, Andrew Miller said, not the experts or the officials. We’re the ones who know about “high-risk” drinking, the ones who actually do it.

“If it’s our problem, we want to have that dialogue,” he said. “I don’t understand the importance of bringing in a keynote speaker from Moorhead, or talking to university officials. Talk to the students. We want to talk about it, to be quite honest.”

Miller and six others got their chance Wednesday morning, before about 350 community members.

Boredom, long a refrain of listless students, got its first hearing early.

Doha Seif, an Egyptian student, partly blamed a lack of activities as a reason for heavy alcohol use, but said the word — boredom — prompts only incredulity from her father, who says there’s plenty of stuff to do.

Carla Shutrop, a Gustavus Adolphus College student, might have sided with Dad, countering that students can find activities.

Bethany Lutheran College student Nate Abrahamsom asked students to be more creative. His example of a midnight sledding run, though, was busted by the cops.

“I think we need to find ways to encourage just basic fun little extracurricular” activities, he said.

A specific suggestion: “There’s this really sweet waterfall called Minneopa. Check it out.”

And South Central College student Travis Stewart didn’t exactly blame boredom, but called bars “quick, easy and cheap entertainment” when compared to alternatives such as seeing a movie in the theater.

The students were unanimous on another issue that’s stuck in their craw, parental notification. MSU has considered notifying parents of students’ alcohol and drug violations.

If students haven’t learned how to be responsible by the time they enter college, Miller said, “you’ve lost us.”

“I really don’t think that the university has anything to do with what we do on the weekends,” Seif agreed.

Abra-hamsom called on fellow students to be scholars, and others on the panel agreed that they should be responsible for their actions.

“We are at a point where we can change things, change the world,” he said.

Hold students to a higher standard, he suggested, and they might hold themselves to it, too.

Education at an early age was another theme.

“I think it needs to start the minute they hit kindergarten,” said Marissa Miller, a recent graduate. “It’s a matter of learning the responsibility and the consequences of their actions.”

Still, that educationshouldn’t say that all drinking is bad — only when it’s excessive or underage.

Instead of aiming for alcohol abstinence, Andrew Miller said, schools should be teaching “how to drink safely.”

And when education is happening, it pays to listen.

Marissa Miller recalls her elementary school D.A.R.E. class, and the students who weren’t paying attention.

“To this day, they’re the ones experiencing high-risk drinking,” she said.





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