With Alcohol Awareness Week coming up in October, UTM staff members are working to help educate students on “bad parties.” Dr. Jennifer Levy, staff psychologist and director of Counseling Services, spoke at the Wednesday Forum on Sept. 20 to show how students can keep themselves safe while still having fun.

She told students the No. 1 problem with alcohol consumption is alcohol poisoning, which can occur during binge drinking.

For women, Levy said, poisoning can occur when four or more drinks are consumed in less than an hour; for men, about five beers can cause poisoning. Other key factors to take into consideration, she said, are a person’s weight, the amount of food a person consumed that day, a person’s mood, the weather and a person’s personal drinking history.

Levy added that students should choose, before they attend a party, whether they are going to drink alcoholic beverages. If so, then they should take such precautions as predetermining the amount of alcohol that they are going to consume and sticking to that decision. Levy also recommended having a designated driver or a buddy that is willing to help out.

Students who decide not to drink alcohol at any party should bring drinks because the party sponsors might not have any non-alcoholic beverages available.

Alternating drinks, such as drinking one alcoholic beverage and then switching it with a non-alcoholic beverage, also is an option, Levy said.

Rape was also discussed during the forum. Levy said that 90 percent of sexual assault cases occur between people who know each other, and that the highest risk of being sexually assaulted occurs within the first three months of college.

Capt. Ray Coleman, interim director of UTM Public Safety, agreed and explained some of the rules pertaining to sexual misconduct. “If a guy has sex with a girl that has impaired judgment because she is drinking, it’s considered rape,” Coleman said.

Levy also mentioned peer education groups such as BACCHUS and GAMMA. BACCHUS stands for Boosting Alcohol Consciousness Concerning the Health of University Students, while GAMMA stands for Greeks Advocating Mature Management of Alcohol. Both groups help to promote educational programs focusing on alcohol abuse prevention and other related student health and safety issues. BACCHUS meets the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month on the UTM campus. For specific time and place please contact the UTM Counseling Center at 881-7720.

Another local program that seeks to help women is SABER (Sexual Assault Behavior Education Response), a group that Levy advises. SABER’s goal, according to its brochure, is “to promote awareness, prevention, and effective response to sexual assault,” and its Web site is www.utm.edu/saber.

Wednesday Forums are typically held at 12:15 p.m. in UC 125 (room at the back of the cafeteria). The next scheduled forum is planned for Oct. 4. It is titled “How to Flunk Out In Your First Semester” and will cover strategies for academic success and failure.

For more information on Wednesday Forums, call the Counseling Center at 881-7720 or check out the Campus Bulletin Board in The Pacer every week.