Drink Less Booze Says Somerville's Dame Fi
DRUNKEN DEBAUCHERY COULD be on the way out, if the university gets its way.
Alcohol abuse is the target of a joint Oxford and Oxford Brookes campaign launched to coincide with the beginning of term. The key message: drink less.
The universities have enlisted the support of Thames Valley Police and the funding of the City Council in their bid to stop YOU getting drunk to your heart's content. The campaign attempts to cut out overindulgence in Freshers Week and beyond - though judging from some recent scenes the Oxford Student fears they may have to be satisfied merely with "beyond".
The campaign - which also focuses on common consequences of alcohol abuse, especially drink-driving, unprotected sex, aggression, vandalism and health - is the response to last year's 78 student arrests for drink-related offences in Oxford. However, there is no suggestion that Oxford has any particular problem beyond that experienced in any university town.
Dame Fiona Caldicott - Somerville Principal and Chairman of the university's Committee on Student Health and Welfare - stressed that the campaign was "anti irresponsible drinking, not anti-drinking."
But how will this really affect you?
Dame Fiona is confident of success, and apparently the same scheme has "worked very well in Nottingham". But the undergraduate consensus is that little will change. And old hands need not worry: the emphasis is on this year's batch of Freshers, to which end postcards addressing the key issues were sent out in Freshers Packs. The postcards carry the slogan: "Drinking affects the choices you make and decisions you take." The message on the postcards will be reinforced by a poster campaign throughout the year.
One student at Dame Fiona's college - Somerville - dreaded the prospect of his college becoming the centre of any campaign. Preferring to remain anonymous in case he became a target of the programme, he said: "To be honest I don't think it will have much impact. Targeting Freshers is a good idea, because other years are probably too set in their ways, but I don't think it would have changed my drinking habits. At the end of the day if I want to get drunk I will."
The campaign's success will be evaluated over the course of the year, and may or may not be repeated accordingly.
12th Oct 2000