By Jenna French
Thanksgiving â?” the kickoff to the winter holiday season and, unfortunately, the weekend traditionally associated with the highest number of alcohol-related fatalities per year.
But one organization on campus, Greeks Advocating a Mature Management of Alcohol, is doing its part to keep University of Louisville students, particularly those involved in the Greek fraternities and sororities, informed about the dangers of excessive drinking.
GAMMA sponsors several events on campus, including the Sober Tailgate and Mocktail events where members mixed nonalcoholic drinks and let the student body sample them. The organization typically sponsors several events before Spring Break. The events are held in an effort to remind students of their decision-making skills and the consequences of irresponsible drinking.
According to GAMMA President Bradley Gill, the events are as useful as the students allow them to be. “If students don’t take a pro-active stance, then our efforts do go to waste,” he said.
GAMMA is an overarching committee within the Greek fraternity and sorority system that meets every other week. According to Gill, “Every member of the Greek community is a part of GAMMA.” The committee, however, consists of at least one delegate from every Greek organization, as well as nine executive members. There is often more than one person from an organization present at meetings, Gill said.
Greek organizations turn in their alcohol policies to GAMMA, which “helps keep things in balance,” said GAMMA Adviser Joni Burke. “Without GAMMA, it would be easy for one organization to have more power than another.”
Burke also pointed out that GAMMA is like an oversight committee. “GAMMA makes students realize that they all have to be strict and responsible at events,” she explained.
“GAMMA can’t make the decisions for people. It’s their choice whether they stay safe or not,” Gill said. The key, he explained, is maturity level.
On the subject of underage drinking, Gill believes the 21-and-up drinking law is in effect for good reason. “It’s a maturity issue. Most minors don’t know what their limitations are or they aren’t responsible enough to stop once [those limitations] have been breached,” he said.
Gill thinks that underage drinking could be avoided if more mature peers would step up and make sure they’re not setting a bad example. “Just because you’re 21 does not give you the right to drink with reckless abandonment. It is simply an age at which our government thinks that you are mature enough to have more responsibility. Drinking excessive amounts of alcohol does nobody any good.”
The consequences of college drinking are greater and more destructive than people commonly realize, according to a study supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). The study reveals that drinking by college students age 18-24 contributes to an estimated 1,400 student deaths, 500,000 injuries, and 700,000 cases of sexual assault or date rape each year. It also estimates that more than one-fourth of college students of that age have driven in the past year while under the influence of alcohol.
GAMMA does not limit its issues to alcohol awareness; its goal is also to “promote awareness about sexual assault, tobacco use and other healthy lifestyle-related issues,” Gill said. “Our goal is to alleviate the risk associated with these issues and to make sure that people are educated and are aware that these issues exist on our campus,” he said. “This will enable people to make better decisions.”
U of L’s chapter of GAMMA isn’t as large or involved as chapters on other campuses, Gill said, “so it’s harder to connect with students if they don’t really know the organization exists.”
The organization has been on campus since 1993, according to Burke. “U of L was pushed to create a chapter at the regional conference, called BACCHUS, that puts together peer education groups for alcohol awareness,” she said.
