 "Photo: JOHN LARSON, VOLANTE, 2010")
 "Photo: JOHN LARSON, VOLANTE, 2010")
With mascara running down her face, a USD student runs up the stairs from the basement while yelling at her boyfriend, who follows her closely. What can be gleaned from the brief moment of hysteria before the couple, sporting bright red shirts, walks out the door, is that the girl punched another girl for dancing with her boyfriend.
Just beyond the threshold, outside of the house, three girls share a single cigarette while unknowingly sitting on a pile of fresh vomit. In the living room, more than a hundred coats and purses await their owners, who may be found on the dance floor downstairs, in line for the only working and available restroom in the house or scattered throughout the home, deep in conversation with new acquaintances and old friends.
It’s approximately 1 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 18 at the USD Tau Kappa Epsilon house, where the Greek fraternity is hosting one of their popular monthly dance nights.
Vermillion, in its own right, is a college town. It’s no secret that USD students drink at house parties or at any one of the bars scattered across the small town on any given night, but what students, and even prospective students, may be confused with is the perception of USD’s party reputation.
Tiffany Kashas, USD Student Counseling Center prevention services coordinator and staff counselor, said when it comes to the drinking culture at USD, the student body and the amount of consumption does not seem much different than other colleges.
She said it is important to note, however, that South Dakota in general is above the national average in binge drinking and has been at the top of the national list for binge drinking averages.
Senior Jacque Smidt said growing up in Vermillion made her afraid to go to college. Though she outgrew the notion in high school, she said memories of watching intoxicated students walking the streets during Dakota Days and Strollers weekend stuck with her.
Smidt, who now works as a server and bartender at Main Street Pub, said her family would oftentimes leave town on Strollers weekend because her parents didn’t want to deal with the excessive drinking they associated with the student talent event.
Any student may accept drinking as a college norm or tradition, but does USD’s student body go beyond this and actually live up to the well-known acronym, the “University of Sex and Drugs?”
“Drinking is instilled in the tradition of any college and we’re not any different at USD,” Smidt said. “The amount of drinking may vary from school to school, but I don’t have reason to think there is any more or any less at USD. You hear about the house parties here, but you also hear about the parties at SDSU or out-of-state schools.”
First-year graduate student Ben Anderson said drinking is partly in USD’s undergrad tradition, especially in the early years. Anderson, who has visited friends from other schools, said USD is the best in-state school for partying because Vermillion’s atmosphere is more party-friendly than anywhere else in South Dakota.
“Partying is especially visible in the fall as soon as school starts,” Anderson said. “There seems to be a party at every house and there are people walking everywhere and downtown. Whereas in Brookings, you have to drive so many places, and screw that, who wants to drive drunk?”
Vermillion’s Party Scene
Sophomore Tyler Schimmel, a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity said the house is dry, meaning no alcohol is allowed on the premise. Security measures implemented on Tau Kappa Epsilon dance nights include checking coats and purses at a table near the entrance, and if alcohol is visible, it is confiscated and disposed of.
The implementation of an alcohol-free zone does not necessarily mean the guests aren’t intoxicated.
At a dry event like Tau Kappa Epsilon’s, preliminary drinking, more commonly known as “pre-gaming” is not unusual among the guests.
“I would assume some people pre-game,” Schimmel said. “But most just show up for a good time and you couldn’t tell if they did or not. We don’t encourage it by any means, but we have no real control over it either.”
Junior Deja Shields said students attending Tau Kappa Epsilon dance nights are just out to have fun and to meet new people.
Shields said it’s common for students to opt to drink before attending the party as a means of letting loose, he said.
“I drank at the Roadhouse before I came here,” Shields said at the party. “I’m twenty-one so I figured I might as well get drunk before I come. My friends and I usually just go to the bars, get a few drinks and then go wherever we need to go.”
Shields said “pre-gaming” entails a reasonable amount of consumption, which for him, is about five drinks.
“It’s not so much that we’re hammered or anything, but just enough,” Shields said.
Senior Justin Snyder said he drinks about four days out of the seven-day week.
On a Friday or Saturday, Snyder usually spends $30 to $40 on alcohol, though if his friends didn’t buy shots, his average spending on a night could be $60.
Snyder said this usually means 10 to 12 beers and eight to 10 shots on a weekend night.
Snyder said he only goes out for a couple of drinks during the week to relax with friends, but his heavier drinking on the weekend is due to a lack of activity in Vermillion.
Shields also expressed the same sentiment. He said there is no way to generalize why people drink, but without many options for recreation, students turn to alcohol.
“USD does not have enough campus events or extra-curricular events to actually entertain people, so that’s why they get drunk non-stop and get wild,” Shields said.
When prompted, resident Kyle Maloney, who has bartended at Carey’s for eight years, recalls memorable experiences of intoxicated patrons with a smile.
Over time, Maloney has caught three couples having sex in the establishment’s restroom, and one memory in particular entails two male patrons celebrating their 21st birthdays, who got so intoxicated that they got naked and wrestled in the bar. Maloney said watching the process of intoxication is just another part of his job description.
“People wouldn’t drink if it didn’t do that to (them),” Maloney said. “Everyone learns what their tipping point is. It’s a pleasure sometimes and not a pleasure at others to watch them grapple with their
tipping points.”
The Risk Factors
Kashas said alcohol is the top problem at USD, entailing many risks such as sexual activity, driving, acute alcohol poisoning and the inability to continue with academic success. Among these risks, unwanted sexual activity is one that students don’t always consider, she said.
“Alcohol is the number one date rape drug at USD and people don’t realize that,” Kashas said. “It’s very important for students to be educated in that area especially, because it could be a regular friend or what we call acquaintance rape.”
Another primary alcohol-related risk is the detriment to academic life. Jack Stoddard, drug and alcohol studies adjunct professor, said drinking is primarily a social activity for students.
Compared to when he began his undergraduate career at USD in 1971, Stoddard thinks students show more of a dedication to their studies in recent years than he remembers as an undergraduate, but there are always students who like to socialize rather than study.
“For someone who has a focus, there probably aren’t issues,” Stoddard said. “For someone who doesn’t have their goals set, their social life probably matters more and alcohol can hurt their studies if they let them.”
Anderson said alcohol’s effects on academia depend on the individual. Heavy drinking is especially prevalent among freshmen and sophomores, and he has seen students drop out because of alcohol’s effects on their lives.
“They either drop out or take time off and come back,” Anderson said. “I had a friend who drank every night of the week and he eventually just vanished.”
Perception and Reality
Kashas said the counselors see more than 150 students for substance-related assessments and classes every year.
Students are referred to the center after cases of on-campus violations concerning drugs and alcohol, as well as by judicial decision for off-campus violations such as driving under the influence and underage drinking. Students also come in on their own accord to address their alcohol-related problems, but it’s a very rare occurrence, she said.
Kashas said the students she sees in the alcohol classes and assessments oftentimes have a skewed perception of the drinking norms at USD.
“Some students feel, ‘It’s the university of sex and drugs, and I have to live up to that,’” Kashas said. “But we address with them, either in sessions or classes, what their perception is and then tell them what the statistics are.”
Kashas said the actual alcohol and drug usage is pretty low compared to what these students believe. According to the latest data collected from a 2007 survey at USD, the average student consumes four to seven alcoholic beverages in a week.
Kashas said the students in these classes and sessions usually estimate the average student drinks 15 to 45 alcoholic beverages every week.
Reach reporter Ngoc Thach at Ngoc.Thach@usd.edu.
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