Underage Cougs & Alcohol

Underage drinking is a problem across many college campuses that continues on each year. The WSU campus alone had 518 underage alcohol violations last fall semester. The number of underage alcohol violations in fall 2012 semester increased 143 percent from spring 2012. 

            One recent underage alcohol violation occurred Thursday when a freshman woman fell out of her dorm room window. Her roommate, Ali Hartlein was there during the incident. “She came home really drunk Thursday and I helped lift her onto her bunk,"Hartlein said.

After her roommate fell, Hartlein went to get her resident advisor who called campus police and the Pullman hospital. Hartlein was told by medics that her roommate had blood alcohol content around .30. 

After the accident, Hartlein said that her roommate needed stitches in her knee, broke her wrist and bruised her nose. Hartlein said her roommate was doing better after the accident, but she needed 15 CT scans and spent the evening in the hospital. 

“She is now facing the disappointment of her parents and sorority,” said Hartlein.

Hartlein’s roommate is required to complete 40 hours of community service and meet with the student conduct board to explain why she had consumed so much alcohol

Another major incident that occurred on our college campuses involved Erick Quezada, a criminal justice student at WSU. Quezada was charged with a minor in consumption of alcohol his sophomore year of college. 

“I had been drinking with people I knew and a lot of people I didn’t know, and by the end of the night I was pretty drunk,” said Quezada. 

He said that his walk home wasn’t very memorable until he began walking towards the elevator heading up towards the student union building from Martin Stadium. 

“I saw a cop car next to the entrance of the alleyway towards the elevator and I was afraid it would look too obvious if I turned around so I just decided to power through,” Quezada said. 

Quezada was stopped by one police officer and an intern. He was sent to the Whitman County District Court in Pullman. Quezada said “there were about 30 other students there all being charged with underage drinking violations.” The consequences he faced consisted of paying a $500 fine, taking a three hour class through WSU and filling out an alcohol booklet throughout the semester to improve his drinking habits.

            Depending on the size of the individual, the number of drinks consumed can affect the person differently. 

“Most underage people do not understand their limit and continue to drink,” said Blake Thomas a student manager at Hillside Café. “We see many drunk freshmen come through than any other age group.”

            Different areas on the WSU campus follow strict rules about alcohol and drugs. Many have a no tolerance policy; Annie Combest-Friedman, a manager at the Hillside Market, said “Hillside is an alcohol free zone and we do not tolerate underage drinking.” The managers at Hillside said their job is to make sure their employees and customers are safe. “It seems hard for some people to understand the consequence until they face them themselves,” Thomas said.