The University is rich in history and tradition: secret societies, the Lawn...fourth-year students drinking a fifth of alcohol at the last home football game of the year?
The Fourth-Year Trustees say imbibing excessive amounts of alcohol before football games should not be on the list of revered University traditions.
In 1999, when a University student died in an alcohol-related death as a result of attempting to consume the fourth-year fifth, Project FAR (Fourth-Years Acting Responsibly) was launched by the Fourth-Year Trustees in a collaborative effort with other organizations.
This week, with alcohol-related deaths again in the news and the last home football game this weekend, Project FAR is stepping up its education efforts, co-coordinator Nicki Kahner said.
"Over the past couple of years, it has been put on the backburner," Kahner said. "This year, however, there has been a record number of alcohol-related deaths at universities around the country, so the Fourth-Year Trustees felt that this was an important project to revive."
Several student organizations will join the Fourth-Year Trustees in their effort to promote responsible drinking at the Miami game Saturday. The organizations involved include the Peer Counselor Educators, the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Team and Student Athlete Mentors.
The Fourth-Year Trustees will be on the Lawn this week, asking fourth years to sign pledge cards saying they will not drink or will drink responsibly this weekend. Those who sign a pledge card will be entered in a raffle for a wide variety of prizes.
"We're not saying don't drink," Kahner said. "We know people drink before the game. We're just saying drink responsibly."
The Peer Counselor Educators are sponsoring the annual Fourth-Year 5K, which will take place Saturday morning before the game.
ADAPT will host a speaker series every night this week relating to alcohol and alcohol abuse. They also will host an alcohol-free tailgate the morning of the game to provide an alternative for students who do not want to drink.
Students who attended last weekend's game against Maryland saw the Student Athlete Mentors' contribution to Project FAR in the form of a video promoting responsible drinking screened before the game and at halftime. A similar video is set to air at this weekend's game.
"All of the activities are meant to be positive, as a way of saying 'Thank you for drinking responsibly,'" Fourth-Year Class President Kat Shea said.
The groups hope that their efforts will help to educate the community about the dangers of excessive drinking, Project FAR co-coordinator Laura Warrick said.
"We're realistic about it, and we know that people are still going to drink," Warrick said. "But there are people who are still deciding this week whether they will or not, and those are the people we're targeting."
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