By: Steele Smith, Contributing Writer
On Thursday, Oct. 29 Wofford students had the unique opportunity to listen to Ohio State University alum Jake Byczkowski give a presentation in Leonard Auditorium about alcohol on college campuses. Titled “Red Solo Cup Culture: Minimizing the Risks of an Alcohol-Soaked Campus Climate,” the presentation offered a chance for students to think and challenge their own ideas and beliefs about alcohol in college.
Byczkowski opened by asking the assembly what kind of picture was painted about alcohol by their teachers, parents and friends while they were in high school. He asserted that most people’s teachers and parents cast alcohol in a relatively negative light, but their friends, contrarily, fantasized and glamorized drinking. The influence of friends combined with that of popular culture resulted in a powerful idea of what alcohol and drinking should look like in college. Byczkowski confessed that this is precisely what happened to him before he arrived in college.
As a freshman, he was eager to find this “drinking culture” and experience it. He joined a fraternity and drank, but each of his encounters with alcohol failed to live up to the image he had in his mind. It wasn’t until he, in a heavily inebriated state, flung a futon mattress onto a street fire and subsequently was arrested, charged with first degree felony and almost kicked out of OSU did he realize the self-destructive nature of his mindset about alcohol.
Byzckowski, after sharing part of his personal narrative, discussed the popular use of the word “turnt.” He highlighted the fact that college students drinking alcohol so often encourage each other to “turn up,” which is a conflicting statement due to the fact that alcohol by its very nature is a depressant. Asking someone to increase activity while they are consuming copious amounts of an activity reducer can easily lead to that person hurting themselves.
Through defining alcohol-related harm and problematic drinking, Byczkowski was able to discuss the three types of people that are associated with alcohol: the social supporter, the thrill/adventure seeker and the train wreck. He denoted each with a classification: the responsible, the hopeful and the reckless. The train wreck ultimately is the most destructive and dangerous because they are the people who have no regard for limits and are simply trying to get as hammered as possible.
“No longer can we ignore the positives college students gain from drinking,” said Byczcowski.
Though alcohol related deaths are not the number one killers of college students, Byczkowski cited that alcohol poisoning affects numerous other killers of young people. He challenged both Wofford students and the college to set a universal goal to create a community movement against alcohol-related harm and to create a community less conducive to alcohol abuse.
Jake Byczkowski information:
campuspeak.com/jake
#: (513) 382-6067
twitter: @jaketalks2much
Instagram: jakebycz
