by Caleb Fort
Daily Lobo
About 15 members of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity attended a seminar Thursday night meant to help them make good decisions concerning alcohol.
According to a news release, they held the presentation because fraternities get a reputation due to making bad decisions about drinking.
Mike Woolsey, an alumnus of the fraternity, presented several statistics and warned the audience about the dangers of drunken driving.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Drunken driving is a real concern for college students, he said.
"Everybody knows everything, and that's why nobody's getting in trouble and nobody's getting arrested," he said. "I'm being somewhat sarcastic, because that's obviously not the case."
According to the DWI Resource Center Web site, there were 1,119 alcohol-related crashes in Bernalillo County in 2003. It is the most recent data available.
Fraternity members have to worry about getting a DWI, Woolsey said.
According to the Web site, 82 percent of Bernalillo county's drunken drivers involved in crashes in 2002 were male. About half were under the age of 30, according to the Web site.
Woolsey also spoke about the liability students faces when they get in a car drunk.
If the student gets in an accident, he or she will not only face personal repercussions, but also risk having his or her parents' insurance policy and vehicle registration revoked, he said.
"It's unbelievable what they can do, and I'm not saying that's a bad thing," he said.
People need to think about the possible consequences before they start drinking, he said.
"I know when people get behind the wheel after drinking, they're not thinking like that," he said. "That's why we're talking about making good decisions now."
John Binnert, a member of the fraternity, said he appreciated the talk.
"I definitely am glad that we had it, because you don't really realize how much liability is associated with alcohol," he said.
The presentation was different from similar events, he said.
"Most of the time you'll go to a talk, and they'll just talk about how you can't have alcohol at social events," he said. "This talked more about liability and how it can personally hurt you."
Students can get in trouble even if they do not drive drunk, especially if they host parties, he said.
"If you're having a party and you're hosting underage drinkers, you're breaking a law," he said. "There's a good chance you're going to get arrested."
Jeremy Jaramillo from the Agora Crisis Center also spoke about suicide.
Alcohol is often a factor in suicide, he said.
"If you're already depressed, and then you take a depressant, that can't be good," he said.
Alcohol also makes people less likely to carefully consider whether to commit suicide, he said.
"Just like your impressions would be lowered and you would dance naked on a table, if you're depressed and you're drinking, your inhibitions to take your own life would be lowered," he said.
Being a member of a fraternity provides a good support network that will make suicide less likely, he said.
"Being involved in stuff helps health and mental-health issues across the board," he said.
However, he still encouraged fraternity members to call Agora.
"A lot of people ask people who don't know anything, and I implore you to give us a call if you want to talk about anything," he said.
Binnert said the fraternity will try to host similar presentations every few months. He encouraged all members of the UNM community to come.
"This isn't just stuff that Greeks have to worry about," he said. "These things are a problem for everyone."
