No matter where students go on campus they will always see posters tacked up reading “We choose to live more and drink less.” These posters often quote questions from the assessment surveys. Their goal is simple, to show students the truth about drinking trends among USI students.

Why then are the results listed only from the incoming freshman class? Why not the whole student body? Are these freshmen by and large not of age?

When they ask a question like, “What percentage of USI students think alcohol is very important to the social life here on campus?,” they are asking student opinion, not fact. Question 62 asks, “How many alcoholic drinks do you typically consume on one occasion when you are hanging out with friends?” The majority of students said they typically don’t, however this data is taken out of context because it refers to hanging out with friends at any given time when drinking is not the intended activity.

When asked what kind of people they preferred to be around when they went out or were hanging out, 60.9 percent said those who drink moderately. This conflicts with earlier data because the wording was intentionally vague. In sociology, this is called a false positive. The poll is presented in such a way that the findings will match a desired outcome, regardless of facts.

This kind of manipulation is similar to the anti-marijuana scare tactics from the 50s or the outdated health classes that taught, “just one cigarette can get you hooked!” There are many dangers of alcohol abuse, the best way to show these to students is to be open and honest about them and not skew results.