Any student passing through four years of college inevitably will be faced with social settings centered around alcohol. For many, drinking beer and downing shots can become as much a part of their college experience as writing papers and taking exams.

Most students see alcohol as an inherent part of college life, no matter how much they chose to drink.

"I don't think it's a matter of choice," graduated senior Matt Biersack said. "You'll be surrounded by it regardless of whether you drink or not."

"There is talk almost every weekend about what party everyone is going to, and how wasted someone is going to get," LSA senior Amy Ament said.

Out of all University undergraduate students, 45 percent engage in binge drinking, according to an Internet-based Student Life Survey administered by the University's Substance Abuse Research Center in 1999. Binge drinking is defined as four or more drinks for females and five or more for males in one sitting - a measure that is widely used and nationally accepted.

"Be it to the bar, to someone's house, or to your own house, I feel like alcohol is part of the culture of college. It is so ingrained in all of our social settings," Biersack said.

The Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study - an ongoing survey of more than 14,000 college students - reports that the national rate of binge drinkers (44 percent of students) has remained the same since 1993.

Binge drinking becomes a concern because it tends to signal that alcohol-related problems are ahead. Such secondary effects range from health or legal problems to missing class or doing poorly on a test.

According to the Student Life Survey, as binge drinking episodes increase for students, their grades decrease.

Three out of four binge drinkers reported missing a class within the past year after drinking. Fifty percent of frequent binge drinkers reported driving after drinking within the past year. Also, 15 percent of undergraduate females who drink reported being sexually harassed after drinking.

While negative consequences are often an effect of alcohol, some wonder why college students continue to drink. Both students and administrators point to the stresses and freedoms of college life as major factors causing alcohol consumption.

"I know a lot of people who get back from big tests and get all messed up," said LSA sophomore Scott Caesar, emphasizing the enhanced freedom freshmen feel upon leaving home for the first time.

"The social environment of college and the high stress of academics promote an atmosphere of heavy drinking," graduated senior G.J. Zann said.

Marsha Benz, a health education coordinator with University Health Services, agrees that the stress of school can affect alcohol consumption but also considers student expectations of a new social environment as an influential factor. "There are a lot of expectations people come with, and oftentimes expectations make people act a different way," she said.

Regardless of expectations, some students believe there are subtle pressures within college life regarding alcohol.

"I think many people, whether they'll admit it or not, want to fit in and be a part of something," Biersack said. "Rather than making a decision to start drinking excessively, they can get caught up in a cycle."

According to the Student Life Survey, three general reasons students give for drinking are to enhance social relationships, to relieve negative feelings and to just get drunk.

While an intangible connection between alcohol and college continues and high binge drinking rates remain constant, educators struggle to find elements within college campuses that may promote excessive drinking. Benz targets friends as most influential in a student's experiences with alcohol.

"Friends have a major impact on what their friends are drinking," she said.

Other Big Ten universities have looked at bar specials as a possible cause of binge drinking and have thus tried to limit these promotions.