Running head: ALCOHOL, SOCIAL NETWORKING, AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT

Final Exam: Alcohol, Social Networking and Crisis Management

Mayra Sierra
Azusa Pacific University

Final Exam: Alcohol, Social Networking and Crisis Management

ALCOHOL ON CAMPUS
Alcohol has become a more prevalent issue among college students. The legal drinking
age is 21, and the average age among college students is roughly 18-24 years. Since college is a
time where student begin to explore their identity and feel independent because they are not in
high school anymore and or they are not living with their parents, they end up starting to drink at
a young age. Therefore colleges and universities struggle with legal and liability issues related to
alcohol use among students. It becomes to this point when students 21 and under are drinking
alcohol.
There have not been any recent trends when it comes to laws trying to lower the drinking
age. Some history of the laws are from back In 1933, when the 21st amendment to the United
States Constitution repealed the prohibition of alcoholic beverages, thus allowing each state to
regulate how and by whom alcohol could be consumed (Hedlund, Ulmer & Preusser, 2001). At

ALCOHOL, SOCIAL NETWORKING, AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT

this point, most states set the minimum legal drinking age at 21. New York decided for their
minimum legal drinking age to be set at 18 while other states decided on the 21 year-old legal
age but permitted certain low-strength beverages to be purchased at age 18. By 1982, only 14
states retained a minimum legal drinking age of 21; the other 36 states were set at 18, 19, or 20.
In the 1970s and early 1980s the minimum legal drinking age laws became a traffic safety issue.
Studies conducted around the 1970s illustrated that there were more traffic crashes among the
youth in states where the minimum legal drinking age was lower. As a result, people began to
advocate raising the minimum legal drinking age to 21. Congress enacted the Uniform Drinking
Age Act in 1984, which provided that states that failed to raise their minimum legal drinking age
to 21 would lose a portion of their federal-aid highway construction funding (Hedlund et. al,
2001). In response, all remaining states increased their minimum legal drinking age to 21 by
1988.
Furthermore, there have been some recent trends within the institutional practices in
trying to change the minimum legal drinking age. One recent trend is the Amethyst Initiative
which argues that a minimum legal drinking age of 21 has created a culture of heavy alcohol use
on college campuses by making drinking clandestine and extreme (Saylor, 2011). The reason
many people are arguing about lowering the minimum legal drinking age to 18 instead of 21 is
because they think that by doing so there will reduce the problem of binge drinking on college
campuses. However, such a policy change would remove one of the most researched and
supported policies in the nations alcohol control arsenal. The reason why the minimum legal
drinking age is set at 21 is because it works in conjunction with other drinking laws. Not only
that but the age was set because that is an age where teenagers have developed more and
lowering the age to 18 might bring about serious social and public health consequences.

ALCOHOL, SOCIAL NETWORKING, AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT

Prior to the above trend this following one started in Middlebury College in 2008. John
McCardell, the president emeritus, began"The Amethyst Initiative," which calls for elected
officials to reexamine underage drinking laws (Main, 2009). This program was implemented in
efforts illustrated from a nonprofit organization he founded in 2007 called Choose
Responsibility. Chose Responsibility advocates lowering the drinking age to 18 and licensing
alcohol use for young people in much the same manner as driving--following coursework and an
exam (Main, 2009). It also favors the repeal of the laws that set 21 as the mandatory minimum
age for drinking, known as the "21 laws", and encourages states at the least to adopt exceptions
to the 21 laws that would allow minors to drink at home and in private clubs (Main, 2009). The
Initiative is a way to inform people that the minimum legal drinking age is not working at 21.
Personally, there are many other factors that need to be taken into account when thinking
about lowering the legal drinking age. Yes, colleges and universities are faced with many
challenged when it comes to their students drinking alcohol illegally because of being under the
age limit. But I believe that there will be many more students drinking if they lower the drinking
and like mentioned above it might become a health concern as well. There are groups of people
who will advocate keeping the legal age at 21, especially the Mothers Against Drunk Driving
(MADD) group. Moreover, I feel that they should not lower the legal minimum drinking age.
College students are at the stage where are feeling the pressure to fit in and succeed in their
academics. Many become overwhelmed based on all the stressors in their lives and seek
unhealthy behaviors to cope with the stress. They start to drink, use drugs, and become
acquainted with the wrong crowd, without noticing that those other influences are making it
worse for them. Lowering the drinking age may bring about more troubles for students because
they are going to see that legally at the age of 18 they will be able to drink and instead of seeking
for positive coping skills they will start drinking at an even younger age. I feel that students who

ALCOHOL, SOCIAL NETWORKING, AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT

are at the age of 18 are not fully grown and have not thought about many of the consequences
that some of their actions will bring, therefore, lowering the minimum legal drinking age to 18
will be not be okay.
There are other changes that either the law or the institutional practices can do to better
assist institutions in their efforts to deal with the alcohol culture of college students. For instance,
I would say that student affairs professionals can implement a series of workshops to educate
students about the use and abuse of alcohol. These way students can become aware and maybe
create a support group for one another and be able to talk about others methods to cope with peer
pressure or stress.
SOCIAL NETWORKING
Social networking has become more prevalent in the past few years due to technological
innovations. Students have started to use technology in their daily lives, including cell phones
and laptops. These have already become a trend, and now college students are moving into the
social networking life. There are pros and cons regarding social networking in higher education.
The pros are that since our society has been advancing, using all these new innovations is what
gets us through our daily lives, but the downside is that sometimes students and other individuals
depend on them too often.
There is a lot of research being conducted in regards to online social networking among
college and university students, as well as online learning through social media. Social media
forms a common part of university students' experience, because it offers opportunities to
communicate and form connections in a way that if it did not exist individuals will not have been
able to form such networks (Chester, Kienhuis, Pisani, Shahwan-Akl, and White, 2013). Like
mentioned above, social networking has worked for connections but now institutions are using it
for online learning. This goes along with distance learning, which in some ways collides with
modern pedagogies in which communication, interaction, student engagement, and active

ALCOHOL, SOCIAL NETWORKING, AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT

learning are of critical importance (Friedman and Friedman, 2013). Recently colleges and
universities have seen an increase in the number of students taking online classes. Social media
includes different aspects of technology such as blogs, wikis, online social networking, and
virtual worlds. These way students can be able to learn the material in different ways, either by
having discussions online or viewing the lecture through the screen. Additionally, Thoms and
Eryilmaz (2015) conducted a study in which Twitter is being integrated with an online discussion
board. The study consisted on the first section being of full-time online learners, while the
second section met face-to-face twice a week. Student perceptions of learning, social interaction
and course community before and after our intervention were measured. Some of the findings
were positive and that students across both sections experienced high levels of learning,
interaction and community. As a result, it has shown that integrated learning environments that
incorporate online social networking technologies can be beneficial ( Thoms and Eryilmaz,
2015).
Furthermore, there are legal issues emerging in relation to student privacy, student safety,
and ethics. When it comes to social media individuals cannot ensure that their information is
secure and or protected. Student safety also becomes an issue, because nowadays if you post
something on social media, people can see where you are and what you are doing. As Henderson,
de Zwart, Lindsay, and Phillips (2010) mentioned
there are significant privacy, intellectual property, and copyright and disclosure risks
associated with the use of social networking sites, however the implementation of
regulatory actions may also undermine the social and emerging educational utility of
social networking sites for young people. Inevitably the burden of dealing with the risks
of social networking sites must necessarily fall on the development of educational

ALCOHOL, SOCIAL NETWORKING, AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT

strategies designed to equip young people with the skills and tools to manage their own
personal information, and respect the privacy of others, including their teachers.
The best thing to do is to make sure the institution is aware of these legal issues and be able to
incorporate them into their curriculum and social media discussions.
Social networking both facilitates and hinders student development. For example,
supportive wall posts from peers may lead to higher social capital or psychological well-being
for students. As well as information sharing and instances of academic support may be related to
higher school achievement (Ahn, 2011). Personally, I think that social networking facilitates
student development because they have the opportunity to talk with other students and learn
different viewpoints. Through social media students engage in discussions that they might not
feel comfortable to do so in a classroom or in person. The way it hinders student development is
because it is an online base system. It stops students from interacting with people in a personal
level and it brings about other distractions. Many times just by simply being in the web students
get sidetrack and sway away from what they were doing.
If I were to design an educational program for beginning college students related to the
legal aspects of social networking, I would want them to know the most important and relevant
things first. For instance, it would most likely begin with a workshop or presentation based on
privacy issues. Basically educating college students that social media is not a private place and
that anything that they post will be seen by others in one way or another. Also, their safety is an
important aspect as well, thus making them aware that social media is like a satellite, if you post
a picture of a place or a location, everyone will know where they are, which falls back to the
privacy issue. In other words, I will make sure to let them know the logistics of an online engine
and how it might affect their learning and physical self. Both privacy and safety are critical to
someones educational career because students need to feel safe in order to be able to learn and
develop as an individual without having to worry about anything.

ALCOHOL, SOCIAL NETWORKING, AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT

CRISIS MANAGEMENT
The institution that I am doing my internship at is called Orange Coast College. It is a
community college located in Orange County, California, United States. It was founded in 1947,
which provides two-year associate of art and science degrees, certificates of achievement, and
lower-division classes transferable to other colleges and universities. The school enrolls
approximately 24,000 undergraduate students, which in terms of the student size, Orange Coast
College is the third largest college in Orange County.
Orange Coast College is prepared to deal with various emergencies. Emergencies
including Life-Threatening Emergency, Medical and First Aid, Violent, Criminal or Disruptive
Behavior, Earthquake, Fire, Active Shooter, Evacuation of Students with Disabilities, Chemical
or Radiation Spill, Suspicious Substance Procedures, Handling Suspicious Letters or Packages,
Bomb Threat Evacuation Procedures, Explosion, Plane Crash, Similar, Utility Failure
(Emergency Management). With having all these in place they have also implemented a Staff
Duty Assignments protocol as well as a Crisis Alert Team on campus.
The protocol they have is pretty straight forward. When the institution is confronted with
an emergency, they have established some guidelines that everyone should be aware and be able
to follow in these types of situations. First of all, everyone should remain as calm as possible.
Once students, faculty, and staff are instructed to evacuate a building, they should cooperate with
emergency personnel, move at least 100 feet away from the building or as far away as possible,
keep streets, fire lanes, hydrants, and walkways clear for emergency vehicles and personnel.
They should not re-enter evacuated buildings until designated officials say it is safe to do so. If
requested, assist emergency personnel. An emergency command post may be set up near the
emergency site. The college may not have immediate assistance for up to 72 hours. One key
point to notify people about in case of an emergency is to make sure they keep emergency
supplies in their car and office.

ALCOHOL, SOCIAL NETWORKING, AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT

When emergencies happen while a class is in session, each instructor will be responsible
for the direct supervision of his/her class. The instructor will evacuate students to designated
areas, report missing students, and seek medical attention for injured students. Overall, every
staff member has a duty and responsibility to perform certain duties in times of emergency.
Nowadays, colleges and universities have experienced many incidents. While some have
been able to calm the situation and keep people safe others have failed at their attempts to
minimizing damages. From what Orange Coast College has put into place, I feel it is a typical
protocol to follow. Making sure everyone is safe is top priority but it might not always happen.
In my opinion I feel there has to be more security or police officers in campuses to make sure
everyone is safe. Like for example, in the Umpqua Community College, there was only one
security office on site when the shooter came into the campus and started to create a mess. Some
of the suggestions are for schools to be able to budget out more security on campus. Not only
should more security personnel be hired but better training practices need to be implemented. For
example, every year schools all around the United States do the great American shake out to
prepare students and staff in case there is an earthquake. Fire drills are also being implemented at
schools. However one major thing that needs to be implemented is active shooter training drills.
With the wake of the recent tragic school shootings that have been happening there has to be
more training so that students, staff and public safety officials can know how to diffuse the
situations. One school that already puts this into practice is California State University, Los
Angeles. Every year in mid-September they do an active shooter drill. The schools public safety
department invites staff and students to participate as volunteers and play the role of hostages or
injured victims. This is a good experience not only for public safety officials but for the students
as well because in the event that a school does happen the students will know what to do prior to
help arriving instead of just panicking.

ALCOHOL, SOCIAL NETWORKING, AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT

References
Ahn, J. (2011). The effect of social network sites on adolescents' social and academic
development: Current theories and controversies. Journal of the American Society
for
Information Science and Technology, 62(8), 1435-1445.
Chester, A., Kienhuis, M., Pisani, H., Shahwan-Akl, L., & White, K. (2013). Professionalism in
student online social networking: The role of educators. E-Learning And Digital
Media,
10(1), 30-39.
Emergency Management, (n.d.). Retrieved November 4, 2015, from
http://www.orangecoastcollege.edu/about_occ/parking_public_safety/emergency_manag
ement/Pages/default.aspx
Friedman, L. W., & Friedman, H. H. (2013). Using social media technologies to enhance
online learning. Journal of Educators Online, 10(1),
Hedlund, J.H., Ulmer, R.G., and Preusser, D.F. (2001). Determine why there are fewer young
alcohol-impaired drivers. Preusser Research Group, Inc.
Henderson, M., de Zwart, M., Lindsay, D., & Phillips, M. (2010). Legal risks for students
using social networking sites. Australian Educational Computing, 25(1), 3-7.
Main, C. T. (2009). Underage drinking and the drinking age. Policy Review, (155)
Saylor, D. K. (2011). Heavy drinking on college campuses: No reason to change minimum
legal drinking age of 21. Journal Of American College Health, 59 (4), 330-333.
Thoms, B., & Eryilmaz, E. (2015). Introducing a twitter discussion board to support learning
in online and blended learning environments. Education And Information Technologies,
20(2), 265-283.