By Joe Rukin
In a the sort of blaze of publicity we would hope to see for the student funding campaign, NUS has launched what is probably the most pointless campaign ever, one which hopes to persuade freshers not to get drunk. It's not that reducing the consequences of getting too drunk; unsafe sex, visits to A&E, hangovers and empty pockets are not laudable, it's that somehow the point has been missed, and that as one of the largest bulk buyers of alcohol in the country, NUS may seem just a tad hypocritical.
The 'If you do drink, don't do drunk' campaign is to be launched in freshers week across the country and is in part a reaction to a report from the Portman Group which claims "more than a million 18 to 24-year-olds consume alcohol purely to get drunk every week". As Zoe Shaw said in her response to the campaign in the Guardian, "This defies many natural laws- like cause and effect…. This is in shocking contrast to older drinkers, who consume alcohol purely to feel full of physiological and psychic pain the next morning."
The campaign hopes to achieve the objective of making drinking just to get drunk as socially unacceptable as drink driving. NUS president Mandy Telford said:
"NUS recognises that drinking is often an integral part of freshers' week, however, we urge students to drink and act responsibly. Some students may feel pressured to drink because everyone else is or because they believe it will make them more relaxed and sociable. Research shows that people are more likely to have unprotected sex and act aggressively when drunk and NUS advises students to know their limits and stick to them. Aside from the health risks and likely adverse affect on your studies, drinking to excess often leaves you as big a danger to yourself as you are to anyone else."
Jean Coussins, director of the Portman Group, said:
"Most of us enjoy a drink without harming ourselves or others. But some people don't know when to stop and that can lead to problems. Our campaign aims to show them the downsides of drinking to excess and to encourage moderate drinkers to challenge the behaviour of their friends and loved ones who might go over the top."
The campaign itself seems to create a difficult paradox for the national union. To most students, the primary function of their student union is to provide a bar with cheaper beer than the rest of town. And in times of every decreasing support from cash-strapped institution, the cash in those tills is the very lifeblood of student unions, providing the much needed income to subsidise clubs & societies, advice centre and a plethora of other services. This will ensure that any campaign on the groundmay well be half-hearted.
Indeed after Her Majesty's Armed Forces, through NUS Services Limited, NUS is the single largest block purchaser of alcohol in the country. There must also be a hint of hypocrisy in this 'Do as I say, not as I do' message to students, as last month at NUS Convention, which is billed as 'freshers week for union officers', those officers who must take on this message, including national executive members, were encouraged to have flavoured vodka poured down their throats down a specially constructed 'ski slope' of ice, after being treated to free samples of Bacardi Breezer.
But more than that, the campaign fails to see the real factors at work here, and as such has missed the opportunity to turn a potentially negative story into a positive political point. Instead, they have decided to underline the public perception that students waste all their money getting drunk, just before they are meant to be launching a campaign to demand students need more money.
And the real factor at work here in the proliferation of binge drinking is money. Long gone are the days when students could socially 'go out for a couple' a few times a week. The cash quite simply isn't there. The pressures of coursework needing to be done coupled with the increased financial pressures, creating the need to work part-time -still usually in bars at night- has meant that students neither have the time or money to take things easy when they go out. This issue has been totally overlooked in response to the Portman Groups findings.
The question is, in the week that freshers finally cross the 'finish line' and get to university away from the glaring eye of their parents, are they really going to be impressed by their union attempting to take over their preaching and disapproval?
Related Articles
Guardian, Passed out of control
Guardian, Liquor lectures by Zoe Shaw
Guardian, Last orders for students: stop getting so drunk
Guardian, NUS warns against binge drinking
NUS Online, "If you do drink, don't do drunk"
Sky, Student Bingers Warned
