By Cody Heintz, Assistant Business Manager
On Wednesday, March 30, Anita Ellis and the Office of Off-Campus Living and Commuting Student Services (OCS) held “Alcohol: Pleasure or Poison?” to educate students on the dangers of underage drinking and drunk driving. This event was co-sponsored by the Hofstra University Dance Team, Delta Chi, Alpha Phi, Phi Alpha Delta, Phi Sigma Sigma, Pi Kappa Alpha and Sigma Alpha Sigma. Also discussed were New York state host laws and the consequences of drug possession. Officers from the Village of Hempstead Police Department were present, and representatives from the Nassau County Departments of Criminal Justice and of Drug Counseling.
Anita Ellis, besides being the executive director of OCS, is also a Hofstra Alumni and member of Alpha Theta Beta. She has been personally affected by the negative impacts of alcohol and drinking, as five former classmates of hers and even a former Alpha Theta Beta sister have died due to alcohol abuse. Helping Anita put the event together was a fellow sister of Alpha Theta Beta, Anne DelGrosso, a substance abuse therapist who said that “young people do not understand the consequences of their actions and think they are invisible.” Ashleigh Rowan, president of Phi Sigma Sigma said that she and her sorority sponsored the event because alcohol awareness “is a good thing to support and alcohol is really prevalent among college kids.”
Anita began the event with a short film showing some of the horrors and consequences that come with drinking and driving, such as being arrested or getting into a crash. After the film, Anita went on to introduce Officer Rodgers, who went on to discuss the responsibilities that off-campus student assume when they are throwing a party. He initially went over the basics that it is against the law to serve or consume alcohol if you are under the age of 21. He also pointed out that if a host serves a minor alcohol, there can be both civil and criminal charges to face. But the main point of his speech was for students living off-campus to be mindful and respectful of their neighbors when they have parties. He pointed out that students should respect their neighbors’ rights to a “peaceful and comfortable atmosphere.” Afterwards he said that his goal for attending the event was “to appeal to the students that live off campus [because] we want them to understand that, when they have parties that include alcohol and they get rowdy, it affects the full-time residents of the community.”
After Officer Rodgers, Gerald, who is Director of Criminal Justice Programming for Nassau County, talked about his personal life and about himself and his 13 siblings. All 14 would end up in substance abuse treatment by age 20, and seven have died because of heroin addiction and alcoholism. Gerald, who has been sober for 25 years, discussed a three-prong approach between the administration, the fraternities/sororities and the community at-large that will help reduce the effect of alcohol on the community and on the student body. He also discussed how genetics and environmental factors could lead to a person abusing drugs.
Officer Rodgers talked again about the consequences of marijuana possession. He discussed the various punishments for marijuana possession depending on amount and location, since having marijuana in public will lead to a worse punishment than just having it on person. He concluded with saying that the ‘sale’ of marijuana consists of not just selling marijuana but also includes giving someone weed or just passing around a joint.
Junior Political Science major Alex Zelinski said that the event reminded him of how “there are other people in the neighborhoods and you have to be mindful of that.” Anita Ellis said that she created this event “to bring the shock value about what could happen when you drink and drive and what happens when you put a foreign substance in you body.”
Alcohol awareness event is hosted to show students the danger of drinking. (Cody Heintz/The Chronicle)
