Death sparks new drinking worries

By David Enders

Daily Staff Reporter

The Washtenaw County Coroner's Office officially ruled this week that Engineering sophomore Byung Soo Kim died of acute ethanol intoxication, or alcohol poisoning, 6 a.m. Monday.

According to the Ann Arbor Police Department, Kim ingested 20 shots of Scotch whisky in 90 minutes at his 21st birthday party Friday night, which caused him to stop breathing. He was resuscitated, but never regained consciousness.

In the wake of the tragedy, questions have been raised about whether Kim had been adequately educated on the dangers of alcohol abuse. According to his parents, he was not a heavy drinker.

Seldom a weekend passes without a student being transported from a residence hall to the emergency room for dangerous levels of intoxication.

"It would be fair to say that we're probably coming close to a couple a week, or more than that," Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Diane Brown said. Fourteen such incidents were recorded between Sept. 2 and Nov. 5.

Those numbers are not necessarily representative of the number of drinking-related emergency room visits.

"There are cases when friends take their friends to the emergency room," Brown said.

"We've also had people we've had to bring down to DPS base, which would mean a blood alcohol content between .08 (percent) and .2 (percent)," Brown said. "At least two dozen," in the same period.

The legal limit for drunkenness in Michigan is .10 percent.

"At .2 (percent), we generally bring them to the hospital," Brown said.

Kim's BAC was .39 percent.

"What it shows is that we haven't done enough, not me, you, the institution. Every time a student dies unnecessarily it means we haven't done enough," Vice President for Student Affairs E. Royster Harper said.

Former Vice President of Student Affairs Maureen Hartford instituted the Binge Drinking Task Force to study the problem in 1999 before she left the University.

The Binge Drinking Task Force became the Task Force on Alcohol and Other Drugs in Fall 1999 when Harper became interim vice-president of student affairs.

The common definition of binge drinking is four drinks in one evening for women and five drinks for men.

The AOD recently finished talking to students and faculty on the culture of alcohol at the University and made its recommendations to Harper.

"They finished their report earlier this year and met to talk about the next steps and about implementing strategies about two weeks ago," Harper said.

"We have students on campus who think the way to celebrate the 21st birthday is to drink in excess. That is the culture we've got to change," she said. "We've had posters, programs, sessions at orientation, and still we have this needless death that effects all of us."

University Health Services psychologist Deborah Kraus chaired the Treatment and Response committee on the Binge Drinking Task Force.

"It's hard to talk about this now after there's been a death," Kraus said. "It all seems inadequate."

"This is the kind of issue a lot of people don't take notice of until it's affected them. It's hard to open people's eyes to the problem of problem drinking," she said.

Three deaths in Michigan alone have caused nationwide concern and some have redefined binge drinking nationwide. Cases like Kim's are now referred to as "heavy episodic drinking" instead of binging.

"The five drinks for a college student if you start drinking at 7 (p.m.) and stop drinking at 4 (a.m.) is not heavy drinking," said Robert Turrisi, a researcher at Boise State University in Idaho who has dealt extensively with the subject of college drinking. "Some people would argue that it is responsible."

Turrisi said that the problem actually may be on the decline as awareness increases.

"I think it's less than it used to be. When I was in college we didn't think there was a problem. Now it's a problem to study," Turrisi said. "We're just noticing it more."

Despite the high profile nature of alcohol-related deaths, Turrisi ended on an ominous note.

"Next weekend, the same thing's going to be repeated somewhere else," he said.

For now, the University has unspecific plans to continue the campaign against problem drinking based on the recommendations of the AOD.

"There is going to be something along the lines of increased programming dollars," Kraus said.

Ann Hower, director of the Office of New Student Programs, was on the Programming Committee of the AOD, and said the University is looking for a person to spearhead the campaign.

"They are in the search right now for a campus alcohol and drug liaison who would coordinate any alcohol and drug initiatives," Hower said. The liaison was one recommendation of both task forces.

For the last two years, University orientation has emphazied what to do with a friend who has alcohol poisoning in various ways, including a skit.

"Some of our students are not aware that this can lead to really serious consequences," Hower said.

She said she has received positive response from students about the educational effort.

"We have heard from students - a student came to us last year and told us that it happened to her roommate, and because of orientation, she knew what to," Hower said.

Kim participated in an orientation for international students in fall 1999.

"We do talk about campus life issues - (alcohol has) been included, but not as strongly," Hower said of the international orientation. "At that we had a lengthy student panel on those issues," Hower said.

International Center Director Rodolfo Altamirano said the center has discussed whether to change the way they educate international students about alcohol.

"It's a first step towards exploring possibilities," Altamirano said. "I'm sure people will start meeting and talking about creative ways to do this."

"What is proper here may not be a proper thing to do in another country," Altamirano said. "It goes back to educating our students in a more creative way and look at ways of what can communicate effectively to our international students."

- Daily Staff Reporter Caitlin Nish contributed to this report.

BRAD QUINN/Daily

Students across campus are lining up drinking trophies, but University officials, in the wake of a drinking death, are saying we're not doing enough.