DATE: Thursday, August 28, 1997             TAG: 9708280527

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MATTHEW BOWERS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   66 lines

COLLEGE DRINKING COMMON, AREA STUDENTS SAY

Junior transfer Carol Parrish had been at Old Dominion University three days, she hadn't spent her first weekend on campus, and already she had received a fistful of fliers for bring-your-own-bottle and keg parties.

Nothing unusual there. It's a college. Where there are colleges, there is drinking, legal and illegal, responsible and irresponsible. And sometimes dangerous.

Some ODU students Wednesday had heard of the alcohol-poisoning death of a peer, a 20-year-old Louisiana State University student who drank himself to death while joining a fraternity. All said sure, it could happen at ODU. It could happen anywhere.

``It's just a matter of people taking responsibility for their own drinking,'' said Parrish, also 20. ``Anywhere you go, there are going to be parties.''

Alcohol education is part of orientation at all three residential undergraduate colleges in South Hampton Roads. Norfolk State University forbids alcohol on campus, except at the president's house. ODU and Virginia Wesleyan College - where new students are going through orientation now - limit alcohol in dormitories to those over 21, the legal drinking age in Virginia. Parties serving alcohol at ODU and Wesleyan school must be registered with school officials.

ODU further forbids alcohol in dormitories where the students largely are freshmen and underage.

``At least that's the policy, and we enforce it,'' said Dana Burnett, the dean of students and vice president for student services at ODU.

``They're policies, and we have to have them. But more importantly, we try to educate the students on the effects of alcohol and alcohol abuse.''

Many students, being young and on their own for the first time, try to learn things their way.

``I know people get out of hand,'' said Andrew Devlin, a sophomore at ODU. He saw one ambulance carry away an intoxicated student last year, and heard of others, as had other students.

``They could drink, easy,'' said Tara Dickerson, a 25-year-old junior transfer at ODU. ``It's not like they come behind you'' and check.

Delvin Bowden, a 20-year-old Norfolk State sophomore waiting at Old Dominion to meet a friend, agreed that the LSU drinking tragedy could happen at his or any school, but he thought it would be less likely at NSU.

``At State, if they smell anything, they check your room,'' he said.

A lot of ODU and other college-age drinking occurs at off-campus parties, outside college control. Then it's a matter of individual maturity and responsibility - two things tough to maintain in the face of freedom and peer pressure.

``It's knowing your limits,'' said Kerri Theodorakis, a 19-year-old sophomore at ODU.

``I'd say it could happen anywhere,'' said ``J.R.,'' a 20-year-old ODU junior who asked to be identified only by his nickname since he admitted he drinks.

``It doesn't matter too much where the person is; it depends on the person. do.''

Drinking on campus is better than driving drunk, and friends should look out for friends, he said. School education efforts are reminders of alcohol's dangers, but they don't change much behavior, he said.

``It's something that happens,'' J.R. said. ``Like they say, all schools are party schools. Some schools are just known for it more. . . . That scene exists everywhere. ``My only thing is, watch what you do, don't get crazy. fun for you or anyone else.''

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