Ever since Alcibiades showed up late to the Symposium, picking grape peels from between his teeth and making dirty jokes, higher education has been linked in the popular mind with rigorous alcohol use.

The popular conception of the collegiate drinking tradition is probably linked to “Animal House” more than the dialogues of Plato. No matter its origins, and much to the chagrin of administrators everywhere, the conspicuous consumption of alcohol is a fact of life at most colleges.

Guilford is no exception. Every year a new batch of freshmen strut onto campus, free from the lidless parental eye and willing to experiment with most anything twice. The varieties of cheap, watery beer are endless, and easily procurable via poorly crafted fake IDs or unscrupulous upperclassmen.

The first few months of every year are the most dangerous. With new students trying to establish themselves in a new social environment, alcohol is an easy way to break down barriers. Some try to establish their identities by going on excessive drinking bouts and every year a few students take it too far.

“In the first three weeks (of the fall ’06 semester) I had two pretty bad medical emergencies due to alcohol poisoning,” said Lili Sharpless, the hall director of Milner Hall for the last two years and an RA there her sophomore year. “It’s scary coming into a situation where you question whether someone is going to make it.”

Last autumn, the freshman dorms were notorious for vandalism and substance abuse. In Milner Hall fecal matter was rubbed on the walls of the restrooms; sinks and water fountains were ripped out of the walls. Sharpless suspects that the vandals were under the influence of alcohol.

“Alcohol use has fluctuated somewhat over the years,” Sharpless said. “I think (the current senior class) was pretty bad, the class following us were moderates, last year was horrible, and this year they seem more under control.”

When interviewed on Oct. 23, Sharpless said that no cases of alcohol poisoning had been reported to her in Milner Hall yet this year.

According to Helen Rice, director of student health, the health office was notified of six or seven reported cases of alcohol poisoning last year, chiefly occurring during first semester. It is possible that others were not reported to the health office. “We had a case of alcohol poisoning last night,” said Alyson Kienle, the associate dean for Campus Life, on Oct. 24. “But it was our first one of the semester. Last year students were a little more rambunctious. Fall last year was pretty rough but it evened out in the spring.”

Poisoning is not the only danger. Judicial charges for alcohol violations dwarf every other type of infraction, and male students are more likely to be caught and charged for alcohol violations then their female counterparts by almost two-thirds.

First-year males are the most likely to be charged. One Campus Life report shows that the number of alcohol violations fall drastically every year that students remain in school. For example fifty-six male and twenty female first-years were charged, while only nineteen sophomore males and five females were charged in the same year. The trend continued in that downward trajectory for the remaining two years.

“First-year students (tend to get more citations),” Kienle said. “I don’t know if they drink more or if they just get caught more.”

First-years are also the only student group that ever attempt to ask for a nurse’s notes to excuse them from class due to the previous evening’s excesses.

“We always get the ones who missed class and want notes to excuse them – even though they reek of beer,” Rice said. “I have four sons in high school and college; I know about hangovers. They come in saying they’ve been sick all night (but they) smell of beer, with bloodshot eyes. We may be old but we aren’t stupid.”