Opinion: Binge Drinking Culture Harms Students And Undermines SDSU's Mission

By Rocio Hernandez, Times of San Diego

November 4, 2021

“You Honk, We Drink.”

To the drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists navigating traffic along Montezuma Road late in August, the sign appeared out of place, while at the same time, very much at home.

That’s because its message set the stage for the arrival of San Diego State University students on campus for the 2021-22 school year.

Many people whizzed by the sign without blinking an eye. And who could blame them? In a society where alcohol consumption is considered a traditional rite of passage, what could be more synonymous with university life than drinking?

But to me, an SDSU graduate and community organizer with Social Advocates for Youth, the message hit me like a punch in the stomach. How could that sign define the academic journey that I, and countless other young adults began when we arrived on campus for the first time, ready to learn, excited to meet new friends, and encounter new experiences?

It’s insulting, I told myself.

Insulting but not surprising. San Diego State University –along with the University of California San Diego — are ranked among the top 50 U.S. colleges with the biggest alcohol problems.

As a college graduate and substance use prevention advocate, I understand the prevalence of binge and underage drinking on college campuses. Roughly 80% of college students — four out of every five — consume alcohol to some degree. It’s estimated that 50% of those students binge drink, which means drinking alcohol to the point of getting drunk.

But simply acknowledging binge drinking as a problem on college campuses is not rocket science. Instead, I wondered how SDSU officials allowed this sign to become a welcome mat for the university –- along with another offensive sign that popped up near campus that same week. Timed to greet parents arriving on campus with their children, the Delta Chi fraternity hung a banner outside its house that said, “Daughter Drop Off Center.”

Fuming over these disturbing optics, my thoughts turned to the teenagers I’ve mentored over the years. A handful made their leap from high school to college this fall. I can relate to their experience as teenagers growing up in City Heights and attending Hoover and Crawford High Schools together.

Our shared love of our community and passion for making a difference inspired all of us take collective actions as members of Advocates for Change Today a youth coalition committed to promoting substance abuse prevention and improving neighborhood health and safety in San Diego’s Mid-City region.

“How would they feel if they encountered this sign?” I asked myself. “Would its message fill them with anger and disappointment, too?” I remembered my hope to be welcomed into a new circle of friends during my freshman year, when I was removed from the social networks of my hometown of City Heights.

I wondered if “You Honk, We Drink” had the power to chip away at what inspired a generation of teens to join ACT in the first place. Our vision was to build a healthy and resilient City Heights from the inside out and the bottom up.

The “You Honk, We Drink” sign is gone now. But the problem of binge drinking at SDSU remains. Any hope of shedding its party school image will hinge on the university’s commitment to confront the harmful stereotypes that sustain its culture of college drinking and diminish the impact of SDSU’s academic mission.

Rocio Hernandez is a community organizer with SAY San Diego. She grew up in City Heights. As a teenager, Hernandez was a founding organizer of the Latino Youth Council, known today as Advocates for Change Today.

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