The data is in, and MSU is not a party school.

More than 60 percent of college students nationwide responded that they had consumed five or more alcoholic drinks in the last two weeks, according to the National College Health Assessment conducted by the American College Health Association (ACHA) in Fall of 2006. By comparison, only 47.6 percent of MSU students reported that level of drinking.

The same study in 2002 showed that 78 percent of the 1,105 MSU students polled said they “sometimes choose not to drink when they party.”

The 2006 MSU Fall Celebration Survey of 891 students reported that 70 percent of students are not drinking on a typical Thursday night.

When polled, 82 percent of the same students responded that they selected Michigan State based on the school’s academic reputation and only 4.3 percent said their reason for attending was its party school status.

Nonetheless, MSU developed a reputation as a party school. The university was listed on Princeton Review’s Top 20 Party Schools (reg. required). But MSU has not placed on the list since 2001. When media outlets report on top party schools, many still cite this report.

Dr. Dennis Martell, Health Education Services Coordinator at Olin Health Center, called into question the validity of the Princeton Review list.

“The Princeton Review study is as unscientific as all hell, because they really don’t do any surveying that is methodologically sound,” he said. “They do their survey based on a certain number of people from each school and say ‘Is your school a party school?’ That’s based on perception.”

Party school vs. Partying School
Michigan State is a “partying school,” but not a “party school,” according to Martell.  “‘Party school’ is based more on perception, that’s why people go there,” he said. “It’s a lowering of the academic standards. That’s the perception of a party school.”

He pointed to a perception gap as the reason some may still consider MSU a “party school. “A ’school that parties’ is a school that can have some high-risk drinking going on, but they celebrate on their celebration days. They party at this school, but the perception of being a party school…is no longer accurate.”

This perception gap can be seen in the student body. The 2006 ACHA study also reported that “while only 0.2% of respondents reported drinking alcohol daily in the previous month, respondents believed that 35.5% of their fellow students drank daily in the previous 30 days.”

Martell also hosts Sexposure, a sexual health themed program on The Impact. Three-quarters of MSU students are sexually active, and three-quarters of those students have one partner, he said. “So does sex go hand in hand with alcohol at a party and does that make a party school? Not necessarily. It’s usually the alcohol.”

Michigan State’s Efforts
Dr. Martell has studied the culture of high-risk drinking since 2000 and found that his department’s efforts have had a noticeable impact at MSU. His group gathers data on students perceptions and behaviors and report it back to them. It’s called “social norming.”

“It’s been pretty steady change over time,” he said. “Since we’ve started doing these efforts in 2000…[there has been] a steady decline. While those schools who are not doing what we’re doing are barely holding their own, some are going up.”

The efforts that Martell refers to include confronting high-risk drinking at MSU. To combat these risks, Olin has distributed fliers, posters, cards and other sources of information across campus telling students how to drink safe.

“Some of our efforts don’t even focus on people drinking less,” he said. “So we’ve never been focused on abstinence or necessarily getting people who are underage to stop drinking. Is MSU a partying school? Yes. Does MSU have a partying school image? Not anymore.”