Running head: IMPORTANCE OF ALCOHOL AND ATTITUDES ON POLICIES

Importance of Alcohol to California State University San Bernardino Students and Attitudes on
Policies
Giovanni Fajardo, Holly Krivan, Willy Quezada, Caitlin Vaughn
California State University, San Bernardino

IMPORTANCE OF ALCOHOL AND ATTITUDES ON POLICIES

Abstract
Previous research regarding alcohol on college campuses, have been inadequate and only
focusing on certain issues such as binge drinking, health and psychological effects, academic
performance, and social pressures. This gap in research proposes a problem we are going to
address by uncovering the importance students place on the availability of alcohol on campus. In
this study, we surveyed the students of California State University of San Bernardino (CSUSB)
main campus to discover how important the availability of alcohol on campus is to students, and
their opinion on policies regarding alcohol sales on campus. Participants age ranged from
eighteen to forty-five, and their disciplines varied widely as well. Forty participants took a paper
survey, anonymous, consisting of eight questions. The results indicated that the majority of the
participants believed that having alcohol available on campus is important and supported both
policies regarding alcohol on campus.

IMPORTANCE OF ALCOHOL AND ATTITUDES ON POLICIES

Importance of Alcohol to California State University San Bernardino Students and Attitudes on
Policies
California State University San Bernardino states in their handbook of policies, that the
consumption of alcohol is part of the "American culture" (see figure 1). Because of this, the
university officials have established in the Blue Coyote Pub located in the student union of
California State University San Bernardino (CSUSB). With the establishment of the Blue Coyote
Pub, administration also now allows the selling and advertising of alcoholic beverages on
campus as long as it follows the campuses policies (Lorant, V., Nicaise, P., Soto, V., & dHoore
W. 2013). There has been plenty of research in support of the harmful health problems related to
alcohol and college aged students (Wright, S., Norton, V., Dake, A., Pinkston, J., & Slovis, C.
1998). Although there has been little to no research done on the opinions of alcohol from the
student body opinion. The gap of knowledge from the students perspective, prompted our
research. In this research assignment, we sought to measure the importance CSUSB students
placed on having alcohol available to them on campus.
The opinions of the CSUSB student body regarding the Blue Coyote Pub and alcohol use
in general, are still unknown despite the fact that the pub was originally designed to target the
students and encompass the "American culture" on campus. The knowledge we will obtain by
asking the CSUSB students opinions about alcohol use and CSUSB alcohol policies will
demonstrate perceived importance of alcohol to students. This is important as a whole for the
university to get feedback from the students regarding if the pub is really needed and if the
policies are appropriate or unreachable and/or if the policies are doing their job in keeping the
students safe.
Consuming alcohol is very common in colleges across the U.S., so it may be safe to say

IMPORTANCE OF ALCOHOL AND ATTITUDES ON POLICIES

that drinking is a part of that particular age's culture. But for CSUSB to say that drinking is part
of the American culture is something entirely different and worth questioning. Because alcohol
is said by CSUSB policy makers to be a "part of American culture" (implying it's of great
importance) it is important to see what the students of CSUSB think of alcohol and to see if they
actually agree that alcohol is important enough to be sold on campus. In previous research there
was a spike of alcohol consumption when those school officials introduced their pub (Voas, R.
B., Johnson, M., Turrisi, R. J., Taylor, D., Robert Honts, C., & Nelsen, L. 2008). So we question,
if the pub proves to be popular amongst students, is it because it is bringing in the "American
culture" feel or is it just readily available to an age group that seems to be susceptible to
drinking?
There have not been many articles about college students attitudes of the importance of
alcohol availability on campus, so our research is also important from an innovative perspective.
Studies that focus on students opinions or support for alcohol policies at four year institutions
have been done. One study that was done by Dejong, Towvim, and Schneider focused on the
students support for policies and enforcement strategies to reduce alcohol problems on campus
(p.231). In the study, they administered a survey, but to a much larger sample size, and the
survey was online, where ours was a paper survey. They assessed to what extent the students
support or oppose the policies and procedures and also, what they thought their peers would
think about the policies and procedures. This study differed from ours, because we did not ask
any of the students questions regarding their peers point of views, also this study focused on
twelve policies and procedures to reduce alcohol problems on campus, and our study asked
students two questions regarding CSUSBs policies towards alcohol on campus.
Another study done by Marshall, Roberts, Donelly, and Rutledge showed that students

IMPORTANCE OF ALCOHOL AND ATTITUDES ON POLICIES

attitude on school policies was a great predictor of drinking behavior and perceived drinking
behaviors of others (2011). The study showed that those students who knew of and accepted the
rules consumed significantly less alcohol than those who knew of the rules and opposed them,
than those who knew of the rules and did not have an opinion, and than those who were unaware
of the schools rules. Students who knew of and supported the school policies also perceived that
students in general drank significantly less than what they actually did (2011). Although these
studies are similar to the topic we are currently researching and provide important implications
about our findings related to attitudes on school policies, and perhaps even present opportunities
for future research, they do not accurately describe students perceived overall importance of
having alcohol available to them on campus; making our research of particular importance.
We hypothesize that students will overall support alcohol on campus and show a
moderate importance of it; however, we do not believe that the majority of students will agree
with the statement that alcohol consumption is part of the American culture. We also hypothesize
that students will not show opposition to CSUSB alcohol policies. The hypothesis that we came
up with is connected to previous data, by students supporting policies regarding alcohol
regulation. In the study completed by Dejong, Towvim, and Schneider, the results showed that
majority of students supported 5 out of the 12 policies written (p.234). We then thought, students
are most likely to support policies regarding alcohol, because it is creating a relax, but safe
environment.
Methods
To gather the students opinion, we administrated a paper survey asking the participants
eight questions (see figure 2). Our survey consisted of six close ended questions about the pub
and its policies and two questions that followed that were used to possibly find a correlation

IMPORTANCE OF ALCOHOL AND ATTITUDES ON POLICIES

between specific age or field of study with students opinions regarding the topic. Two surveys
were printed per sheet of paper, then cut into half sheets, in a 12 inch, Times New Roman font
(see figure 2).
Our group consisted of four members, each of us gave out ten surveys. Our sample size
therefore was 40. The areas surveyed included, the John M. Pfau Library, the Student Union,
Behavioral Science building, and Physical Science building on CSUSB's main campus. Each
group member was randomly selected to which area they were going to survey. Before we gave
the participant the survey, we asked if they were a current student attending CSUSB and if so,
we asked if they would partake in a brief survey. The participants that took our surveys all came
from different backgrounds. We were not looking for a particular type of person. Most
participants came from a different disciplines and our age range varied widely. It was important
that the student taking the survey knew the answers were completely anonymous, therefore we
all had the students complete the survey in a black pen which we provided. We also had the
participants fold their survey in half after the completion and place it into a canvas bag.
Sampling methods
When a study is being conducted, especially with surveys, it is hard to acquire a nonbiased sample. Many biases can be at work when passing out surveys if one is not aware of such
biases. To avoid biases in our sampling methods like convenience sampling bias, the group
implemented a unique blend of sampling practices the group felt was best for this study. The
hybrid sampling process includes three different sampling types. These unique blend of sampling
practices include simple random, cluster, and systematic sampling. To define each sampling type
we used Phillip. B Starks glossary of statistical terms, a statistics professor from University of
California, Berkeley. Stark defines a simple random sample as a randomization of all units where

IMPORTANCE OF ALCOHOL AND ATTITUDES ON POLICIES

all units have the equal probability of being selected (Stark, 2014). Simple random sample was
active during the selection of each group member and the area they were going to survey.
Different areas around campus where we can sample were written on small pieces of paper and
put in a box. After shaking the box and without looking, each member reached in and randomly
selected their survey area. The group ended up surveying the John M. Pfau Library, the Student
Union, Behavioral Science building, and Physical Science building on CSUSB's main
campus. The next sampling styles used are defined as follows. According to Stark, a cluster
sample is a sampling of a group of a population as a unit. The cluster aspect of the sampling
process, naturally, is the building in which each group member was assigned. Cluster sampling
alone is biased so we also implemented a systematic sampling style along with the cluster
sampling style. According to Stark a Systematic sampling is selecting a sample every kth
element that is being sampled (Stark, 2014). Essentially, the group agreed that every tenth person
encountered was asked to fill out a survey. The group implemented a cluster and systematic
sampling style at their respective survey area on campus. The hybrid simple random, cluster and
systematic sampling was the best our group could employ for the limited time and resources we
had for this study. We must address the limitations to our sampling practices as well.
Results
We surveyed a total of forty participants. The majors of these participants included
Liberal studies, Bio pre-med, Psychology, Child Development, Human Development,
Economics, Accountancy, Public Administration, Communications, Biology, English, Nursing,
Sociology, Business Administration, Kinesiology, and Business Marketing. The age range of the
participants was eighteen to forty-five.
The first question of our survey asked participants their opinion on having a pub on

IMPORTANCE OF ALCOHOL AND ATTITUDES ON POLICIES

campus. Overall support for the pub was shown by 72.5% of the participants, 22.5% of
participants had no opinion on the pub, and 0.5% opposed the pub overall (see figure 5). When
asked for their opinion on the selling of alcohol on our CSUSB campus, 65% of participants
supported it, 20% of participants said they did not have an opinion on the matter, and 22.5% of
participants opposed the sale of alcohol (see figure 6). When asked if they agreed with the
statement The University administration recognized the consumption of alcoholic beverages as
part of the American culture, 55% of participants agreed, 22.5% of participants neither agreed
nor disagreed, and 17.5% of participants disagreed with the statement (see figure 7). When the
participants were asked if there should be more places on campus to consume alcohol, 22.5% of
them said yes, 62.5% of them said no, and 15% of them did not have an opinion towards this
question (see figure 8). The fifth question of the survey asked if the participant agreed that only
beer and wine should be sold at the pub. Opinions were strongly divided, with agreement by
42.5% of the participants, 22.5% of them neither agreed nor disagreed, and 35% of them
disagreed with the policy (see figure 9). The last question asked the participants opinion on the
inability to possess alcohol in the residence halls. Opinions were once again divided with 35% of
participants supporting the policy, 30% of participants opposed the policy; however, 35% of
participants had no opinion on the matter (see figure 10).
Discussion
We hypothesized that students will answer the survey in a way that demonstrates an
importance of availability of alcohol. The results matched up with our hypothesis. We also
hypothesized that students will not show great opposition to CSUSB alcohol policies. The
amount of opposition equaled the amount of compliance, so once again we were able to predict
student attitudes to an extent. The results overwhelmingly demonstrated an overall preference for

IMPORTANCE OF ALCOHOL AND ATTITUDES ON POLICIES

having alcohol available on campus, this may be due to college students attitudes toward
drinking in general.
The results also demonstrated that students were equally opposed to and in support of
the school alcohol policies. These results regarding the policies were similar to our literature
review. Students in the study done by, Dejong, Towvim, and Schneider, both agreed and
disagreed with policies that were given, 53.1% of students supported the policies (p.234). By
completing this research, we were able to fill a small gap of knowledge of the students
perspective on alcohol availability and their opinions on CSUSB policies.
There were no significant correlations with the answers chosen and the participants'
age, nor were there correlations between the participants' answers and major. This may be due to
the small sample size. Our methods did not aim to specifically question a large number of
students from particular majors or age ranges for comparison, the participants were randomly
chosen.
Previous literature showed that students attitudes on school alcohol policies accurately
reflected their actual drinking behavior (Marshall et.al, 2011). Future studies may want to
observe drinking behaviors on the CSUSB campus, to see if perceived importance of alcohol and
attitudes on school alcohol policies predict alcohol consumption rates. Future research should
also take in consideration of the sample size. The greater the sample size, the more information
and data the research group will conduct. This will make for a better presentation of their
findings and they would be able to predict more of the students drinking behavior, if they choose
to do their research on that topic.
Limitations we faced during our research were, randomize times and our sample
size. Because each member of the group was not available all day, we were unable to randomize

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the times of which the groups were to sample the campus. Even though we could not randomize
the times of sampling, our group members were available at varying times of the day which is
better than acquiring all our sampling data at one specific time of the day. To get the best sample
data of CSUSB students, some group members acquired sampling data as early as 8:00 am and
as late as 8:00 pm and in between. Although a random sample of all CSUSB campus would be
the most ideal sampling form, our resources and time was limited. Our sample size limited our
findings. Our sample size was forty participants which is not much of the student population.
With a sample size of forty participants, we were not able to see more of the students opinions
on the importance of availability of alcohol on campus and their opinions to the policies
regarding alcohol regulations.

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References
Dejong, W., Tomvim, L. G., Schneider, S.K. (2007). Support for alcohol-control policies and
enforcement strategies among U.S. college students at 4-year institutions. Journal of
American College Health, 56(3), 231-236.
Lorant, V., Nicaise, P., Soto, V., & dHoore W. (2013). Alcohol drinking among college
students: college responsibility for personal troubles. BMC Public Health, 13(615), 1-9.
Marshall, B. , Roberts, K. , Donnelly, J. , & Rutledge, I. (2011). College student perceptions on
campus alcohol policies and consumption patterns. Journal of Drug Education, 41(4),
345-358.
Stark, P. B. (2014, July 1). Glossary of Statistical Terms. Retrieved from Department of
Statistics University of California, Berkeley:
http://www.stat.berkeley.edu/~stark/SticiGui/Text/gloss.htm
Voas, R. B., Johnson, M., Turrisi, R. J., Taylor, D., Robert Honts, C., & Nelsen, L. (2008).
Bringing alcohol on campus to raise money: Impact on student drinking and drinking
problems. Addiction.
Wright, S. , Norton, V. , Dake, A. , Pinkston, J. , & Slovis, C. (1998). Alcohol on campus:
Alcohol-related emergencies in undergraduate college students. Southern Medical
Journal, 91(10), 909-913.

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Figure 1. California State University, San Bernardino recognizes alcohol consumption being an
important part of the "American culture". Therefore, the university has accepted alcohol onto
their campus and has regulated the consumption and activities to be permissible as long as the
behaviors are done legally.

Figure 2. The survey was used to attain the opinions of the California State University San
Bernardino student body's view of alcohol and alcohol policies that the University has put into
place. Two surveys fit onto one sheet of paper, then cut in half after printing. The font that was
used was 12 point, Times New Roman.

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Figure 3. This graph demonstrates the field of study (Major) of our participants along the X-axis,
and the amount of participants that were associated in that major along the Y-axis. The results
show that the majority of our participants were members of the Psychology department.

IMPORTANCE OF ALCOHOL AND ATTITUDES ON POLICIES

Figure 4. This graph demonstrates the age range of our participants along the X-axis, and the
amount of people from that age along the Y-axis. The results show the majority of our
participants were between the ages of 21-23, 23-year-old being the peek.

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Figure 5. This graph demonstrates the number of participants (Y-axis) and their opinion on the
pub on California State University San Bernardino campus (X-axis). A majority of the students
surveyed were in "support" of the pub, and a slight lesser amount of people who expressed
"strong support".

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Figure 6. This graph demonstrates the number of people who support the selling of alcohol on
the CSUSB main campus. The results show a majority of the students surveyed were in support
for the availability of alcohol on campus.

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Figure 7. This statement was taken directly from the CSUSB student handbook of Alcohol
Policies, and it was presented to the students to see if students agreed that alcohol consumption
was indeed an important factor in the "American Culture". With a majority of the students
surveyed agreeing with the statement being accurate, there were also a high number of people
who were neutral on the matter.

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Figure 8. This demonstrates that a large majority of the students who were surveyed are content
with the one location, the Blue Coyote Pub, to be the only place they consume their alcoholic
beverages. A majority of the students surveyed did not want to see another place established on
campus where alcohol could be purchased/sold.

IMPORTANCE OF ALCOHOL AND ATTITUDES ON POLICIES

Figure 9. This graph demonstrates the opinions of California State University San Bernardino
student body's population on a specific policy the University holds regarding the variety of
alcoholic beverages being sold at the pub being limited to beer and wine. The results show a
majority of the students who were surveyed agree with this policy.

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IMPORTANCE OF ALCOHOL AND ATTITUDES ON POLICIES

Figure 10. This graph demonstrates the opinions of California State University San Bernardino
student body's population on a specific policy the University holds regarding the inability to
posses alcohol in the residence halls. The results show that a majority of the participants have
no opinion on the matter.

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