Alcohol education expert Dr. Alan Berkowitz will visit Iowa State today to tell students how they can prevent alcohol abuse.

Berkowitz will address more than 10 audiences during his three days on campus, including a keynote address for the community this afternoon.

Berkowitz’s alcohol education message is based on a theory of social norms, he said, explaining that many students make decisions about alcohol use based on what they see the majority of their peers doing.

“Most alcohol prevention approaches have focused on changing the individual or addressing the person who has the problem. It is still undoubtedly true there is a significant minority of students who have serious drinking problems,” he said.

Based on his research, Berkowitz said, only 10-30 percent of students at most institutions have serious drinking problems, but these students are perceived to be in the majority.

“The majority of students are more responsible in both their attitudes and the way they behave with respect to alcohol and other health behaviors,” Berkowitz said.

Randy Mayer, program coordinator for the Student Health Center, said Berkowitz’s program presents an innovative and effective way of dealing with alcohol abuse prevention.

“There are several schools around the nation whose drinking rate is falling, so I looked at those schools to see what they’re implementing, and it’s Berkowitz’s programming,” Mayer said.

“The traditional program is you tell students alcohol is not good for them and they’ll be punished, but we know that doesn’t work,” he said. “Berkowitz’s approach seems to have worked at college campuses.”

Berkowitz said students need to take a “courageous leadership” position and express their views without feeling they are in the minority.

“We’re all afraid to be ourselves. We’re afraid to say what we really think and feel in a group because we want to fit in with the group,” he said. Berkowitz said expression of student feelings is especially important in implementing a dry Veishea 1998.

“What you have is a majority of people who are willing to support the new rules but are silent about their support because they think they’re in the minority,” he said.

He said views of events like Veishea are often misrepresented.

“The only people who actually express their feelings are the people who object,” Berkowitz said. “You have a minority which appoints itself to speak for the majority, and everyone accepts it as the majority view. It’s just that everyone is pessimistic about everyone else.”

Mayer said the university and the alcohol education committee have been doing a good job of looking at off-campus issues, including local bars and their advertising during Veishea weekend.

Berkowitz said students need to follow their natural behavioral instincts to prevent incidents such as the stabbing of Uri Sellers at last year’s Veishea.

“[Sellers] was just lying on the ground, and most students walked by assuming that he was passed out, and apparently it’s not uncommon to have students pass out on the street,” Berkowitz said.

“[The program is] an opportunity for more students to take more responsibility for changing the situation — rather than feeling helpless and that the situation is out of their control,” he said.