By MATTHEW EPSTEIN
News Editor
 

"The Choices program is a collaborative effort between the Deans of Students and the Athletics Department," said Assistant Dean of Students Peter Taylor, who is involved in the program.

The program will target student-athletes at Bates, through their coaches and teammates. As 65 percent of Bates students play a sport, this is considered to be a good way to reach much of the campus.

By using "marketing techniques that will challenge perceptions of drinking," the leaders of the Choices Program hope to change the face of drinking at Bates College, which they see as increasingly out of control.

In the upcoming year, the program's goals include getting a group of "Athletes for Healthy Choices" together so that those individuals can encourage others to make responsible decisions about drinking while in college.

As an alternative to alcohol fueled partying, the intramural program has been expanded, with more games later and on weekends, and special events such as the battle of the classes and the First-Year Volleyball Tournament.

First-Year students are being targeted in the program, which seeks to inform them that binge drinking is not the norm at colleges and to correct other "misconceptions regarding alcohol and drug use on campus."

It is hoped that these misconceptions can be altered even before students enroll at Bates by having prospective students interact with the Athletes for Healthy Choices group.

In hopes of decreasing the disturbing rise in dorm damage of the past year, the program is attempting to "foster a greater sense of community in the residences." The expanded intramural program is an integral part of this goal as well.