Alcohol awareness events planned

As the Nov. 18 date of the last home football game at U.Va. approaches, efforts are under way to promote healthy decision-making among students and to discourage alcohol abuse.

U.Va. officials and students are organizing events in a continuing campaign to dispel a decades-old perception that alcohol use among students is a rite of passage. Educational events during Alcohol Awareness Week begin Nov. 11.

In addition, a student group -- Fourth Years Ending Stupid Traditions -- hopes to curb the "4th-year fifth," a practice in which some fourth years attempt to consume a fifth of alcohol on the day of the last home football game. In addition, a 4th-Year 5K race open to the public will take place Nov. 18, the morning of the last home game. The event, created in 1992 by U.Va.'s Office of Health Promotion, will begin at 8 a.m. at the Aquatic and Fitness Center. Registration for non-students is $10. A portion of the race proceeds will be donated to the Leslie Baltz Scholarship fund, established by her family. A 21-year-old honor student, Baltz died in 1997 after falling down a stairway on the day of U.Va.'s last home game. Her family will participate in the same event that she ran in 1997.

See the Alcohol Awareness Week Web site at www.student.virginia.edu/~adapt/aaw.html

For information on the race, contact Abbie Shore at 924-1509 or acs3p@virginia.edu