The University of Virginia is escalating its efforts to discourage new students from imbibing alcohol.

For the first time this summer, the school has devoted an orientation session solely to alcohol abuse at the university.

The session, titled "U.Va. Students: Is Everybody Drinking?" aims to combat the notion that the university is a place where students both work hard and party hard.

"Every year we hear about students across the country dying from alcohol poisoning," said Susan Bruce, director of U.Va.'s Center for Alcohol and Substance Education. "We don't want that to happen here."

In addition to the new anti-drinking orientation seminar, U.Va.'s incoming first-year students are also being asked to complete an hour-long online course about the basic facts of alcohol.

The "alcohol-wise" course focuses on binge drinking, sexual assault, alcohol poisoning and the dynamics of how alcohol works. The class is not mandatory, Bruce said, but it is an "expectation" that students take it in the weeks leading up to the start of classes on Aug. 26.

U.Va. is also distributing wallet-sized cards to all first-year students with the phone number of the Yellow Cab Co., which gives students a ride home so long as they have a valid U.Va. ID card.

-- Media General News Service