With Halloween upon us, we must prepare ourselves for the good, the bad and the inevitable inebriation.

Regardless of how you’re dressed this weekend, there are a few things that you should keep in mind prior to celebrating.

The excessive alcohol consumption that accompanies campus Halloween parties around the country fosters a dangerous environment for students.

The risk of sexual assault increases considerably due to the many out-of-town visitors adding to the WSU student population and heavy alcohol consumption. Several research studies across the nation have concluded that alcohol consumption and rape are undisputedly linked.

While traditionally, people believed that “date rapes” involved drugging of some sort, this is a common misconception.

“Alcohol is the No. 1 date rape drug,” said Mike Lyttle, Regional supervisor of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Nashville crime lab. “Roofies are very rarely, if ever, seen in real life.”

A study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health surveyed 119 colleges and universities in three separate years and found alarming commonalities among data sets.

In this specific study, of the total women that reported being raped, 72 percent reported being intoxicated at the time of their attack.

“In a lot of these young women, their judgment is impaired. Their radar is clouded with alcohol,” said Paul Rinaldi, the associate director of the Addiction Institute of New York City explained. “When they’re clearheaded, they might say, ‘This guy is not someone I want to be alone with.’”

These numbers ring true for socially-oriented universities like WSU. The study found that women who “attended colleges with high rates of heavy episodic drinking were at higher risk of rape while intoxicated.”

For both male and female undergrads this weekend, if you make the decision to consume alcohol, I urge you to be safe. Use the buddy system, monitor your consumption, and only accept drinks you pour for yourself. Keep your cell phone on you at all times and if you begin to fear for your personal safety, leave. With that in mind, Happy Halloween.