Students, faculty and staff celebrate Hughes-Trigg’s twenty-first birthday in the Commons Thursday afternoon. The celebration had music, food and give-aways in addition to information about the effects of alcohol. (Nick Bakewell)

The Hughes -Trigg student center celebrated its 21st birthday responsibly Thursday afternoon

21 years after opening its doors in 1987, the student center took the opportunity to educate students about responsible drinking habits.

“The first thing that you think of when you hear someone is turning 21 is legal drinking,” organizer of the event Marianna Sullivan said. “We tried to make a play off of that and celebrate responsibly and give out information at the same time.”

Megan Knapp, health educator for the SMU health center, was passing out information and said the direction of their message was responsibility not alcohol abstinence.

“Responsibility is a better way to reach students, especially the students who need to be reached, ” Knapp said. “When promoting responsibility we are looking at ways for students to lower their risk when using alcohol.”

Knapp was handing out guidelines for lower risk drinking. This included the 0-1-2-3 approach. Zero drinks if you are under 21 or driving. No more than one drink per hour. Limit your drinking to no more than two times per week and no more than three drinks per occasion.

Information was also passed out to remind students of the good samaritan and medical amnesty policy. Students who seek medical attention for themselves or another person due to intoxication from alcohol/ drugs will not be subject to SMU disciplinary actions.

On display with the responsible drinking information was a board in which over 100 students pledged to be responsible drinkers and signed their name.

Knapp was also handing out Gordie foundation bottle openers and koozies. Many may find this contradictory she said, but when you are cracking open a bottle or putting your drink in a koozie is often when you need the reminder to be responsible the most.

The Gordie foundation was founded after Gordie Bailey, an 18-year-old freshman from the University of Colorado died of alcohol poisoning. The mission is to provide today’s youth with the skills to navigate the dangers of alcohol.

In addition to the theme of drinking responsibly, birthday cake for the student center was available for students passing through to help celebrate. A Dedman masseuse also gave out free massages.

Background music was provided by Ray Tamez, a second year graduate guitar performance student in the Meadows school.

Senior Tony Nguyn said that it is good to teach students responsibility when it comes to drinking.

“The [birthday party] is creating a favorable atmosphere and is giving the message to students that they can get together and hang out without being drunk,” Nguyn said.