DeKALB | E-Toke and E-Chug, two online quizzes found on NIU’s Health Enhancement Web site, ask students to answer a list of questions in which they detail their alcohol and drug use.

The programs were adopted last fall from San Diego State University to satisfy two purposes, said Donna Schoenfeld, director of Health Enhancement.

“The Web sites serve as an intervention if we feel someone needs an educational tool … but it also serves as a personal assessment,” Schoenfeld said. “It increases students’ knowledge base of what is high-risk behavior.”

Upon visiting the site, students can use a log-on ID to track their answers or can begin filling out the survey using a number ID randomly assigned to them.

However, students shouldn’t fear that their information can get them in trouble. All information provided will be kept strictly confidential, Schoenfeld said.

“We don’t get their name, their Z-ID number … any student who goes and uses this, their identity is kept anonymous and we can never find it out,” she said.

The Web sites were used as a replacement to a class Judicial Affairs could force first-time offenders to attend, said Steven Lux, a health educator with Health Enhancement.

However, Lux said alcohol awareness was limited before the Web sites, because people weren’t choosing to attend the class; it was less focused on education than on punishment.

And though the sites aren’t ideal, they promote responsibility and self-awareness, Lux said.

“We’re trying to promote healthy relationships with alcohol; to me there are no good or bad drugs, just good and bad relationships or uses,” Lux said.

Sarah Augustinas is a Campus Reporter for the Northern Star.