THOUSAND OAKS : Cal Lutheran Students Dramatize Anti-Alcohol Stance

Fourteen Cal Lutheran University students painted their faces white Monday to symbolize the hundreds of youths who die each year in drunk-driving accidents.

Dressed in black, the students declined to speak as they attended classes.

All wore signs saying, “I am dead,” and distributed statements to explain their appearance, said organizer Mara Van de Ven, a student.

Some students stood near a crushed pickup, displayed to demonstrate the damage a car and a driver can suffer when they are involved in a drunk-driving accident.

The demonstration was part of a weeklong campaign against drunk driving that began last week with a nonalcoholic cocktail party.

It will conclude Thursday when Ventura County sheriff’s deputies stage field sobriety tests at 7:30 p.m.at the student union building.

Cal Lutheran students are not allowed to consume alcohol in campus dormitories, Van de Ven said, “but we’re aware of the fact that some students do drink here.”

Shaun Graves, 19, a sophomore, said he wanted a “dramatic, poignant representation” to discourage his friends from drinking.

As they wandered from class to class, many of the students were stopped by other students curious about their somber appearance.

“I had a lot of people ask me about it,” said freshman Kerry Lange, 18.

“I had written down on a piece of paper what I was doing and why.”