An excerpt from the NIAAA Report: A Call to Action: Changing the Culture of Drinking at U.S. Colleges The full report can be located at:
http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/Reports/TaskForce/
The tradition of drinking has developed into a kind of culture—beliefs and customs—entrenched in every level of college students' environments. Customs handed down through generations of college drinkers reinforce students' expectation that alcohol is a necessary ingredient for social success. These beliefs and the expectations they engender exert a powerful influence over students' behavior toward alcohol.
Customs that promote college drinking also are embedded in numerous levels of students' environments. The walls of college sports arenas carry advertisements from alcohol industry sponsors. Alumni carry on the alcohol tradition, perhaps less flamboyantly than during their college years, at sports events and alumni social functions. Communities permit establishments near campus to serve or sell alcohol and these establishments depend on the college clientele for their financial success.
Students derive their expectations of alcohol from their environment and from each other, as they face the insecurity of establishing themselves in a new social milieu. Environmental and peer influences combine to create a culture of drinking. This culture actively promotes drinking, or passively promotes it, through tolerance, or even tacit approval, of college drinking as a rite of passage.
Changing the JMU Culture
To make significant changes in the campus environment with regard to alcohol use and abuse, campus must devote leadership, time and commitment to implementing tasks to accomplish the goals and objectives in a comprehensive plan. A plan should be accepted and supported by all key players and organizations on campus and in the community and include a
vision, objective data, priorities, measurable goals and objectives, and evaluation plan, and responsible parties. Representatives from throughout the campus community should continue involvement and articulation of a university committed to reducing the risks of alcohol and drug use consequences. Key representatives from areas including academics, university health center, students affairs, counseling, Greek organizations, student organizations, and campus police must continue to communicate, cooperate and collaborate to provide education and prevention efforts for AOD. Rethinking the “normal” environment with students, faculty, administration and staff education programming should be considered as a major emphasis. All campus community members should be included in environmental change.
Students must be empowered because they are the change agents on campus. A successful and sustainable campus-wide effort depends on the extent to which students lead change on campus. Successful programs have been those, which are facilitated and directed by students. These include peer educators, peer-run focus groups, student/intern-developed materials preparation and class-sponsored activities. Students are not only the primary targets and beneficiaries of prevention programs, but also key contributors to their successful implementation (Mara, 2000; Presidents Leadership Group, 1997). Students should be asked what has an impact on their decisions to not binge drink or participate in risky behaviors.
Outcome and impact assessment should be conducted with all programs. This evaluative information should be essential to campus program planners on utilizing effective substance abuse prevention strategies and eliminating those that show no known measurable impact.
Changing the Virginia Campus Culture
Since the mid-1980’s, the Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control Board has provided leadership to institutions of higher education on student alcohol prevention efforts. More recently, the Virginia College Alcohol Leadership Council (VACALC) was established as an advisory committee that plans college conferences, guides the Virginia college consortia and acts as a resource for Virginia colleges and universities on alcohol issues. VACALC has designed a guide for building campus prevention efforts that can be used for ongoing review, reflection and revision of a campus prevention effort.
Partnerships for Success: A Guide for Building Comprehensive Campus Prevention Efforts
helps cultivate a campus environment to reduce underage, heavy and potentially dangerous drinking.
Partnerships for Success was founded on the HOUSE model and is comprised of five elements:
H is for History & Needs; O is for Outcome,
U is for Undertakings; S is for Steps of Action and
E is for Evaluation. JMU has engaged in this process and should continue to utilize this model for the most effective approaches to reducing even further the alcohol, tobacco and other drug use of our students, and, more importantly, altering the culture within which they live, study, serve and work.
Virginia Standards
Professionals from throughout the state gathered to identify what can be done statewide to help maintain, and ideally increase, the attention given to alcohol prevention on campuses and in their surrounding communities. A wide range of ideas was generated during a professional development session in May 2001. Professionals dedicated to substance abuse prevention gathered from throughout the Commonwealth and discussed specific ways that prevention and other relevant efforts can be enhanced on college campuses. Emerging from this group of approximately 25 professionals was the belief that a “set of standards” or guidelines for all institutions of higher learning in Virginia would be very helpful. The rationale was that if clear standards and criteria for implementing sound, thoughtful approaches could be generated, individual college campuses would benefit.
The professional assessment of this group was that progress on alcohol abuse was slowing because of limited resources, low institutional priority, and unrealistic expectations for immediate outcomes. The proposed “standards” or “criteria” would be helpful, and perhaps essential, for raising the priority of alcohol abuse prevention and related services. With the range of standards and recommendations that already exist for alcohol abuse prevention, the Virginia professionals emphasized two points:
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The range of approaches could be confusing to some campus, community, and state leaders because these standards or criteria come from different sources and offer somewhat different perspectives. |
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The range of existing standards, criteria, and recommendations can serve as the foundation for a thoughtful synthesis for Virginia. |
Thus, the approach used by Virginia professionals was to identify existing resources addressing college student drinking and alcohol abuse, with attention to standards, recommendations, frameworks, and approaches cited for implementation. At a subsequent professional development in June 2001, 23 documents, prepared within the last 5 years, were identified and reviewed with college-based professionals who in their faculty or staff role address substance abuse issues on a regular basis.
For the preparation of this document, the wide range of existing frameworks and recommendations has be coupled with the professional experience, expertise, and perspectives of college professionals dealing with substance abuse on their campuses throughout the Commonwealth. The organization identified for this document is on the philosophy of having successful and meaningful prevention efforts to address alcohol abuse and related problems. Specifically, the professionals working on the Virginia Alcohol Prevention Standards were interested more in results and what it takes to make a difference than in simply identifying specific efforts to be implemented. Thus this document represents the best and current thinking of dedicated professionals regarding what it takes to be successful with addressing alcohol abuse among college students throughout the Commonwealth. It builds upon the prior good work of many state and national organizations and agencies, and the professional perspective of Virginia’s personnel. Its organization is such that the readers can readily use this resource.
Overview of the Standards
The Virginia Alcohol Abuse Prevention Standards document is designed to provide clear guidance for campus leaders as they address alcohol abuse and alcohol-related problems on their campuses and in the surrounding communities. While a range of other approaches exist, these Virginia Standards are organized in a way of what will help a campus-based initiative be “successful.” Rather than simply focus on a comprehensive approach or one that is deemed appropriate for the needs of a campus and its surrounding community, the focus of this resource is upon the wide range of elements and components deemed necessary for success. Thus, the emphasis is upon results or outcomes representing the “bottom line” of campus efforts.
The specific standards are clustered within 14 distinct focus areas. These, in turn, are organized for ease of illustration into four core issues: Foundations, Who Should Be Involved, Focus of Efforts, and Context.
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