CATALYST Winter 1998--Vol. 3 No. 2 A Publication of the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention FUNDED BY THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Lesson from Recent Tragedies: Campus Officials Need to Work with Their Local Communities A MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR by William DeJong The alcohol-poisoning death of Benjamin Wynne, a Louisiana State University (LSU) fraternity pledge, has raised profound questions about the responsibilities of colleges and universities for the safety and well-being of their students. With a campus ban on alcohol, LSU officials were quick to point out that the student who died was drinking off campus. ³What is frustrating,² said LSU Chancellor William Jenkins, ³is that there is no way to manage [students] off campus.² Recent court decisions have agreed that college and university officials cannot be expected to control student conduct, but it is wrong to imply that campus administrators are helpless in the face of determined students who want to drink alcohol. To address this problem, campus administrators need to work in partnership with their local communities‹elected officials, police, prevention advocates, and bar and restaurant owners‹to change the social, legal, and economic environment in which students make decisions about whether and how much to drink. The LSU case underscores the importance of this broader approach. The 20-year-old Wynne began binge drinking with fellow Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) pledges at an off-campus party to celebrate their new fraternity membership and then moved to a local bar called Murphyıs University Grill. Murphyıs features ³beat the clock² specials with drinks as cheap as a penny and other low-price promotions. According to press reports the SAE pledges, most of whom were under the legal drinking age of 21, were drinking pitchers of a high-octane combination of rum, whiskey, and liqueur. Other schools are faced with the same problem. Boston College officials reported recently that a 19-year-old student was severely injured when he fell four stories from a dormitory window, apparently after a night of heavy drinking at a Harvard Square sports bar. The lesson is clear. School administrators can do a great deal on campus to address the problem of dangerous drinking, but their success will be limited until they also do something about local retail outlets that sell to minors or to intoxicated patrons. The need for campus-community partnership becomes increasingly important as schools across the nation begin to tighten their alcohol policies. Two student deaths in Massachusetts, one at MIT and another at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, led the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education to impose a campus alcohol ban at all state colleges and universities. Join Togetherıs Diane Barry, a former member of the Centerıs Review Group, explained to the Boston Globe the importance of campus-community prevention: ³The campus isnıt an entity unto itself. There are lots of bars and liquor stores throughout the community that must be part of a long-term strategy.² Across the United States, colleges and universities such as Stanford, the University at Albany, SUNY, and Western Washington have formed campus-community partnerships to stem student drinking problems either through responsible beverage service programs, tougher law enforcement, or a combination of both. LSU, BC, and other campuses can learn a lot from their example. Making the Link: Academics and Prevention Teaching faculty at colleges and universities have unique opportunities to influence campus health and safety and should take a more active leadership role in alcohol and other drug prevention, according to a recent National Symposium on Faculty Leadership in Prevention organized by the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention and convened at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. The three-day think tank, the first national meeting held about faculty leadership on this issue, was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to Education Development Center, Inc., where the Higher Education Center is based. Symposium participants concluded that if faculty members seize these unique opportunities, they can have a significant impact on reducing alcohol and other drug use, violence, and other related problems. Faculty can exercise leadership through a combination of curriculum reform, the application of interdisciplinary approaches to prevention, and collaboration with student affairs professionals. According to Lewis D. Eigen, Ed.D., a senior advisor to the Center who chaired the think tank, despite statistics on the problems related to student drinking, some faculty are reluctant to embrace prevention. ³Their reasons are well known‹pressures from their academic duties; their immersion in what may seem to be unrelated academic specialties; the belief that such matters are not their responsibility. Part of our job is to remind faculty that alcohol and other drug prevention work is vital to their success as teachers,² he said (see Presidents Leadership Group). Eigen, a former faculty member at Temple and Columbia universities, maintains that faculty can be an important force for prevention on campus. ³Tenured faculty and alumni are the two power sources to be reckoned with. Students graduate in four or five years, and top college administrators seem to be constantly on the move. Faculty have enormous institutional power, and with that, of course, comes institutional responsibility.² Symposium participants suggested a number of ways faculty members can wield institutional influence to enhance campus health and safety, all of which are compatible with their roles as teachers and researchers. Gerardo M. Gonzales, Ph.D., of the University of Florida, pointed out that faculty want to be involved with student life in ways that are ³consistent with their role as faculty.² Faculty at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York, and Portland State University described new interdisciplinary course work that enables students to learn about alcohol and other drug consequences and how to avoid them, all done in the context of courses that meet the studentsı normal academic requirements. ³Alcohol and other drug problems are complex social issues that demand interdisciplinary answers,² said David Craig, Ph.D., a chemistry professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. At the University of Vermont, faculty have reinstituted teaching on Fridays to reinforce expectations that full-time college participation is indeed a full-time proposition, according to Dean M. Batt, graduate faculty member and dean of students. Vermont is one of six campuses participating in a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation initiative designed to reduce alcohol and other drug problems. Service learning, either in required courses or as an extracurricular activity, can link faculty academic interests with student affairs needs. This point was highlighted by Kathy Kellermann, Ph.D., associate professor of communication, and Judy Hearsum, Student Health Services, from the University of California‹Santa Barbara, who have collaborated to engage students in public health and social marketing campaigns for alcohol and other drug prevention. Faculty research can also inform campus policy development. Ian M. Newman, a professor of health education, told of campus life improvement efforts abetted at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln when faculty were able to provide ³ . . . pertinent qualitative and quantitative data (about alcohol problems) at short notice and in understandable form² to the chancellorıs Task Force on Conduct Standards and Behavioral Expectations. Presidents Leadership Group The Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention has formed the Presidents Leadership Group to create a blueprint for alcohol and other drug problem prevention on college campuses. A copy of the Presidents Leadership Groupıs report, Be Vocal, Be Visible, Be Visionary, has been sent to the president of every four-year college and university in the nation. Members of the Presidents Leadership Group come from a cross section of major U.S. universities. They include Robert L. Carothers, University of Rhode Island; Mary Sue Coleman, University of Iowa; B. James Dawson, Tennessee Wesleyan College; E. Gordon Gee, The Ohio State University; Charles A. Hines, Prairie View A&M University; and Manuel T. Pacheco, University of Missouri. The Presidents Leadership Group built its recommendations around three key areas: --Be Vocal. College presidents should openly and publicly acknowledge that alcohol and other drug abuse problems exist and then reach out to campus, community, and state-level groups to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy for prevention. --Be Visible. College presidents should take an active stand on alcohol and other drug issues, convey clear expectations and standards, and serve as a role model to other senior administrators, faculty, and students. --Be Visionary. College presidents should make alcohol and other drug abuse prevention a priority in their strategic plan for the school. Specific recommendations issued by the Presidents Leadership Group are contained in 13 proposals for effective prevention. For additional information, contact us by telephone (1-800-676-1730) or through the Internet (HigherEdCtr@edc.org), or by visiting the Centerıs Website at http://www.edc.org/hec/. Setting Community Expectations and Standards at the University of Rhode Island In the following excerpts from his communiqué kicking off the start of the 1997­98 academic year, Robert L. Carothers, president of the University of Rhode Island, urged faculty members to take an active role in setting behavioral expectations and standards for incoming freshman that emphasize the learning process and make it clear that alcohol abuse is not an accepted social norm. September 1, 1997 Colleagues: The new semester is about to begin, and the Class of 2001 will begin moving in today. It is an exciting class, about 200 students larger than last year, with average SAT scores that are up some 12 or 13 points. It will also have the most racial and ethnic diversity we have yet seen in Kingston. You have all worked hard to bring in this class, and I congratulate you. Despite the challenges at URI with which we are all too familiar, these students and their families saw the strengths of the University and made their decisions accordingly. These first few weeks are obviously very important in setting the standards we expect these students to meet and in setting the tone of campus community life. This is a class which expects to be challenged, and I urge you to begin the semester in a way that provides that challenge. The research on student learning is clear that high expectations by faculty and a corresponding student commitment of ³time on task² are essential, as are having students actively involved in the learning process and connected in meaningful ways to faculty in and out of class. It is also during these first few weeks that local social norms are established. Among the most significant of these is the perceived norm regarding the use and abuse of alcohol and other substances. Alcohol abuse by students, especially binge drinking, is one of the most difficult problems on college campuses around the nation. It is also a sufficient condition for most sexual assaults and fighting. Despite recent progress at URI in nudging the norm of student behavior in the right direction, we can expect to continue to see such abuse in the incoming class. Again, the research is clear that the most progress is made in dealing with this problem when it is treated as a matter of ³environment,² rather than as an individual matter (although individuals still must be held accountable for their own behavior). We need your help in making clear to students that the abuse of alcohol is not simply some rite of passage we will tolerate. You can do that by speaking out on the subject, and I hope you will do that. You have far more influence than you might imagine! You can also help by articulating your high expectations for work completed in these first few weeks and by not accepting excuses for work not completed on a timely basis because of partying. . . . In short, letıs use these first few weeks of the new semester to affirm the culture for learning to which we are committed. The entering class is strong evidence of the commitment of this outstanding faculty to our students, and we need to work together to ensure that they get off on the right foot, have a successful year and return to us in the fall of 1998 with as little attrition as possible. Thank you. Robert L. Carothers, President What Do Faculty Members Think? According to the Faculty and Staff Environmental Alcohol and Other Drug Survey developed by the Core Institute for Alcohol and Drug Prevention, 64 percent of responding faculty members considered current levels of alcohol and drug use on their campus to be a concern for educators. Ninety percent said that institutions of higher education should be involved in prevention efforts. They also said that alcohol and other drug use negatively affects the personal and academic lives of their students (87 percent and 92 percent, respectively). But despite these opinions, 78 percent do not describe themselves as ³actively involved² in prevention. However, many faculty members would like to become more involved, with 60 percent saying that they would attend a work-shop dealing with alcohol and other drug prevention and education efforts, and 40 percent saying they would like to be more involved with prevention on campus. Survey findings are based on responses from 5,583 faculty and staff members from 31 colleges and universities during the period from December 1994 through March 1997. For additional information visit the Core Instituteıs Website at http://www.siu.edu/coreinst. A New Party Twist at Fraternities College fraternities have embarked on a serious effort to clean up their act. The Animal House image may have been good for laughs 20 years ago, but this generation shows signs of taking fraternity life more seriously. Getting alcohol out of the fraternity house is a primary goal at many colleges and universities. Three fraternities, Sigma Nu, Phi Delta Theta, and Phi Gamma Delta have adopted an alcohol-free housing policy for their organizations as a whole, calling on all their chapters to become substance free by the year 2000. But the fraternities have offered their chapters significant financial incentives to act quickly. Phi Delta Theta's national officers promised $20,000 to any chapter that went cold turkey in fall 1997. And individual chapters of other fraternities and some campus Greek systems, such as the University of Iowa, are embracing the same idea on their own, with sorority and fraternity members themselves voting for alcohol-free housing policies. In addition, a program called "Select 2000," sponsored by the National Interfraternity Council, is adding momentum to the adoption of "dry house" policies at fraternities. Jonathan Brant, executive vice president of NIC, says Select 2000 is the outgrowth of a realization that entertainment‹and not scholarship, leadership and service‹had become the primary focus of fraternity life. The 1994 annual meeting of NIC identified alcohol and marathon partying as a fundamental problem on the fraternity scene. "We discovered that alcohol was a pitfall keeping us from realizing our potential," says Brant. The Conference is urging its 64 member fraternities on 800 campuses in the United States and Canada to go substance free by the year 2000. But the movement has been given a positive spin. Rather than emphasizing a ban on alcohol, it seeks to revive principles that have been overshadowed or lost in the face of what Brant calls the "drinking culture" of fraternity life. NIC is hoping that Select 2000 will gain impetus from examples on four pilot campuses. On these campuses‹Florida Southern College at Lakeland, University of Northern Colorado at Greeley, Villanova University near Philadelphia, and Southern Illinois University at Carbondale‹all fraternity chapters are phasing out alcohol in Greek housing. Fueling the movement is the embarrassment of research findings that show that binge drinking by college students‹five or more drinks on an occasion‹is heaviest among fraternity members. Alcohol has been involved in hazing rituals and is often cited as a factor in sexual assaults and acquaintance rape. Sigma Nu, Phi Delta Theta, and Phi Gamma Delta appear to be the only fraternities that have resolved to make all their chapters substance free by 2000. One exception to the traditional link of drinking and fraternity life is the FarmHouse fraternity, with chapters on some 40 campuses. It has had an alcohol-free tradition at its houses since its founding in 1905, except for a brief period in the 1980s when alcohol was allowed under certain circumstances. In 1988 FarmHouse returned to its policy of allowing no alcohol on chapter property. As 1997 fall classes got under way at colleges and universities, 43 of Phi Delta Theta's 150 chapters had committed themselves to the alcohol-free policy. Bob Biggs, executive vice president of the fraternity, says he is confident the others will fall in line. "Going alcohol free can be a plus in recruiting new members," he says. "You can promise students a chance to live in clean quarters, study in peace at night, and develop some genuine friendships." Mo Littlefield, executive director of Sigma Nu, is also optimistic. "We think the climate of the whole fraternity community will be dramatically different by the year 2000," he says. A folder circulated to Phi Delta Theta chapters promotes the policy with the slogan "Brotherhood‹Our substance of choice." The policy concedes that there are practical as well as idealistic reasons for going alcohol free. The fraternity's insurance rates have been going through the roof. Of all insurance claims involving Phi Delta Theta chapters and their houses‹including fires and other property losses‹a majority have been alcohol related. Advocates of Select 2000 admit that an alcohol ban in fraternity houses is likely to shift drinking parties to other locations. "But this will be a positive development to the extent it requires planning," says Biggs. "If you're going to throw a party you have to book a place, arrange for the alcohol service, set the hours, and arrange for transportation back and forth. This could lead to less overall alcohol consumption than when Higher Education Center Publications parties are spontaneous and casual things at the house, with unlimited supplies of booze." The Interfraternity Conference also is mindful of the potential for problems when drinking is forced out of a fraternity house. "The primary concern of a fraternity is to look out for the welfare of its members," says NIC's Brant. "For 10 years we've been engaging in various kinds of prevention activities, and we know that cleaning up the scene at the chapter's house will not mean the end of high- risk drinking, including drinking and driving. Prevention is going to concern us as much as ever." Rush to Be Dry If rush week at the University of Utah is any gauge, the Greek system doesn't need to remain awash in alcohol to survive. According to a report in USA Today (October 22, 1997), newly dry Phi Delta Theta pledged 26 new members, double what it got last year and nearly doubling its membership. About half of the 120 Phi Delta Theta chapter houses across the country went dry this year as well, despite members fears that no one would join if they couldn't drink or that other fraternities would make jokes at their expense. Instead, according to preliminary national figures, membership during fall recruitment increased 33 per-cent over last year at newly dry chapters and dropped 1 percent at chapters where alcohol is allowed. Taking a Stand Against Drugs and Violence: The 1997 National Meeting Over 650 people gathered in San Antonio, Texas, in mid-September for the U.S. Department of Educationıs annual National Meeting on Alcohol, Other Drugs, and Violence Prevention in Higher Education. A limbo contest, a female mariachi band, entertainment by the Cadence Cloggers, and country and western dance lessons helped keep spirits high despite record-breaking temperatures. Sessions for this yearıs meeting were designed to raise the standard of prevention in higher education by focusing on the collaboration of efforts necessary to attain a more civil college environment, both within the walls of the campus and in surrounding communities. In his address to the general assembly, Bill Modzeleski, director of the Safe and Drug- Free Schools Program at the U.S. Department of Education, challenged the contention that prevention isnıt rocket science. ³My response to that is Alcohol and drug prevention is more complex than rocket science.² ³Itıs hard to sell prevention unless we can show it works. We can no longer justify spending money on programs that feel good but donıt show results,² he added. Modzeleski listed 10 recommended actions that those working at colleges and universities can take to help make alcohol and other drug prevention a priority on their campuses and in their communities: 1. Link up with the Higher Education Center Website http://www.edc.org/hec/. 2. Provide feedback to the Department of Education, either directly or through the Center. 3. Tell the Department whatıs working. 4. Speak about alcohol and drug issues with some one youıve never spoken to before on this topic. 5. Join the Network (see Network insert). 6. Write an article for publication. 7. Be a mentor or a coach for a young person. 8. Look for one new prevention idea, and then implement it. 9. Plan to attend the next national meeting. 10. Make a new friend in the alcohol and other drug field, and stay in touch. Robert Denniston, director of the Health and Human Services Secretaryıs Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Initiative, underscored the need for using research to inform prevention efforts and then documenting what works. ³We need to look for the science base of our work. We need data tied to outcomes. The research done to date has focused mostly on individuals. Now we need research tied to the environment.² ³Campuses need to search for new partners, broadening the constituencies they work with. The business and faith sectors have especially unrealized potential as partners. Itıs important, too, to link alcohol and other drug issues to other issues, such as violence, HIV/AIDS, and academic performance,² he said. Denniston pointed out that prevention is important now more than ever because the number of U.S. youths will reach a record high in the year 2005, based on current population estimates. ³Even if we are successful in halting the rates of alcohol and other drug use by youth, the absolute number of users will increase,² he said. H. Wesley Perkins, Ph.D., professor of sociology at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York, said that there are four critical areas where change is needed in order to make further progress in the field: ³The first is gender awareness. We need to know more about and pay better attention to differences in risk, use rates, social and psychological reasons for use, effects, and prevention approaches. Secondly, we need more effective means of addressing the large gap between reality and perception of alcohol and drug use by students, since that misperception tends to nudge nonusers into using and bolsters heavy users. . . . Thirdly, we need to address the dirty e word‹evaluation. We canıt afford to waste time and money on programs that are dear to our hearts but donıt really work. Lastly, we need to recognize that faculty are uniquely situated to help solve problems of alcohol and other drug use among students.² Mothers Against Drunk Drivingıs president-elect Karolyn Nunnalee said that MADD has come to realize the vital need to focus on and involve youth in its work. Last summer MADD convened a youth summit in Washington, D.C., where students representing each U.S. congressional district developed for Congress a set of recommendations to reduce incidents of alcohol-impaired driving. This yearıs meeting featured three special interest tracks: student leadership; law enforcement and judicial track; and a national forum for senior administrators. Mark Your Calendars! Thursday to Sunday, October 15­18, 1998 Washington, D.C. The U.S. Department of Educationıs 12th Annual National Meeting on Alcohol, Other Drug, and Violence Prevention in Higher Education Major presentations, concurrent sessions, poster presentations, exhibits, Senior Administratorsı National Forum, and track for students. Calls for abstracts and exhibits plus more details available soon. Point your browser to the Higher Education Centerıs Website: http://www.edc.org/hec/ or call (800) 676- 1730. Getting Help from the Higher Education Center News of the alcohol-poisoning deaths of fraternity members at Louisiana State University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) brought a torrent of technical assistance calls to the Higher Education Center at Education Development Center, Inc. At the center of the storm was Maggie Cretella, the Centerıs technical assistance director. ³The volume of information requests has been phenomenal,² explains Cretella. ³In September our Website had 22,000 Œhits,ı more than double our previous monthly high. The number of calls coming through the Centerıs 800 number has risen dramatically, too. People are learning we can be counted on.² Some callers are looking for a publication, or perhaps a referral to a school that has tried a certain type of prevention program. Others are looking for help in reviewing all of their prevention efforts and developing a new strategic plan. Whatever the request, Cretella and other Center staff try to expand peopleıs thinking about how to approach prevention. ³We want people to look at the campus and community environment and how that might be changed to reduce the problems of alcohol and other drug use,² says Cretella. ³We also believe that school officials need to reach out and work in partnership with people from the community, ideally through a formal coalition.² After the death of the MIT student, the chair of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education sought the Centerıs opinion on a new policy proposal to ban alcohol from all public colleges and universities in the state. Center staff offered feedback, but also noted that the policy would have little effect unless campus officials began to work with local police, neighborhood residents, and bar and restaurant owners to eliminate irresponsible alcohol marketing and sales practices in their communities. Center Managing Director Michael Gilbreath attended a Massachusetts Board meeting to reinforce that message and to generate interest in creating a state-level initiative to support campus-community teams across the Commonwealth. ³We try to stimulate new thinking,² notes Gilbreath, ³but then our job is to help people build their knowledge base and develop the necessary skills for putting a comprehensive plan into action.² Another important aspect of the Centerıs technical assistance work is to provide follow-up help to campus-community teams that have attended the Centerıs training events. In Ohio, for example, teams from 19 schools received training in program evaluation. Judy Jacobs, the Centerıs evaluation director, continued to work with the teams as they developed lists of measurable objectives and determined what types of data they would need to monitor. Most people first come in contact with the Center through technical assistance, so customer service is Cretellaıs top priority. ³The last thing you want to hear when you call an information line are the words I donıt know, ² says Cretella. ³We make sure that doesnıt happen here. We never tell anyone we canıt help them; we always find a way to do it.² Cretella joined the Center in late 1995 after working as a research associate at the National Center for the Advancement of Prevention. During her tenure at the Center, calls for technical assistance have grown from 60 to an average of over 150 calls per month. In September, there were nearly 350 calls. Many callers are referred to a trained Higher Education Center Associate, such as Barbara Fijolek, the wellness coordinator at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. A cadre of Center Associates participate in extensive trainings with Center staff. They then serve as TA providers to extend our reach and capacity out in the field. ³The Center Associates are dealing on a day-to-day basis with the very same issues that people are calling about,² says Fijolek, a prevention veteran with 20 yearsı experience in higher education. ³Itıs important that new program coordinators be able to talk with someone who knows exactly what their situation is.² Vivian Goon-Williams, former director of substance abuse at Alcorn State University in Lorman, Mississippi, was someone who benefited from the Centerıs technical assistance. ³The Center helped us analyze our Core Survey data on student alcohol and other drug use. After we published the results many more students became aware of our prevention program, including several who then got involved in what weıre trying to do,² says Goon-Williams. ³The Center provided information I would not ordinarily have, including whatıs happening in prevention on other college campuses, new laws and regulations, as well as statistics from other schools.² ³First impressions are lasting,² concludes Cretella. ³The Centerıs mission is to work with institutions of higher education to expand their capacity and repertoire of strategies in AOD/violence prevention on campus. Whenever possible, we strive to have training, publications, and TA support each other to develop new knowledge and skills and to change practice. We canıt succeed unless people have a positive experience when they call and get what they need‹and I think they do.² Network of Colleges and Universities: Committed To The Elimination Of Drug And Alcohol Abuse 1997 Marked Leadership Transitions for Network:Chuck Cychosz Is New Chair As 1998 dawns, the Network of Colleges and Universities Committed to the Elimination of Drug and Alcohol Abuse (The Network) welcomes new leadership appointments to its regional coordinator and executive committee ranks. Chuck Cychosz, Ph.D., will chair the organization, having won unanimous support from the executive committee at its fall meeting. Cychosz is with the Office of Student Affairs, Iowa State University. Two of the Networkıs founders each concluded 10 years of service in 1997, stepping down from the executive committee, which they led as co-chairs during the past decade. Lyle Edmison, Ph.D., former vice president at California State University, Hayward, and co-regional coordinator for California-Guam-Hawaii, said his farewells at the Networkıs spring meeting. Judith Chambers, vice president for student life at the University of the Pacific, and also co-regional coordinator for California-Guam-Hawaii, announced her retirement from Network leadership at the same spring meeting, but delayed departure‹to provide leadership continuity‹until after the fall meeting held in conjunction with the Department of Educationıs National Meeting on Alcohol, Other Drugs, and Violence Prevention in Higher Education, conducted in September in San Antonio, Texas. The same meeting was an occasion of celebration marking the Networkıs decade of service since its 1987 inception. Regional events (announced on the Higher Education Centerıs upcoming events Web page) will further acknowledge the 10th anniversary throughout the balance of the 1997­98 academic year. Carole Middlebrooks, University of Georgia, and co-regional coordinator for Alabama- Florida-Georgia, won appointment to replace Edmison on the executive board. At this writing, selection of Chambersı replacement is pending. New regional coordinators since the 1996 national meeting in Park City: --Jacque Daley-Perrin, from The Ohio State University, returned to Ohio Network leadership following a move by Jan Gasgoine, Ph.D., from Baldwin-Wallace College to join BACCHUS, where she heads up its Hope Needs Help: Campus HIV Peer Prevention Programs. Daley-Perrin, director of OSUıs Prevention Center, also received appointment with the Higher Education Center as a Center Associate in 1997. --Connie L. Kitchens, of Utah Valley State College, assumed the Arizona-Nevada- Utah co-regional coordinator role when Cheryl Rose left Dixie College to relocate with her family to Provo. Kitchens serves, in addition, as co-chair for the Utah State Substance Abuse Prevention Consortium. --Robin J. Harris, coordinator for the Athletic Health Enhancement Program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, has taken on the regional coordinator job for the Network region encompassing the New England states of Connecticut-Maine- Massachusetts-New Hampshire-Rhode Island-Vermont, in keeping with the tradition that the chair of the New England College Alcohol Network (NECAN) also serves as Network regional coordinator. Harris and her NECAN co-chair, Christine M. Batty, Merrimack College, followed long-serving Stephen J. Nelson, Ph.D., who is now on the faculty of the University of Connecticut. --Gina Poggione is the first ever Indiana-based co-regional coordinator (with Barb Fijolek, Southern Illinois University, for the Illinois-Indiana region). Poggione, based at the University of Notre Dame, where she directs the Office of Alcohol and Drug Education, replaced Joe A. Baker, also of Southern Illinois University. --Joseph Marron, Ph.D., providing a Southern California perspective to the California- Guam-Hawaii region, has filled the vacancy created by Edmison. Marron, vice president for Student Affairs at United States International University in San Diego since 1996, had prior Network experience while at East Coast campuses. The Network of Colleges and Universities Committed to the Elimination of Drug and Alcohol Abuse consists of 1,400 colleges and universities dedicated to the elimination of substance abuse on postsecondary campuses. Its common theme is a set of standards to which member institutions subscribe. The standards, now undergoing update revision, are consistent with federal, state, and local laws and are intended to assist campuses in the development of policy, education, enforcement, and assessment. Once finalized, the standards will appear on the Network page of the Higher Education Center Website. The Network is served by volunteers from member institutions, who receive guidance and assistance from the Department of Education. Network regions, 21 altogether, consist of single or adjacent state groups to better serve local interests. Volunteer regional coordinators, appointed by the Department of Education, provide liaison between the Department and the campuses. The chief executive officer (president, chancellor, etc.) of each member institution identifies its campus representative. Campus representatives make up the ³constituency² of the regions and help conduct regional affairs of the Network. The principal business of the Network is the provision of information through electronic messaging, printed matter, and the sponsorship of national, regional, and state activities and conferences addressing issues of alcohol and other drug problems confronting higher education. One of the powers of the Network is an ability to mobilize quickly its 1,400 member institutions representing hundreds of thousands of students. For example, it was Pennsylvania regional coordinator, Natalie Kroll, who, expressing outrage through the Networkıs electronic mail system, sparked a 1996 national campaign that led the MCI corporation to withdraw a poster from campus circulation. The poster, for MCIıs long distance phone service, seemed to condone binge drinking by depicting a young man apparently passed out next to a toilet, with the caption ³6:16 A.M., 21st birthday, the story of all stories, from what you can remember, call your older bro . . . to tell the tale.² The Network can also respond to concerns confronting top campus leadership. It sponsors an annual national forum for senior administrators within the Departmentıs national meeting. The Department supports periodic Network leadership meetings and provides, through the Higher Education Center contract, a small stipend to each of the 21 regions to facilitate communication, education, and mutual assistance. A full directory of Network member institutions is available online and searchable at the Centerıs Website at http://www2.edc.org/hec/netpeople2.asp. A growing number of regions maintain their own Web presence, also accessible through the Centerıs Website. How to Join the Network To join the Network, the president of your college or university must submit a letter or form indicating the institution's commitment to implement the Networkıs Standards on your campus. Mail this letter of endorsement to: The Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Education Development Center, Inc. 55 Chapel Street Newton, MA 02158-1060 or e-mail to: HigherEdCtr@edc.org or fax to: 617-928-1537 In addition, please include the name, address, and phone number of the contact person for the institution. The Network is committed to assisting member institutions find workable solutions to promote a healthy campus environment by decreasing alcohol and other drug abuse. Network Welcomes New Members University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI Tyler Junior College, Tyler, TX Atlantic Community College, Mays Landing, NJ Plattsburgh State University, Plattsburgh, NY La Salle University, Philadelphia, PA Universidad del Sagrado Corazon, San Juan, PR San Juan Bautista School of Medicine, San Juan, PR State University of New York, College at Brockport, NY Universidad Central del Caribe, Bayamon, PR Ponce School of Medicine, Ponce, PR SUNY College of Agriculture and Technology, Morrisville, NY University of North Dakota-Lake Region, Devils Lake, ND Madison Area Technical College, WI University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus, PR Higher Education Center Publications How to Obtain Our Publications The Center has over 30 publications ranging from fact sheets and newsletters to bulletins and guides. To receive a complete list, call us at (800) 676-1730 or check our Website at http://www.edc.org/hec/ to download copies of most of our publications or to place an order for print versions. New! Social Marketing Strategies for Campus Prevention of Alcohol and Other Drug Problems Social Marketing Strategies explores how social marketing can be employed to bring about changes in the way students establish patterns of alcohol and other drug use. It examines both how social marketing draws on the lessons learned from commercial marketing and how the two differ, and it illustrates, through the experiences of 10 colleges and universities, the benefits of a social marketing campaign. New! Last Call for High-Risk Bar Promotions That Target College Students: A Community Action Guide From the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Last Call helps members of college communities create healthier campus environments by reducing the high volume/low cost supply of alcohol that is so conducive to heavy drinking. It examines alcohol marketing aimed at students and looks at laws and policies that restrict promotional practices. It offers tips for organizing a coalition, gathering information, and developing a strategic plan to change bar marketing and service practices. Our Mission The mission of the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention is to assist institutions of higher education in developing alcohol and other drug (AOD) prevention programs that will foster studentsı academic and social development and promote campus and community safety. Get in Touch Additional information can be obtained by contacting: The Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Education Development Center, Inc. 55 Chapel Street Newton, MA 02158-1060 Web site: http://www.edc.org/hec/ Phone: 800-676-1730 Fax: 617-928-1537 E-mail: HigherEdCtr@edc.org How We Can Help The Center offers an integrated array of services to help people at colleges and universities adopt effective AOD prevention strategies: --Training and professional development activities --Resources, referrals, and consultations --Publication and dissemination of prevention materials --Support for the Network of Colleges and Universities Committed to the Elimination of Drug and Alcohol Abuse --Assessment, evaluation, and analysis activities Higher Education Center Training Opportunities The Center's two-day Team Training event brings together teams from IHEs and their local communities to address alcohol and other drug issues on their campus. Team members represent key campus and community systems such as AOD coordinators, senior administrators, faculty, other student service personnel, athletes, public safety/security, student leaders, community representatives, and others. The training provides an opportunity for teams to learn the best practice for coalition-based environmental approaches to prevention. Call the Center to participate in one of the following events. Upcoming Team Trainings March 23­24, 1998 --Frostburg State University, Frostburg, Md. March 30­31, 1998 --Hamden, Conn. Spring 1998 --(site, date tba), Ariz. Catalyst is a publication of the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention funded by the U.S. Department of Education under contract number SS95013001. Views expressed are those of the contractor. No official support or endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education is intended or should be inferred. Director of Publications: Karen Zweig Editor: Barbara E. Ryan Production Manager: Anne McAuliffe Production Assistant: Kay Baker Center Director: William DeJong Staff: Kay Baker, Tom Colthurst, Maggie Cretella, Michael Gilbreath, Kimberly Kaphingst, Peter Leis, Anne McAuliffe, Catherine Meikle Potts, Tonya Miller, Judith Robinson, Michael Rosati, Barbara Ryan, Denise Steiner, Ellen Thomas, Karen Zweig