FY 1999 Awardees: Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Models on College Campuses Grant Competition

In 1999, seven institutions were designated as having model programs. These institutions received awards to maintain, improve, or further evaluate the campus's alcohol and other drug prevention efforts, and to disseminate information about their programs to other campuses where the programs might be replicated.

Descriptions of these Award-Winning Campus Programs appear below:

Bowling Green State University - Bowling Green, OH
BGSU Peer-Based Misperception Program
Project Director: Terry Rentner, Ph.D.

Bowling Green State University’s program was designed to change student attitudes, behaviors, and the campus social environment. Surveys were conducted to determine differences between the realities of student drinking and the perceived or imagined values and behaviors of students regarding drinking. The results indicated that students typically believe that their peers drink much more than is actually the case. These results were presented in focus groups where students were encouraged to discuss the misperceptions and their influence on campus culture. Group members were also asked what types of messages they would respond to, and what kind of campus programming would be appealing. An "I Don't Drink as Much as You Think" campaign was launched using creative mass media and interpersonal appeals to change misperceptions of drinking norms. The combination of small group surveys and focus group discussions was again implemented the following year, this time targeted to high-risk groups such as fraternities and sororities, athletics teams, and first-year residents. Data indicate that the gaps between the perceived drinking norms and the actual norms are being corrected. In addition, excessive drinking rates decreased by 2.5 percent, 4 percent fewer students experienced pressure to drink, and 4 percent fewer students heard others bragging about their drinking.

Hobart and William Smith Colleges - Geneva, NY
The HWS Alcohol Education Project
Project Directors: Wesley Perkins, Ph.D. and David Craig, Ph.D.

Hobart and William Smith Colleges’ program initiated a comprehensive social norms campaign to reduce harmful, exaggerated misperceptions about how much drinking occurs among students and to reduce actual alcohol abuse. The project involved the development of innovative social marketing strategies as well as new strategies for teaching about alcohol, other drugs, and violence in the academic curriculum. Major activities included (1) a print and poster mass-media campaign based on local survey data to reduce drinking myths; (2) an interdisciplinary course on alcohol abuse; (3) an electronic multimedia campaign that brings the content of both the social norms print media and the interdisciplinary course to computers across campus and to the World Wide web (www.hws.edu/alcohol); and (4) a faculty and student-teacher training initiative for infusing alcohol and other drug information into the curriculum across academic programs and for community coalition building. Along with substantial reductions in student misperceptions of peer drinking norms, follow-up program assessments have demonstrated a 21 percent reduction in actual frequent heavy drinking. During this same period, students reported a 31 percent reduction in missed classes, a 36 percent reduction in property damage and a 40 percent reduction in unprotected sex due to drinking.

University of Arizona - Tucson, AZ
The University of Arizona Social Norms and Environmental Management Model Alcohol Prevention Program
Project Director: Koreen Johannessen, M.S.W.

The University of Arizona’s program has demonstrated the effectiveness of a two-pronged alcohol abuse prevention program that reduced heavy drinking by 29 percent in a three-year period. The program also significantly reduced the incidence of negative consequences of heavy and high-risk drinking among college students. The social norms approach, the first prong, based on the knowledge that students overestimate alcohol use among their peers, exposed the difference between actual and perceived drinking norms. Through a newspaper and poster ad campaign and through working with policymakers and community groups, information on actual norms was broadcast campuswide. Environmental management, the second prong, identified specific policy and enforcement changes needed around drinking. Student leaders and administrators worked closely with campus health, campus and community police, and student and community affairs offices on shared issues of campus/community safety. Targets for action included large campus celebrations such as Homecoming, Fraternity Bid Night, and chapter parties. Emphasis was placed on consistent and early (in the semester) enforcement of policies and laws related to underage drinking; type, amount, and service of food and alcohol at parties and large events; elimination of open parties; dramatic reduction in access to alcohol during athletics events; and elimination of alcohol sponsorship campuswide. Specific activities encouraged safer neighborhoods and good-neighbor policies and community partnerships to reduce underage access to alcohol in the community.

The Pennsylvania State University - University Park, PA
Assessing Alcohol-Free Alternative Activities: The Penn State "HUB Late Night" Program
Project Director: Dolores Maney, Ph.D.

Pennsylvania State University’s alcohol-free "Late Night-Penn State" is a comprehensive alternative activity program offering students multiple forms of free entertainment as a means of curbing high-risk drinking. The goals of the program include delivering quality entertainment, providing a variety of alcohol-free programs that meet the interests of a diverse student body, encouraging student involvement in designing and implementing programs, and increasing awareness of the program. Events are offered during prime-time social hours (9:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m.) on 16 weekends each semester. Programs are held at the on-campus student union building and include free movies, ballroom/swing dancing, music, comedy, traditional board games, video games, and magic shows. A majority (71 percent) of students who attended Late Night-Penn State events reported that participation in this program resulted in less drinking for themselves and for other students.

University of Northern Colorado - Greeley, CO
The UNC Underage Drinking Enforcement Program
Project Director: Ann Quinn-Zobeck, Ph.D.

The University of Northern Colorado’s program uses a campus and community coalition to coordinate local ordinances, enforcement efforts, and educational programs to provide the consistent message to students and the community that underage drinking is not acceptable. A significant part of the university's comprehensive program is a cooperative effort between the UNC Drug Prevention/Education Program and campus and local law enforcement agencies to enforce underage drinking laws. Offenders are charged under a municipal ordinance, which means that cases are heard by a local judge who takes them seriously and handles them in a timely fashion, requiring violators to pay fines, attend education classes, and perform community service. During summer orientation, incoming students are informed of the enforcement of underage drinking laws and policies and the consequences for violations. As students arrive on campus, door hangers in residence halls remind them of alcohol laws and policies and also list alcohol-free events on campus. Saturation patrols by teams of campus and community police are conducted during the early weeks of fall semester to stop parties where alcohol is being served to minors. These efforts, along with other components of the campus’s prevention program, produced a 6 percent decrease in the incidence of heavy episodic alcohol use. In addition, the percentage of students driving after drinking fell from 48 percent to 32 percent.

Utah State University - Logan, UT
The Judicial Process Model
Project Director: JoAnn Autry, M.S.W.

Utah State University’s program consists of a coordinated prevention program and judicial process for students who violate the student code related to alcohol and other drugs. Campus departments participating in the referral of student violators include housing, athletics, university police, faculty and staff, and the city courts. Student violators participate in a six-week peer-led group that includes self-assessment, self-discovery, self-monitoring and self-management exercises; behavioral skills training; content-oriented alcohol and other drug education; relationship building; and experiential activities. The purpose of the group is to reduce the likelihood of the student being involved in violating the university’s alcohol or other drug policy in the future. An important component of the sessions is the inclusion of information to correct students' misperception of the extent of alcohol use by their peers and their peers' general acceptance of heavy drinking behavior. Of 354 students who participated in the program, only 3 percent were involved in repeat violations.

University of Missouri-Columbia - Columbia, MO
The University of Missouri-Columbia’s Alcohol Summit
Project Director: Kim Dude, M.Ed.

The University of Missouri–Columbia’s program involves the Alcohol Summit, a campus and community coalition that is creating major change on the campus and in the community. The university's chancellor appointed this blue-ribbon task force to address the problems occurring as a result of alcohol and drug use on campus. Task force members represented student organizations, faculty, and staff from campus police, the judicial office, health services, athletics, alumni relations, and admissions. Also included were community leaders such as the mayor, high school counselors, city police, local bar owners, and deans of two local colleges. After months of study, Alcohol Summit members concluded that the campus and community environment needed to be changed through an integrated approach that would include programs, policies, and public education campaigns. Subcommittees were developed to assist in implementing recommendations. Positive changes have been brought about by increasing the enforcement of existing policies; instituting new policies; changing the campus judicial process; increasing faculty and staff training; creating media campaigns that address social norms; training student leaders, staff, and faculty; providing early intervention strategies and services; creating alcohol-free social events; and limiting access to alcohol. Preliminary program outcomes include a 7 percent reduction in the excessive drinking rate among freshmen, reductions in driving while intoxicated (DWI) incidents on campus, and a decrease in the number of alcohol violations in the residence halls.