University of Massachusetts Amherst

UMass Amherst, the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system, sits on nearly 1,450 acres in the scenic Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts, 90 miles from Boston and 175 miles from New York City. The campus provides a rich cultural environment in a rural setting close to major urban centers. In fall 2010 it enrolled 21,373 undergraduate students and 6,196 graduate students. In 2010 the population of Amherst was 37,819.

Background

The Campus and Community Coalition to Reduce High-Risk Drinking (CCC) came together in March 2004 under the auspices of Boston University’s Campus Community Partnership Initiative. Through this initiative, staff at Boston University worked with five Massachusetts colleges to identify best practices for campus and community coalitions. In addition to the University of Massachusetts Amherst, other participating colleges included Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Clark University in Worcester, Fitchburg State College in Fitchburg, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism funded this five-year program, directing $5,000 in seed money to the coalition in Amherst.

On the campus side, members include 16 organizations, with leadership coming from the Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Prevention (CADAP) and the Office of Community Relations. Other participants are the university police, Center for Student Development, Dean of Student’s office, fraternities and sororities, Student Government Association, campus athletics, and Everywoman’s Center, which deals with violence against women. Services such as residence life, campus transit, and the campus television station are also part of this broad-based collaborative. On the community side, coalition members come from police departments and city governments in the adjacent towns of Amherst and Hadley; from the business community, including the Amherst Chamber of Commerce and the Pioneer Valley Housing Association; and from social services, such as Amherst Community Services and the Amherst Health Department.

The CCC began its work by looking at alcohol policy at the university. A comprehensive review revealed several high-risk behaviors that were not expressly prohibited. In response, the university added four provisions. It is now a violation to possess alcohol paraphernalia, such as shot glasses, funnels, or anything that can be used for drinking games or rapid consumption of alcohol. Other violations include engaging in drinking games; possession of empty alcohol containers; and serving alcohol on campus, including in residence halls.

CCC is co-chaired by Sally A. Linowski, director of the Center for Health Promotion at UMass Amherst’s University Health Services, and Tony Maroulis, executive director of the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce. Linowski is the group’s founder. She recognizes that effective policies are critical, but stresses that policies are only as good as the systems behind them. Therefore, along with promoting policy changes, the CCC addresses systemic weaknesses.

Prior to 2004, students who violated alcohol policy were required to attend an alcohol education workshop. Few students showed up for the workshop, and no one kept track of them. After input from the CCC, UMass Amherst replaced the workshop with BASICS (Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students), an evidence-based program with a history of success. Policy offenders are required to attend the two-session program; noncompliance results in an academic hold on the student’s record.

Another example of a systems change was increased cooperation between the Amherst Police Department and CADAP. Previously, when police officers sent students to alcohol-related protective custody, that action was accompanied by “soft referrals,” which meant encouraging students to seek help at campus intervention services and giving them a card with instructions to do so. Now, police officers meet weekly with key university officials, including leaders from CADAP, Residence Life, Student Affairs, the Dean of Student’s office, fraternities and sororities, Community Relations, and campus police. They discuss particular students and specific incidents, notifying CADAP of students who violate alcohol laws. This enables prevention practitioners to reach out, “broadening the net,” according to Linowski.

Complementing the efforts on campus, the CCC stepped up its activities in the community, coalition members met with Judge Nancy Dusek-Gomez, who at the time heard most of the area’s cases involving student alcohol violations, and together agreed to send a strong message about illegal alcohol sales and use. In fall 2006 Judge Dusek-Gomez wrote a letter that was published in the student newspaper. Greeting students with, “Welcome back. I hope we never meet,” the judge gave tips for avoiding her courtroom.

Monitoring alcohol policy off campus is an important part of the CCC’s work. On this front, the coalition was active in defeating a move to decriminalize possession of open containers in Amherst. When officials from nearby Hadley saw the strong support for Amherst’s existing open container law, they enacted one of their own. Hadley also passed a keg registration law similar to Amherst’s, putting an end to the student practice of buying a keg in Hadley and transporting it to a party in Amherst.

CCC Activities

The CCC is a diverse group of leaders from the campus and the community who’ve come together to make a difference. It includes representation from 30 campus and community organizations. The CCC’s full membership meets monthly at the UMass Amherst Campus Center. The large-group sessions allow members to share information, discuss successes and challenges, learn from experts in the field, and strengthen relationships. The CCC’s active subcommittees include:

• Academic Engagement
• “Be the One” Event Planning
• Communications
• Municipal Strategies
• OUI (Operating Under the Influence) Awareness
• Retail Partners

In order to support its environmental strategies for reducing dangerous drinking, the CCC engages in a number of activities to collect information about student behavior and the campus and community environment, including:

• College Alcohol Risk Assessment (CARA): The CCC began gathering information about campus drinking behavior using the CARA. Members scanned bulletin boards, monitored news features and advertising in student and local media, and attended off-campus parties.
• Annual Student Survey: Each spring, hundreds of UMass Amherst students are surveyed to track their beliefs and behaviors around alcohol. Survey data help the CCC identify issues and trends while evaluating the effect of its strategies.
• Forums: The CCC hosts forums with neighbors, law enforcement agencies, and municipal leaders to learn about their concerns and gather input and ideas.
• Focus Groups: Student focus groups help develop and evaluate the images and messages used in the CCC’s marketing materials.

The CCC also works to implement and revise policies both on and off campus. For example, CCC members, with the guidance of Peter Lake, director of the Center for Higher Education Law and Policy at Stetson University College of Law, helped review and revise campus alcohol polices. As a result, the quantity of alcohol allowed in dorms was reduced; drinking games and paraphernalia were banned; and consequences for violations were strengthened.

Off-campus, the CCC’s research into legal avenues to stop alcohol abuse and nuisance parties has led to implementation of stricter bylaws and regulations in area communities.

More comprehensive policies are supported by consistent enforcement by campus and community authorities. CCC meetings, community roundtables, and networking have strengthened relationships, communication, and partnerships across jurisdictions.

In addition, educational programs are helping students better understand the rights and responsibilities of using alcohol. Recent accomplishments include expanded advertising; printed materials; interactive presentations for new students and their parents; implementation of a mandatory online alcohol education course; and support for BASICS, the campus intervention and screening program.

UMass Amherst also implemented a social norms marketing campaign disseminating social norms messages to share facts and help dispel myths. At UMass Amherst, like at many other schools, there’s a big gap between students’ perceived and actual drinking behaviors. People believe most students are drinking a lot, a lot of the time, when in fact the majority drinks moderately, if at all.

The CCC is working together with area bars, restaurants, and package stores in reducing dangerous drinking in the community.

Program Evaluation

This environmental management approach has helped reduce students’ dangerous drinking by as much as 30 percent, while underage binge drinking is down 16 percent. Campus outcomes include major changes in the university’s alcohol policy; implementation of evidence-based interventions for policy violators; and the addition of a mandatory alcohol education course for first-year students. Community changes include town bylaw adoptions and revisions, heightened enforcement, and strengthened partnerships.

In January 2011, the CCC was named a Silver Honoree in the annual NASPA Excellence Awards competition. The contest recognizes colleges and universities for “transformative, innovative and data-driven programs” across a variety of disciplines. NASPA-Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education is the field’s leading professional association. The group focuses on student affairs administration, policy, and practice, providing professional development and advocacy to more than 11,000 members worldwide.

For More Information

For additional information on the Campus and Community Coalition to Reduce High-Risk Drinking, visit www.umass.edu/ccc/.