Emerging Issues Meeting

Alcohol, Other Drug Abuse, and Violence Emerging Issues for Community Colleges: Strategies for Building Effective Partnerships for Prevention

While problems related to alcohol, other drugs, and violence at community colleges have not been the focus of very much research, preliminary findings from a three-year study on college alcohol and drug prevention systems by researchers at the University of Minnesota’s Alcohol Epidemiology Program found that 42 percent of administrators at 106 two-year community and technical colleges across the nation rated student drinking as a “major or moderate problem.” The survey results (not yet published) were presented in Washington, D.C., in April 2010, at the U.S. Department of Education’s Higher Education Center for Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Violence Prevention’s meeting on emerging issues at community colleges. Other findings from the survey include:

• Few two-year colleges require alcohol education for their students.
• Sixty-one percent of two-year colleges prohibit alcohol use on campus and 79 percent ban alcohol ads on campus.
• Approximately one-third of two-year colleges reported that their alcohol intervention and treatment services meet the needs of their students, and the cost of programs was the most common barrier reported to offering treatment services (similar responses were seen among four-year colleges).

Participants at the emerging issues meeting identified a number of alcohol, other drug, and violence problems and prevention issues at community colleges. Consistent with the University of Minnesota survey, they agreed that the vast majority of disciplinary problems stem from alcohol use. In addition, the predominance of part-time and adjunct faculty at community colleges leads to disconnectedness among faculty and high staff turnover rates. These characteristics result in challenges for prevention staff in training faculty to refer students experiencing problems to appropriate services.

At the meeting, Susan Quinn, director of Student Health Services at Santa Rosa Junior College (California), pointed out that there are few regularly collected systematic national surveys about alcohol- and other drug-related behaviors and consequences among community college students. This lack of data may contribute to a perception on the part of the general public that alcohol, other drugs, and violence are not problems at community colleges. A National College Health Assessment survey done at 13 California community colleges in 2007 suggests, though, that despite overall lower rates of alcohol use, the negative consequences of drinking and experience of violence are higher in this population than in students at four-year institutions of higher education. More studies within the community college population nationally are needed to support efforts to apply the most effective interventions in this growing sector of higher education.

Mark Wolfson, professor in the Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C., underscored the need for more research regarding community college alcohol, other drug, and violence issues, especially in light of their increasing enrollment. According to Wolfson, the community college research field would benefit from a national survey similar to those that have been conducted at four-year colleges and more collaboration between researchers and staff at community colleges.

“With the administration’s emphasis on community colleges, now is the time to learn more about alcohol and drug problems among their students in order to develop effective prevention strategies,” said Wolfson.

The Obama administration has called for an additional 5 million community college graduates by 2020 and announced new initiatives to raise the graduation rate. Meeting participants see this emphasis on retention as a wedge issue. It can help community colleges recognize the importance of providing alcohol and other drug prevention and intervention services to keep students enrolled and it can detract from such services by placing more of the limited community college resources into academic counseling. Diane Glaser, coordinator of student health services at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, Calif., said, “Student development–focused counseling needs advocacy in the face of widespread denial about the role that alcohol and other drug use can play when it comes to academic problems and dropping out.”

Editor’s Note: For more information on the Obama administration’s community college initiative, go to www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education/higher-education/building-american-skills-through-community-colleges.