Setting and Improving Policies for Reducing Alcohol and Other Drug Problems on Campus A Guide for Administrators William DeJong, Ph.D. Director, The Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Stacia Langenbahn Abt Associates Inc. A publication of the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Funded by the U.S. Department of Education For further information contact: The Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention http://www.edc.org/hec/ 800-676-1730 [email protected] This publication was produced with funding from the U.S. Department of Education under contract number SS9-30-25-001 with Abt Associates Inc. and contract number SS95013001with Education Development Center, Inc. Views expressed are those of the contractors. No official support or endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education is intended or should be inferred. Published 1995. Reprinted 1997. The Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Education Development Center, Inc. 55 Chapel Street Newton, Massachusetts 02158-1060 Cover design by Kay Baker Preface Setting and Improving Policies for Reducing Alcohol and services. If legal advice is required, the services of an Other Drug Problems on Campus: A Guide for School attorney should be sought. Administrators has been written for administrators at both two-year and four-year institutions of higher educa- Some of the information in the guide comes from avail- tion who are responsible for developing and implement- able literature, but much of it is based on telephone ing alcohol and drug policies on campus, including col- interviews with administrators, program coordinators, lege presidents, vice presidents, deans of students, and and other staff at colleges and universities across the U.S. deans of residential life. The guide begins with an Many of the schools were identified by the Network of executive summary. Colleges and Universities Committed to the Elimination of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, the U.S. Department of Copies of the guide should be made available to the Education, professional organizations and associations, policy-setting committee assigned to develop and revise and the individuals listed in the acknowledgments. these policies. Other members of the college community who have a special interest in substance use prevention—faculty, Use of the Word Prevention students, program directors, campus security, and other This guide uses the terms prevent and prevention to staff—will also find Setting and Improving Policies for describe efforts to eliminate the illegal use of alcohol Reducing Alcohol and Other Drug Problems on Campus and other drugs and to minimize to the greatest extent a useful introduction to campus policy setting. possible the harmful effects of alcohol and other The guide’s primary purpose is to outline a step-by-step drugs, on both the user and others affected by the process for establishing new or revised policies to deal user's actions. with student misuse of alcohol and other drugs on campus, thereby creating a safer campus and an envi- ronment that nurtures students’ academic and social Because of limited time and resources, it was impossible development. The guide may also be helpful to adminis- to contact the many other schools that have also made trators seeking to develop policies for faculty and other concerted efforts to establish effective school policies. employees. However, an effort was made to include the experiences The guide describes a new doctrine (environmental man- of a wide range of schools in terms of geographic location, agement) that can be used to direct policy development, size, funding sources, and student population. reviews the task of policy setting, seeks to reinforce Setting and Improving Policies for Reducing Alcohol and administrators’ commitment to effective prevention, and Other Drug Problems on Campus: A Guide for School provides additional resources to help them develop or Administrators is published by The Higher Education revise school policies. Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention, funded by This publication attempts to provide accurate and authori- the U.S. Department of Education. (See page 111 for tative information and is provided with the understanding further information about the Center and its other publi- that The Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other cations.) Drug Prevention is not engaged in the rendering of legal Preface iii iv Setting and Improving Policies Acknowledgments The authors thank the following individuals for their Susan Bruce, Student Development Educator, many insightful suggestions to improve the guide: Wellness Student Services, Longwood College, Farmville, Virginia Diane Barry, Communications Director, Join To- gether, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts William A. Bryan, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Ronald B. Bucknam, Director, Drug and Violence Wilmington, North Carolina Program, Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, U.S. Department of Edu- Robert Carlisle, Coordinator for Academic Pro- cation, Washington, D.C. grams, Quincy College, Quincy, Illinois Elizabeth M. Nuss, Executive Director, National Judith Chambers, Vice President for Student Life, Association of Student Personnel Administrators, University of the Pacific, Stockton, California Washington, D.C. Tracy Desovich, Health Educator, Health Educa- Cheryl Presley, Executive Director, Core Institute, tion Service, Massachusetts Institute of Technol- Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois ogy, Cambridge, Massachusetts Makani Themba, Associate Director, Center for Lawrence Dietz, Associate Vice Chancellor, Uni- Media and Policy Analysis, Marin Institute, San versity of Missouri at Kansas City, Kansas City, Rafael, California Missouri The authors also thank Elaine Cardenas, former director Marc Gunderson, Prevention Specialist, Drug and of the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Alcohol Education Center, University of Utah, Salt Drug Prevention, and Lavona Grow, project monitor for Lake City, Utah the U.S. Department of Education, for their support and their helpful comments on earlier drafts of the guide. Hilton Hallock, Director of Student Services, Longwood College, Farmville, Virginia Much of the information presented in this guide comes from interviews with college administrators, alcohol and Roger Howard, Dean of Students, University of other drug prevention specialists, regional coordinators Wisconsin at Madison, Madison, Wisconsin for the Network of Colleges and Universities Committed Allison Keith, Associate Dean, Dartmouth College, to the Elimination of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, and Hanover, New Hampshire members of the Review Panel for The Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention. Craig Littlepage, Associate Director of Athletics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia The authors especially thank the following individuals for sharing information about the alcohol and other drug Mark Manelli, Manager of Health Advocacy Ser- prevention policies at their schools: vices, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleas- ant, Michigan Susan Allen, Assistant Dean, Massachusetts Insti- tute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts Patricia Martin, Director of Outreach Services, Coun- seling and Student Development Center, The Johns William Barr, Dean of Students, University of the Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland Pacific, Stockton, California Acknowledgments v Carolyn Mohai, Research Associate, Substance Felix Sevino, Coordinator of Alcohol and Other Abuse Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Drug Programs, University of Wisconsin at Madi- Michigan son, Madison, Wisconsin Jean Paratore, Associate Vice President for Student Nancy Schulte, Director, Drug Education Center, Affairs, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia Carbondale, Illinois Dorothy Siegel, Vice President of Student Services, Richard Powell, Director, Peer Counselor Program, Towson State University, Baltimore, Maryland Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey Dolories Sloan, Associate Dean of Students, Uni- versity of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan Cheryl Presley, Executive Director, CORE Insti- tute, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Elizabeth Sullivant Roby, Director, Wellness Cen- Carbondale, Illinois ter, Del Mar College, Corpus Christi, Texas Shauna Quinn, Program Manager, Campus Alcohol and Drug Education Center, State University of California at Chico, Chico, California vi Setting and Improving Policies vii Contents Page Preface .................................................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................................................... v Executive Summary.............................................................................................................................................. xii Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 1 Need for Revised and Expanded Policies.................................................................................................... 2 Overview of the Guide ...............................................................................................................................