Chapter 2
Working with Campus-Community
Coalitions and College Students
Public concern about alcohol use among young people and the problems associated with its use have prompted statewide initiatives addressing the dangerous drinking habits of college students. These initiatives have been started through the leadership of state agencies, through college and university administrators or statewide college task forces, and through the efforts of community anti-drug coalitions. In Pennsylvania and Virginia, the Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) agencies have taken the lead in developing statewide initiatives and community coalitions. Support for these efforts in each state came from top government officials and college presidents.
In Pennsylvania, the PLCB has focused on the formation of campus and community partnerships to find solutions to the problem of dangerous and underage drinking among college students. In Virginia, the Attorney General formed the Attorney General's Task Force on Alcohol Abuse, after four alcohol-related deaths of University of Virginia college students and a faculty member. Virginia's ABC has assumed the leader-ship of this task force. Both Pennsylvania and Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control agencies have offered mini-grants to colleges to develop or enhance campus-community coalitions. Each state has also sponsored conferences to provide support and technical assistance to these groups. The focus of these coalitions is changing the campus-community environment to reduce dangerous drinking by community and campus members.
ABCs can actively involve many local organizations, including licensees, local government and others to work with the colleges to change the culture not only on campus but also in the community. It is critical that ABCs work at the community level to reduce problems associated with alcohol. Local school districts and colleges must be linked with community leadership in order to provide comprehensive approaches to the solution of alcohol abuse.
During the past several years, ABCs have greatly increased their involvement in the prevention of dangerous drinking practices among college students. Working closely with the college and university administration is a key component to the success of these projects. Some examples of ABC activities are:
- Build campus-community coalitions to address high-risk drinking.
- Provide support, awareness and assistance for campuses and communities addressing high risk drinking.
- Enhance and expand the existing network of professionals working in this area to increase communication, collaboration and action at institutions and in their communities.
- Provide state leadership to address high risk drinking through awareness of the issue, technical assistance and policy change.
Target Population:
College students.
Goals:
Obtain a baseline estimate of college drinking
behaviors.
Description:
Many colleges have used the Core Survey, which was developed by Southern Illinois University, to collect data on student drinking behavior and perceptions. An ABC may assist in coordinating the collection of such data on a statewide level by providing resources and technical assistance to implement the Core Survey. This information will provide evaluation and program feedback for individual colleges and statewide efforts. Such data legitimize the concern for high risk drinking on college campuses and can establish the ABC as an important data and information resource.
(See CD-ROM – Appendix D)
Action Steps:
- Step 1 – Contact Core for technical assistance and information.
- Step 2 – Identify available funding to conduct Core and initiate funding process.
- Step 3 – Determine number of colleges to participate, preferably a diverse geographic and institutional makeup. Core Institute can assist in determining the number of schools and types needed to reach a representative sample.
- Step 4 – Solicit college participation. Contact President to initiate participation. President’s office will inform you which campus office will coordinate the survey and instruct you who to contact.
- Step 5 – Provide technical assistance in coordination with Core for college officials responsible for conducting surveys.
- Step 6 – Conduct surveys.
- Step 7 – Provide information to Core for analysis and findings.
- Step 8 – Produce reports on a local, regional and statewide basis and provide to colleges, policymakers and others as determined. (You may choose to have the Core Institute do this for you.)
- Step 9 – Evaluate Core data and use it to address the specific needs of your campus population.
Resources:
(Contact Information, see Appendix A)
- Local colleges and universities
- Core Institute
Target Population:
College students, administration and community leaders.
Goals:
- Provide colleges and local communities with information and strategies to address problems related to alcohol.
- Promote campus and community collaboration.
Description:
An ABC can take a lead role in coordinating or hosting a college conference. This conference can focus on developing campus and local community coalitions, strategic planning, leadership and other specific issues related to dangerous and high risk college drinking. As a first step, such a conference can often help establish an ABC as a committed state partner in helping to address this issue.
Action Steps:
- Step 1 – Assemble planning committee consisting of various college professionals/administrators, technical experts, state and local government officials and student leaders.
- Step 2 – Develop purpose and goals of conference.
- Step 3 – Design conference agenda, funding strategies, logistics and identify speakers.
- Step 4 – Market conference:
- College faculty and administrators
- College students
- Prevention professionals
- Landlords
- Retailers
- Law enforcement officials
- Community members.
- Step 5 – Offer students an incentive to attend.
- Step 6 – Conduct conference.
- Step 7 – Evaluate conference and provide feedback to colleges in attendance.
Target Population:
Colleges and universities.
Goals:
Provide state leadership on the issue of dangerous and high risk drinking on college campuses.
Description:
An ABC can be the lead in developing a statewide initiative to address the issue of dangerous and high risk drinking on campuses. This statewide initiative should include a steering committee or coalition of key higher education, governmental and other key college and community organizations concerned with this issue. The statewide initiative can provide leadership to provide resources; suggest and implement policy; collect research and data; create public and media awareness of the issue; and coordinate activities statewide. Such a statewide initiative can assist local colleges and communities greatly to accomplish their goals.
Action Steps:
- Step 1 – Contact statewide stakeholders including:
- College/University representatives
- Governor’s Policy Office
- Law Enforcement representatives including state police
- League of Cities and Municipalities
- Licensed Beverage Association Licensees
- Liquor Control Enforcement Board
- Representatives from the House of Representatives
- Representatives from the Senate
- Student organization representatives
- State Association of Colleges and Universities
- State Association of Malt Beverage Distributors
- State Commission on Crime and Delinquency
- State Department of Education
- State Department of Health
- State Drug and Alcohol Prevention Organizations
- Treatment Center representatives.
- Step 2 – Convene meeting.
- Step 3 – Establish statewide initiatives, purpose and goals.
- Step 4 – Develop committees to suggest program, policy and strategies.
- Step 5 – Provide resources to assist in accomplishing program, policy and strategies at local and state level.
- Step 6 – Ongoing meetings, evaluation and strategy discussions.
Target Population:
College students.
Goals:
- Students develop media projects (public service campaigns, research studies, editorials, etc.) that may be used in education efforts.
- Students learn about alcohol and its effects through completion of projects.
Description:
The service learning approach allows students, with faculty guidance, to provide the customer (ABC) with ideas and projects related to education and the prevention of alcohol-related problems. The students research the issues and develop appropriate projects that utilize media to educate specific audiences or the general public. Communication students are the most appropriate developers of media-related projects, however some projects could include students in other courses of study.
Action Steps:
- Step 1 – Brainstorm potential projects, topics, campaigns and messages by agency and class.
- Step 2 – Discuss project ideas with administration and faculty.
- Step 3 – Faculty determine projects that best fit class schedule.
- Step 4 – Infuse the alcohol education projects into the media curriculum.
- Step 5 – Foster a close working relationship between the agency and the classes to keep the students on track.
- Step 6 – Set up regular meetings with a representative from the agency and the class.
- Step 7 – Students develop individual program concepts.
- Step 8 – Discuss individual program concepts in classroom.
- Step 9 – Students develop campaigns around their projects.
- Step 10 – Agency representatives review completed ad campaigns.
- Step 11 – Representatives and faculty select appropriate campaigns for possible reproduction.
Target Population:
Colleges and universities.
Goals:
Provide funding to encourage campus and local community collaboration and develop appropriate strategies.
Description:
An ABC can provide mini-grants or other funding to colleges to address dangerous and high risk drinking. (See CD-ROM – Appendix E) An important component of this effort is the establishment of campus and local community coalitions that include college officials, law enforcement, alcohol beverage retailers, students and other local stakeholders in this issue. (See CD-ROM – Appendix F) The mini-grants can also be used to fund specific strategies. It would be advantageous to connect these strategies to training that has been provided to the colleges and communities and those that are “environmentally” based, i.e. strategies that are long term and focus on the root causes of local concerns not just simply focusing on the student.
(See CD-ROM – Appendix G)
Action Steps:
- Step 1 – Convene a meeting of key agency representatives to determine feasibility of providing funding.
- Step 2 – Determine if funds are available from the agency and arrange to have money allocated for the project.
- Step 3 – Convene a focus group of agency and state higher education representatives to define purpose and scope of the
grant.
- Step 4 – Contact the Higher Education Center (HEC) for information on their grants and for contacts at other organizations that provide similar funding.
- Step 5 – Obtain grant applications from other organizations and review.
- Step 6 – Determine grant-awarding criteria.
- Step 7 – Develop grant application.
- Step 8 – Contact state Department of Education for mailing list of colleges.
- Step 9 – Send letter to college Presidents with information about the grant and how to obtain an application packet.
- Step 10 – Send grant packets to those expressing interest.
- Step 11 – Evaluate submitted applications and award funding.
- Step 12 – Maintain contact with the Project Directors and provide technical assistance and appropriate referrals.
- Step 13 – Collect project reports and track expenditures.
- Step 14 – Evaluate projects.
Resources:
(Contact Information, see Appendix A)
Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention (HEC)
Target Population:
Colleges and universities.
Goals:
- Provide training and technical assistance to assist colleges and communities to address dangerous and high risk drinking among college students.
- Promote long-term strategic planning, coalition building, implementation and evaluation.
Description:
An ABC can provide training and technical assistance to colleges and communities in addressing high risk drinking among college students. This is done best by partnering with an entity that is experienced in providing services to higher education related to these issues. The training and technical assistance should focus on building an institution’s and community’s capacity to strategically plan, build coalitions, implement strategies and evaluate progress. The assistance should be ongoing with a combination of initial training, follow-up technical assistance and ongoing communication opportunities with trainers and fellow professionals.
Action Steps:
- Step 1 – Obtain feedback from mini-grant Project Directors or grant contacts on training or technical assistance needed.
- Step 2 – Determine if agency has the expertise to provide the requested technical assistance. If not, refer contact to a more appropriate source (i.e. Higher Education Center).
- Step 3 – Disseminate information on upcoming training via e-mail, fax, or web site.
- Step 4 – Coordinate any logistical requirements for training.
- Step 5 – Obtain feedback from attendees and training facilitators to determine future needs.
Resources:
(Contact Information, see Appendix A)
- Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention (HEC)
- National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI)
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