Changing campus culture

Concerned about the negative impact of binge drinking on campus, the University of Delaware tackled the issue head on during the 1990s as part of its wide-ranging efforts to enhance the living and learning environment.

UD has worked with the city of Newark to develop an innovative and effective campaign designed to address the effects of binge drinking--drinking to get drunk--and in 1996 was awarded a major grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to take a leadership role in a national effort to curb the high-risk consumption of alcohol on college campuses.

The UD project differs from past efforts to address this national problem in that it identifies high-risk drinking as a public health issue, with an emphasis on the right of the community to establish an environment that does not tolerate the negative consequences often associated with such behavior.

The cooperative project, called A Matter of Degree, has focused on the negative second-hand effects of binge drinking, dubbed the four V's–vandalism, violence, victims and vomit.

The campaign is having a positive impact, according to data released by the Harvard University School of Public Health, which surveys students nationally on this issue.

"There are cultural changes occurring on our campus and in our community that increase the likelihood that UD students, when they drink, will do so responsibly," according to John B. Bishop, associate vice president for student life, who serves as director of the campus-community effort.

Bishop says data gathered by the Harvard School of Public Health indicate that significantly fewer UD students say they drink alcohol to the point where they miss class, engage in unplanned sex, are in a group asked to be less disruptive or attend a party shut down because of alcohol problems.

At the same time, the data indicate a significant increase in the number of UD students who recognize the dangers of alcohol poisoning, know how to identify someone with a drinking problem and say they are aware of where to go to get help for alcohol-related problems.

"There is a wide variety of indications that the UD campus and community environment has changed in a positive direction over the last several years," Bishop stresses.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation project and the UD/Newark Building Responsibility Coalition have implemented plans developed to protect the quality and safety of the living environment by opposing the second-hand, negative consequences of high-risk drinking, Bishop says.

"Much of our emphasis has been placed on the development and implementation of policies that will, it is hoped, change both the environment and the social norms that surround high-risk drinking," he says.

"It's one of our jobs to help keep University people safe," President David P. Roselle says. "That has meant policy changes, stronger enforcement and awareness building about the consequences of abusing alcohol. Rather than distancing ourselves from this problem, we have been determined to wrap our arms around it and to bring it into the light.

"At UD," he says, "we are working to make it clear to students that we want them to act responsibly. We want our students to be concerned about their own safety and the safety and the quality of life of others on our campus and in our community."

The program addresses the problem of alcohol abuse in college environments. An essential feature of the program, according to the foundation, is the formation of college/community partnerships focusing on simultaneously changing campus and community environments and norms regarding high-risk drinking by students.

The partnerships aim to reduce rates of high-risk drinking among college students; reduce the harmful health, academic and legal consequences of high-risk drinking to students and others, including injuries, assaults, unplanned and unprotected sex, and automobile accidents; improve the quality of academic and social life for all students; and enhance the relationship between the college and the local community.

Nine sites, in addition to UD, have received funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for this initiative. The other sites are the universities of Colorado at Boulder, Iowa, Nebraska, Vermont and Wisconsin at Madison, as well as Florida State, Georgia Tech, Lehigh and Louisiana State universities.

Accomplishments of the UD project include changes in policy enforcement or enhancement, implementation of educational efforts and creation of alternative alcohol-free activities, Bishop says.

Beginning in the fall of 1999, convictions for D.U.I., zero tolerance and fake ID violations in the city began to be reported in the University's judicial system for additional disciplinary action, closing a loophole in the system that had existed for alcohol-related offenses, he says. Changes in the UD judicial system include faster turnaround and stiffer penalties, in addition to a "three-strikes-and-you're-out" policy.

Importantly, UD was the first school in the nation to institute a policy of notifying parents when students are charged with a violation of campus policy.

The University's five-star Greek accreditation system, begun four years ago, ties the privilege of rushing to the academic standing and social conduct of fraternities and sororities. The result has been an overall improvement in both behavior and academic standing.

Also, UD began strict enforcement of a long-standing policy that required tailgating to stop at Delaware Stadium when Blue Hen football games begin. Not only was no one transported by ambulance to the hospital for alcohol poisoning during the 1999 and 2000 seasons, compared with 23 cases of alcohol poisoning at Homecoming 1998, but attendance at football games has set records each year.

Educational efforts, which have included a series of posters contrasting the negative consequences of alcohol abuse with more constructive alternatives, have been well received on the campus, in the community and nationally.

Also, new students and parents receive publications that provide information on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-sponsored initiative as part of DelaWorld 101, new student orientation at UD. An electronic birthday greeting urging young people to drink responsibly as they turn 21 is sent to students and their parents by Vice President for Student Life Roland Smith.

The University/Schools Alliance has sponsored numerous programs in six high schools that participate in the program, helping to reinforce the image of UD as an institution that values its educational mission, rather than its former reputation as a party school.

A guide to downtown Newark was published by the Downtown Newark Partnership, in cooperation with the University, noting those businesses that are alcohol-free.

Through the Student Alcohol Use Committee and the Community Activities Committee, nearly $40,000 a year has been provided for a large number of non-alcohol events, including dances at the Stone Balloon, midnight ice skating, music in the Scrounge and swing dances in the Carpenter Sports Building.

"It is not the intent of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation project to bring back a form of prohibition of alcohol or to assume that the use of alcohol is morally incorrect," Bishop says. "Instead, the goal is to have the students who choose to use alcohol do so legally and in a responsible fashion."