National Initiative Challenges College and University Presidents to Promote Safe and Supportive Learning Environments
Source: Responsible Retailing Forum
December 5, 2018
Researchers have learned a great deal about effective approaches for reducing the harms caused by student drinking, but too few campus administrators have made it a priority to learn about and then implement those strategies. A new national initiative, the STRATERUS Alliance for Safe College Communities, is now challenging college and university presidents to enhance the higher education experience by investing in programs and policies that address the campus drinking culture and foster safe and supportive learning environments for their students.
The misuse of alcohol remains one of the most significant social problems affecting today’s college communities. Underage and binge drinking ? and the many associated harms that impact both students and campus neighborhoods ? have been accepted too often as inevitable and intractable problems. Under the leadership of STRATERUS (from the Latin: balance; unity), the STRATERUS Alliance will bring together public and private service providers to work with campus and community leaders to promote evidence-based solutions to the problems caused by student drinking.
The STRATERUS Alliance will help colleges and universities build upon three Pillars of safe social and learning environments:
Pillar #1. College and university efforts to stem the misuse of alcohol. The STRATERUS Challenge being issued to college and university presidents is to assess how well their institution’s efforts line up with evidence-based programs and policies. The STRATERUS Alliance will help campus leaders evaluate and then improve their prevention efforts. STRATERUS’s Chief Scientist William DeJong, Ph.D., a respected researcher and the long-time director of the US Dept of Education’s Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse and Violence Prevention, will lead this effort. “I am confident that we can give campus administrators sound advice, based on research and 25 years of personal experience,” said Dr. DeJong. “Unfortunately, many presidents continue to assume that nothing can be done. The key to turning this around is offering public recognition to the institutions that are doing a good job.” Institutions earning Exemplary Status can inform student applicants and their parents that they and their host communities are employing the programs and policies that meet current best-practices standards.
Pillar #2. High standards of alcohol responsibility practiced by alcohol beverage licensees. The second pillar for safe social and learning environments is a strong commitment by alcohol retailers to responsible sales and service. This includes consistent compliance with alcohol sales laws that prohibit sales to minors and overservice, as well as ensuring that customers who have been drinking have safe transportation home. “The answer is not just more law enforcement,” according to Brad Krevor, Ph.D., of the Responsible Retailing Forum, which has been researching underage access and use since 2003. “What’s best is a cooperative, problem-solving approach to community alcohol issues that includes law enforcement, but also public health and public safety officials, as well as alcohol licensees and their industry partners.”
The RRForum’s research-proven College Alcohol Responsibility Program, developed specifically for college communities with funding from the National Institutes of Health, features periodic feedback on staff performance. “Our mystery shop reports to licensees on how their staff performed are ‘teachable moments’,” said Dr. Krevor, “and an opportunity to provide them with model sales policies, refresher training videos and guidance on how to work effectively with staff.”
Pillar #3. Changing a culture that sees binge drinking as an acceptable part of the college experience. Most students do not want their college experience to be marred by binge drinking and the harms it causes. Better Drinking Culture (BDC), a foundational member of the Straterus Alliance, is a grassroots movement based upon the principles that alcohol should be a choice, not an expectation; that drinking and abstinence are both appropriate individual choices; and that drinking, if chosen, can best be enjoyed when consumed mindfully and in moderation, thereby avoiding the regrets and potential harms associated with excessive consumption. As BDC’s tagline confidently states, “Hangovers Suck.”
BDC invites of-age college students and other young adults to join the BDC “Tribe.” Alcohol beverage licensees are invited to become “BDC-Certified,” which involves employing responsible beverage service (RBS) best practices, having staff trained to be Ambassadors for moderate drinking, and offering Tribe members discounts and other promotional benefits. Most importantly, BDC-Certification assures customers that they will find an environment that respects moderate use and prevents over-consumption and the harms associated with extreme intoxication.
Led by national experts in public health and research, STRATERUS is committed to creating a sense of urgency about the need to establish college communities where students can live, work, and play in safety, and then working with town and gown leaders to make that a reality. STRATERUS’S Charles Curie, appointed by President George W. Bush to lead the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA), the federal agency that oversees the nation’s alcohol and other drug treatment and prevention services, is optimistic about what this new initiative can achieve. “We have an obligation to DO what we KNOW,” Mr. Curie said. “The STRATERUS Alliance is a way to ensure that what has been learned to mitigate the problems of alcohol use and abuse in college communities is actually applied.”
College stakeholders can learn more about STRATERUS and indicate their interest in the STRATERUS Alliance as potential clients or members at www. STRATERUS.org