Institutionalize the Prevention of High-Risk Drinking
Despite the broad legal, financial, and risk management implications of high-risk drinking on college and university campuses, many institutions take a siloed approach to preventing it.
They consider alcohol prevention the sole purview of Student Affairs. Other key stakeholders may not be at the table with Student Affairs leaders to collaborate on addressing high-risk drinking.
But without institution-wide support for alcohol prevention, real progress in reducing the dangers of high-risk drinking is unlikely.
High-Risk Drinking Is Prevalent on Campus
Excessive student drinking is a perpetual problem on higher ed campuses. According to a national survey, 49% of college students ages 18-22 drank alcohol in the month before the survey, and nearly one in three of college students ages 18-22 engaged in binge drinking during that same time frame.
In addition, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) reports that about 1,519 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, including motor vehicle crashes.
Downsides to Centralized Alcohol Prevention
The growth of alcohol prevention as a field contributed to the de-prioritization of addressing high-risk drinking at the institutional level. Many campuses employ a designated staff member — often called an Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Coordinator — to address alcohol and other drug issues.
While centralizing this function makes sense organizationally, a more effective model creates an organization-wide imperative, often articulated in an institution’s strategic plan as a key priority. By contrast, alcohol prevention accountability often rests solely with the AOD in Student Affairs.
The Institutional Costs of High-Risk Drinking
One of the most effective approaches for institutionalizing alcohol prevention is elevating the alcohol issue to resonate with senior leaders. This typically requiresemphasizing connections between high-risk drinking and mission-critical priorities, cost reduction, and risk management.
By highlighting these links, campus professionals can begin reframing the issue not as “the alcohol problem” but as a key challenge to address to achieve organizational goals and objectives.
- Cost reduction is a key strategic imperative for institutions. Each year, colleges and universities incur significant costs related to alcohol use, such as:
- Providing counseling services
- Adjudicating alcohol policy violators
- Increasing public safety
- Fixing property damage
- Providing waste management
Some campuses also lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue from alcohol-related attrition.
Examining alcohol’s financial costs to your institution can be a powerful lever for gaining support from key stakeholders across campus.
Use This Test to Assess Institutionalization of Alcohol Prevention
Creating shared responsibility for alcohol prevention requires assessing whether prevention is an organizational priority.
The diagnostic test below will evaluate how institutionalized extensive alcohol prevention is on your campus. Use the test to demonstrate the need for broader support and highlight specific areas for improvement.
Diagnostic Test for Assessing Institutionalization of Alcohol Prevention
Answer each question yes or no.
- Do people outside of Student Affairs play a role in achieving your institution’s alcohol use prevention objectives?
- Are senior-level administrators — your President, Provost, board members — committed to making improvements on the alcohol issue?
- Have you successfully linked alcohol prevention to mission-critical priorities (such as retention, student engagement, student success, financial performance)?
- Is alcohol prevention included in your institution’s annual budget (rather than relying solely on grant dollars)?
- Is student health and wellness mentioned as a key priority in your institution’s strategic plan?
- Does your institution regularly measure and report key indicators of student health, including alcohol use?
- Has your institution articulated specific, measurable goals for improving student health and wellness?
- Does your institution hold senior-level administrators accountable for student health outcomes (such as high-risk drinking)?
- Have you developed strategies for sustaining engagement among key stakeholders?
Scoring based on number of “yes” responses:
0-3: Low degree of institutionalization
4-6: Moderate degree of institutionalization
7-9: High degree of institutionalization
If your test score indicates a low or moderate degree of institutionalization, develop a strategy for increasing the level of organizational engagement in alcohol prevention.
While this is generally thought to be the responsibility of the Student Affairs team, risk managers can play a critical role.
Share Responsibility for Alcohol Prevention
There are many potential opportunities for Risk Management involvement in the institutionalization of alcohol prevention. Collaborative opportunities include:
- Resident Advisor (RA) Training. Start the year with a formal training session teaching RAs about the dangers of alcohol and how to handle scenarios where alcohol may be a risk factor. Provide meetings and forums throughout the year for RAs to discuss their experiences and gain expertise from risk management professionals. Teach RAs to seek risk management input when planning events to develop alcohol risk prevention strategies.
- Campus Safety Report Review. Several times each year, have representatives of Campus Safety and Risk Management meet to identify problem areas involving alcohol use, prevention strategies to implement, and how to capture alcohol information in reports (such as where students were drinking and how much they were drinking).
- Large Event Planning. Risk managers and Student Affairs staff meet periodically to discuss the planning of large events and identify appropriate alcohol risk mitigation. An example of event risk reduction may include limiting alcohol consumption to one or two drinks per person.
- Facilities Reviews. Risk managers and facilities staff meet periodically to discuss property damage that occurred in relation to events that involved alcohol, such as damage to a dorm room during a party with heavy alcohol consumption. Facilities staff may be able to identify trends in alcohol use and property damage incidents that otherwise wouldn’t be apparent.
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Based on an earlier article written for United Educators by Cindy Berg, formerly of Outside the Classroom.
About the Author
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Melanie Bennett, Esq., ARM-E
Senior Risk Management Counsel
In her role on UE’s Risk Research team, Melanie dives into timely topics affecting education. Her areas of expertise include protecting minors, enterprise risk management (ERM), technology accessibility, and athletics. Prior to joining UE, she interned at the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. Melanie serves on the Higher Education Protection Network’s (HEPNet’s) Board of Directors.