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RELEASED: Sept. 8, 2005
DANVILLE, KY—All incoming Centre College first-year students completed an online alcohol prevention program this summer. The program, AlcoholEdu for College, is part of Centre's comprehensive and proactive approach to ensure that students have the tools they need to make safe and healthy decisions about alcohol.
"High-risk drinking is a problem nationwide among college and university students," says Allis McLaughlin, director of health services. "Centre is committed to getting ahead of the problem so that our students have a positive experience here—both academically and socially—and once they have graduated."
Additional efforts are in place. The alcohol policy has been revised to raise fines and to increase the number of students who will be mandated to attend six hours of education for policy violations. Letters to parents will be sent in more instances. A Peer Education program provides residence-hall programs and awareness activities throughout the year.
In March 2005, the National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (NIAAA) released new data suggesting that the problem of college drinking exceeds previous estimates, citing more than 1,700 alcohol-related deaths and 2.8 million cases of driving under the influence in 2001. Previous estimates also suggest 500,000 injuries, 70,000 sexual assaults, and 159,000 first-year student dropouts due to alcohol and other drugs every year.
AlcoholEdu for College is an online, prevention program used on more than 450 campuses around the country. The program, which takes about two-and-a-half hours to complete, includes three confidential surveys that will provide success measures for the institution after students have completed it. The program was developed by Boston-based Outside The Classroom.
An independent, third-party evaluation of AlcoholEdu for College, undertaken by Andrew Wall, Ph.D., of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, revealed that students who completed AlcoholEdu for College experienced approximately 50 percent fewer negative health, social and academic consequences than students who had not taken the course.
"For too long, high-risk drinking has been addressed only after a student has violated a policy or had problems with alcohol," says Randy Hays, vice president and dean of student life. "Centre's goal is to prevent problems before they surface. We're confident that this program will translate into more productive academic careers and lives for our students."
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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/
For news archives go to http://www.centre.edu/web/news/newsarchive.html.
Communications Office
Centre College
600 W. Walnut Street
Danville, KY 40422
Public Information Coordinator: Telephone 859-238-5714