NCJ Number
192871
Date Published
1997
Length
62 pages
Annotation
This report summarizes the recommendations of the Presidents Leadership Group regarding what college and university presidents can do to prevent alcohol abuse and other drug abuse among students.
Abstract
The Presidents Leadership Group was formed in early 1997 by the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention. In discussing the scope of the problem, this report notes that a 1993 survey of college student alcohol and other drug use conducted by Dr. Henry Wechsler of the Harvard School of Public Health confirmed that the United States continues to have a major substance abuse problem on its college campuses. According to this national survey, 44 percent of college students engaged in binge drinking during the 2 weeks prior to the survey. Current prevention efforts encompass awareness education, information about social norms, and harm reduction programs. This report recommends that college presidents should work to ensure that school officials routinely collect data on the extent of the alcohol and other drug problems on campus and to make this information available. College presidents should define alcohol and other drug use, not as a problem of the campus alone, but of the entire community, requiring community-level action. College presidents should use every opportunity to speak out and write about alcohol and other drug prevention to reinforce it as a priority concern and to push for change. College presidents should demonstrate their commitment to alcohol and other drug prevention by budgeting sufficient resources to address the problem. College presidents should appoint a campuswide task force that includes other senior administrators, faculty, and students; has community representation; and reports directly to the president. College presidents should appoint other senior administrators, faculty, and students to participate in a campus-community coalition that is mandated to address alcohol and other drug issues in the community as a whole. Other recommendations pertain to college infrastructure and the basic premises of the education programs, integrating students into the intellectual life of the school, and changing student norms away from alcohol and other drug use. 37 notes and a list of 13 resources