University of Wyoming Increases AWAREness of Alcohol Abuse Risks

While high-risk student drinking isn’t unique to the University of Wyoming (UW), its success in addressing the issue is. UW, the only four-year institution of higher education in the state, enrolls approximately 10,000 students on the Laramie campus, three-fourths of whom are Wyoming residents.

In 2011, UW President Tom Buchanan accepted the Presidential Leadership Award from Outside The Classroom (OTC) and United Educators for UW’s efforts in changing its culture of drinking. The award is one of several presented to UW for the university’s Alcohol Wellness Alternatives, Research, & Education (AWARE) program. NASPA (Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education) also presented its Silver Excellence Award to the AWARE program, in conjunction with UW’s Residence Life & Dining Services, for the second consecutive year.

Tony Earls, associate director for Residence Life & Dining Services at UW, credits the university’s success to a campus-wide ethic of collaboration and the willingness at all levels to do what’s necessary to combat excessive drinking.

AWARE Program

UW’s AWARE program, the hub for all campus alcohol and drug abuse prevention efforts, is based on recommendations from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. AWARE’s mission is to reduce alcohol use, lessen the risks of alcohol abuse, and increase protective factors associated with alcohol abuse prevention. UW operates the program through its counseling center where a program coordinator and three graduate assistants utilize best practices to provide drug and alcohol education and prevention programming through guidance, education, research, and campus/community collaboration.

Key elements of AWARE include:

• Conducting the National College Health Assessment (NCHA) biennially to assess current efforts and determine areas on which to focus future prevention efforts
• Distributing the updated UW Alcohol and Other Drugs Policy to students and employees annually
• Delivering clear expectations regarding alcohol use early, including during first-year orientation
• Requiring every first-year student to complete OTC’s AlcoholEdu for College, an online alcohol education course, before coming to campus
• Creating a coalition of representatives from student affairs, faculty, admissions, athletics, counseling, Greek life, residence life and dining services, campus and local police departments, local community leaders, and student leaders “to develop, recommend, and assess best practices in policy, prevention/intervention, and enforcement to reduce underage drinking and excessive alcohol use”
• Establishing a peer education program to promote responsible use of alcohol among UW students through campaigns and activities
• Providing late-night alcohol-free programming to UW students
• Providing individual and group education and interventions to students who have violated campus alcohol policies and laws

Lessons Learned

Higher education institutions should not expect immediate results when implementing a new program to reduce student alcohol abuse, Earls says. UW decided to focus on first-year students when implementing AlcoholEdu. Its plan was to educate each incoming class so over time every student enrolled at UW should have heard the message. Because of the program’s success, UW will continue AlcoholEdu in conjunction with AWARE.

Institutions that want to replicate UW’s achievement should present a consistent message from all departments of the college and start the conversation early with incoming students, Earls says. During the summer prior to their arrival on campus, all incoming students receive a letter from UW’s president explaining that the university expects them to complete the AlcoholEdu program. This endorsement from the top demonstrates the importance of UW’s alcohol reduction initiatives even before the students come to campus. The NCHA data shows that, from 2007 to 2009, UW achieved the following successes among first-year students:

• Binge drinking rates decreased by 31 percent
• The mean number of alcoholic drinks consumed the last time a student partied or socialized fell from 5.5 to 3.9 drinks
• The number of students who reported driving in the previous 30 days after consuming five or more drinks of alcohol decreased by 94 percent
• The number of students who reported negative effects from alcohol on academic performance decreased by 74 percent