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Campus-based efforts to reduce alcohol and other drug abuse and violence (AODV) will be more successful if they involve a wide range of stakeholders--including students--who can contribute to the program's design, implementation, and evaluation. Students provide a unique perspective on AODV prevention, and they can also bring a certain authority to the issue: college presidents and other campus administrators pay attention when students speak about AODV issues in a responsible and informed way. Effective prevention requires the development of an evidence-based strategic plan that defines the program's goals and objectives and outlines specific strategies and activities to carry out those aims. Some AODV programs have succeeded in involving students strategically and effectively by reconceptualizing their relationship with other students as an opportunity to mentor the next generation of prevention leaders. The four institutions featured here exemplify this approach to student leadership: the University of Missouri-Columbia, Arizona State University, the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW), and the University of Southern Maine (USM). This orientation affects how AODV prevention staff select and train students, the types of work they do, and how their experience is evaluated. (Contains 2 resources and 4 online resources.)

The environmental management approach to alcohol and other drug abuse and violence (AODV) prevention is based on the principle that college students' conduct can be shaped through concerted efforts to reengineer the environment that shapes their behavior. Constructing a campus, community, and state-level environment that will protect students and help them make healthier and safer decisions is challenging work, which requires an organized and participatory process to develop, implement, and evaluate a sound strategic plan. This process includes three types of participatory efforts. On "campus", the college president or chancellor can begin by appointing a permanent task force that represents several important constituencies, including key administrative staff, faculty, and students, and possibly alumni and parents. To guide "community-level" efforts, the task force can collaborate with, or evolve into, a full coalition that includes both campus and civic leaders. Finally, work at the "state level" can be facilitated by a statewide association of academic, community, and state prevention leaders. This publication outlines how campus officials can organize and work collaboratively with campus and community coalitions and with statewide initiatives to accomplish their AODV prevention goals. (Contains 13 resources.)

Student alcohol and other drug abuse and violence (AODV) still reign as the most serious social problems faced by U.S. institutions of higher education. To tackle these problems, campus administrators--working in conjunction with partners from the surrounding community--need to put in place an integrated set of strategies that address the mix of individual, group, institutional, community, and societal factors that lead to student substance abuse and violence. This type of comprehensive approach--called environmental management--cannot be implemented without using a systematic planning and evaluation process. This publication outlines the first step of that process: "problem analysis." This step, often referred to as "needs assessment," is an essential feature of the U.S. Department of Education's principles of effectiveness for AODV prevention programs. Conducting a problem analysis involves: (1) gathering objective data on the nature and scope of the problem at both national and local levels; (2) examining available resources and assets in the campus community; and (3) analyzing and summarizing this information to clarify needs and opportunities. Note that the process outlined here is suitable for both two- and four-year institutions, including both residential and commuter campuses. (Contains 1 table and 3 resources.)

Of all drugs abused on college and university campuses, alcohol causes the greatest harm. Other drugs (the prevention field uses the term "other drugs" to distinguish them from alcohol, which also is a drug) also take a significant toll--diminishing the quality of campus life, undermining academic performance, compromising students' health and safety--and therefore also warrant the attention of higher education administrators. Monitoring the shifting and varied patterns of illicit drug use and their effects presents a significant challenge to campus prevention professionals. An institution's response to student drug abuse should be crafted to take into account individual campus and community circumstances. A comprehensive prevention approach begins with defining the nature and scope of the problem and then seeking to understand and identify the environmental factors in the campus community that are encouraging substance use. Based on that information, administrators can select and implement a host of targeted environmental management strategies that can help students make healthier decisions. These include: (1) Offer and promote social, recreational, extracurricular, and public service options that do not include alcohol and other drugs; (2) Create a social, academic, and residential environment that supports health-promoting norms; (3) Limit the availability of other drugs both on and off campus; (4) Restrict marketing and promotion of clubs and raves; and (5) Develop and enforce campus policies and enforce local, state, and federal laws. (Contains 1 table and 8 online resources.)

The nation's institutions of higher education continue to face serious problems with respect to student alcohol and other drug abuse and violence (AODV). For campus administrators, deciding how to respond effectively means understanding and taking into account both the complexity of these social problems and the individuality of each campus community. There can be no simple answer: Complicated problems require a comprehensive and integrated response, and crafting such a response requires a systematic planning and evaluation process. To support campus leaders addressing AODV problems among their students, this publication describes a strategic planning process for designing, implementing, and refining AODV programs and policies. The planning process described herein is grounded in a prevention approach called "environmental management", which focuses on addressing various factors in the environment that contribute to AODV-related problems. This is not a detailed manual, but a basic introduction to the elements and purposes of sound intervention planning, consistent with the U.S. Department of Education's principles of effectiveness for prevention programs. (Contains 1 table, 1 figure and 9 resources.)

The presence of a college or university in a community can greatly enrich the lives of long-term residents, intellectually, culturally, and financially. But students who live, work, and play in nearby neighborhoods can sometimes create enormous problems, putting a strain on campus and community relations and compromising the health and safety of all residents not just of students. In response, college administrators must view student alcohol and other drug problems as a community problem, not just a campus problem. If campus officials accept responsibility for addressing off-campus problems, they will find able and willing partners in the community who are eager to search for workable solutions, collaborating in a spirit of mutual respect. The program and policy options described in this publication are a good place to start that discussion. (Contains 3 online resources.)

Although any new undertaking is exciting because of the opportunities it may bring, the transition to college life also brings new pressures and uncertainties. From the shelter of home, young people emerge into a new culture, with a new environment for success. Here they are their own masters, often far from the vigilance of parents and the strictures of tightly scheduled school days. As they take this step toward independence, they face the temptation to celebrate their newfound freedom, test limits, and perhaps escape from new pressures through alcohol and other drugs. This guide addresses three questions: (1) How serious is the problem of alcohol and other drug use among first-year students?; (2) What developmental and environmental factors make the first year of college a time of greater vulnerability?; and (3) How can prevention professionals help students successfully negotiate the sometimes perilous transition from high school to college life? (Contains 1 figure and 4 online resources.)

In response to ongoing concern about unacceptable levels of AOD (alcohol and other drug) use on campuses, in 1998 Congress authorized the Department of Education to identify and promote effective prevention through a model grants program. In 1999, OSDFS (Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools) launched an important component of the Department's efforts to advance best practices, the Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Models on College Campuses Grants. The program's goal is to move the field toward more effective practice. Applying institutions are required to describe an innovative program or policy that was integrated into a comprehensive AOD abuse prevention effort, to provide evidence that the initiative was effective in reducing AOD-related problems, and to propose a work plan for encouraging replication of their efforts. Each grantee institution receives funding to maintain, improve, and further evaluate its efforts and to disseminate information to other campuses where the program might be replicated. A total of 22 institutions received awards under this initiative in 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2004. Congress did not fund the program in 2002 or 2003. Additional institutions received awards in 2005 and 2006; findings from those two cohorts are not yet fully known. One grant was awarded in fiscal year 2007. Each campus has publicized its work in the usual ways--presenting at conferences, sponsoring workshops, and distributing brochures and other materials. The agenda for OSDFS's annual National Meeting on Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse and Violence Prevention in Higher Education includes a session for the newest grantees to present on their activities. The primary purpose of this publication is to examine these model programs in order to discover broader lessons for AOD prevention practitioners and thereby move the field toward more effective prevention. The authors aim is not merely to describe the model programs but also to explore the general principles and processes by which the grantees successfully implemented their programs, policies, and interventions. Appendices include: (1) Site Visit Interview Protocol; and (2) Characteristics of 22 Institutions of Higher Education With U.S. Department of Education Model Programs (1999-2004). Individual chapters contain references. A list of resources is included. (Contains 4 figures.)

Recent years have seen an upsurge in prevention work focused on changing the campus and community environments in which college students make decisions about alcohol and other drug (AOD) use. This approach, called "environmental management," is based on three fundamental premises: (1) Substance use problems are aggravated by a physical, social, economic, and legal environment that increases both the availability and appeal of alcohol and other drugs; (2) The most cost-effective means of reducing the number of AOD problems that a community experiences is to change that environment, thereby increasing motivation to avoid illegal or excessive substance use and its negative consequences; and (3) Successful environmental management requires a coalition of campus and community officials to develop and execute a strategic plan that features science-based programs and policies. Conscientious academic administrators who apply environmental prevention approaches will want to know if their efforts are effectively reducing alcohol and other drug problems. This requires systematic evaluation--a process for collecting, analyzing, and reporting information that can answer that question. This publication is designed to provide interested college and university administrators with a brief orientation to the evaluation of prevention programs that are based on the environmental management approach. In practice, campus officials who have applied an environmental management approach to AOD abuse prevention have found it useful to view program development and evaluation as an iterative process, with evaluation findings helping to inform program modifications. The evaluation process has five steps: (1) describing the intervention; (2) identifying process measures; (3) identifying outcome measures; (4) selecting a research design; and (5) utilizing the results. (Contains 1 figure and 5 resources.)

This publication is designed to guide presidents of community colleges and their administrative staff as they focus on alcohol and other drug (AOD) abuse prevention. The first section reviews the challenges facing community colleges in reducing student substance use and the strengths the colleges draw on in addressing it. The second section introduces "environmental management," a prevention approach developed by the U.S. Department of Education's Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse and Violence Prevention to address AOD-related problems on campus. Several environmental management options are particularly appropriate to community colleges. The third section describes student assistance programs, a case identification and intervention method that is especially well suited to community colleges. (Contains 1 figure, 1 table, and 4 resources.)

The most widespread health and safety problem on college and university campuses in the United States today is high-risk alcohol use and related consequences. The heavy, episodic use of alcohol that 44 percent of college students engage in results in a myriad of consequences for both drinkers and nondrinkers, ranging from disturbed study and vandalism to assault and even death. Alcohol use may have a significant impact on student retention as well. Campus administrators perceive that approximately 27 percent of all dropouts are related to alcohol and other drugs. Recent reports also confirm that alcohol use has significant adverse effects on cities and towns surrounding colleges and universities. Many college administrators and community members realize that there is no single cause of students' heavy alcohol use and therefore no single remedy for the problem. A comprehensive approach is required, one that addresses multiple levels of influence. Individual factors and group processes influence drinking behavior, and strategies to address these two levels are part of a comprehensive approach. This publication aims to encourage campus administrators in a state to work together to introduce policies that make the environment less supportive of high-risk alcohol use. Beginning with a general definition of policy, it goes on to review specific alcohol policy options cited in recent reviews of the scientific literature. It also suggests concrete actions that campus administrators can take to encourage key stakeholders, including policymakers, to review existing policy and serve as catalysts for change. (Contains 2 tables and 9 online resources.)

The Resolving Conflict Creatively Program (RCCP) is one of a growing number of grade K-12 violence prevention programs that teaches young people how to resolve conflict peacefully. It is a school-based program taught by regular classroom teachers. This report was designed to introduce criminal justice professionals to the basic concepts and strategies of violence prevention and to inspire their involvement in finding new ways to prevent violent crime among youth. RCCP includes elementary, secondary, and special education curriculums, a student-led mediation program, a parents' program, and an administrators' component. RCCP focuses on all students, not just high-risk youth. Teachers are given professional training and ongoing technical assistance and support throughout the school year. This paper describes the program's philosophy and details the 12 units in the elementary curriculum as well as the 3 unitss in the secondary program. Other areas discussed include professional training, the student mediation program, mediator selection and training, parent training, program costs, and evaluation results. The report closes with a special note for criminal justice professionals and the violence prevention movement. Community programs in four different locales are discussed. Addresses for further information are provided. (RJM)

A joint project of the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Unified School District, Project DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) is designed to equip elementary and junior high school children with the skills for resisting peer pressure to experiment with drugs and alcohol. The goal is to teach students how to say "no." A growing consensus among experts in education and medicine holds that substance abuse prevention must begin early, well before children have been led by their peers to experiment with drugs and alcohol. Most important, Project DARE introduces this training just at the time when the peer pressure begins. DARE's instructors are Los Angeles police officers on full-time duty with the project. Assigned to five schools per semester, the officers visit classrooms once a week to present an innovative curriculum developed by school district personnel. Veteran police officers with several years of street experience, the DARE instructors have a credibility unmatched by regular classroom teachers. Through the DARE lessons, students learn that: real friends will not push them into trying drugs and alcohol; the majority of their peers do not use these substances; being grown up means making their own decisions and coping with problems in a positive way; and they can assert themselves in the face of peer pressure. The DARE curriculum is organized into 17 classroom sessions in which a wide range of teaching activities are used that are designed to encourage student participation and response. (ABL)

Reports on a meeting of a national group of college presidents who came together to tackle the problem of student drinking on campus. The presidents concluded that they are in a unique position to mobilize a widespread campaign to curb drinking. Describes the campaign. Includes a list of the group's recommendations and contact information. (Author/MKA)