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Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the Higher Education Center provides support to all institutions of higher education in their efforts to address alcohol and other drug problems.

The U.S. Department of Education established the Center to provide nationwide support for campus alcohol and other drug prevention efforts. The Center is working with colleges, universities, and proprietary school throughout the country to develop strategies for changing campus culture, to foster environments that promote healthy lifestyles, and to prevent illegal alcohol and other drug use among students.

The Higher Education Center provides technical assistance, develops publications, and conducts training workshops.

The Center's Primary Mission
The mission of the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention is to support institutions of higher education (IHEs) in their efforts to combat illegal alcohol and other drug (AOD) use and its consequences, including violence, in American colleges and universities primarily through the use of prevention strategies that focus on environmental, educational, and information dissemination strategies.

History and Authorization -- The Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention was first competed in fiscal year 1993. The Center was authorized by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, Title IV - The Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act of 1994, Part A - State Grants for Drug and Violence Prevention Programs, Subpart 2 - National Programs, Section 4121(a) - Federal Activities, as amended. The Center was recompeted in 1995. Funds were awarded for the base year and with two option years dependent on future availability of funds.

The Department's Philosophy of Prevention -- To a large extent, institutions of higher education have focused on education and intervention strategies that target the individual students. Typical of this approach are the general awareness programs for freshmen during orientation week, plus awareness weeks and other special events through the year. Harm reduction programs, which seek to minimize the damage that students do to themselves and others when using alcohol and other drugs, are another component of typical campus efforts.

These programs although necessary are insufficient. A broader approach is needed, one that seeks to change the social and cultural environment in which students make decisions about alcohol and other drug use and that uses multiple strategies. What students choose to do is shaped by campus social norms, the accessibility of alcohol and other drugs, the extent to which school policies and state laws are firmly enforced, and the availability of non-alcohol social options. All of these environmental factors are subject to influence through programs and policies at the campus community level. Prevention strategies that seek to systemically change the campus environment are more likely to create lasting change.

Therefore, a central feature of the Center's work is the promotion of multiple prevention strategies that affect the campus environment as a whole, and thereby can have a large-scale impact on the entire student body. The Center focuses on those prevention strategies which have not been traditionally used within the higher education community and which have large scale impact on the entire student body, campus environment, and campus AOD culture. This shift in thinking about prevention requires postsecondary administrators and educators to view their roles and responsibilities in new ways.

The Center is one of the primary resource for assisting IHE administrators and educators in developing and carrying out alcohol and other drug prevention programs on their campuses.

Target Audiences -- The Center serves a broad spectrum of postsecondary consumers. The campus community and its social environments are the primary units of focus and analysis. Similarly, the Center focuses on the entire student body, not individual students. Primary consumers include the most influential change agents at IHEs including Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), IHE and postsecondary and administrators (for student affairs, residence life, Greek organizations, etc.), AOD prevention coordinators, IHE alcohol and other drug advisory, and steering committees, and national college student organizations. Secondary consumers include faculty members, higher education legal counselors and attorneys, and voluntary networks and associations in higher education. Tertiary consumers include campus security personnel, campus media representatives, local community agencies, and representatives of State government agencies (e.g., the National Association of State Drug and Alcohol Abuse Directors).

The Center's Basic Products and Services
To accomplish its mission, the Center offers the basic products and services listed below which correspond to the 7 required tasks of the contract. What these products and services have in common is a focus on building the capacity of institutions of higher education to plan, implement, operate, and evaluate self-sustaining programs and policies.

Training
The Center conducts regional trainings, co-sponsored in conjunction with national and regional organizations; organizes professional development workshops for experienced prevention specialists and program evaluators; and gives keynote addresses and other presentations at national and regional meetings.

Publications and Materials
The Center's publications constitute its textbooks, and thus play a vital role in its provision of training and technical assistance services. Currently there is still a lack of prevention materials and research on higher education prevention. The Center identifies the needs for material and publications in order to fill existing voids. The Center publishes a wide range of materials to meet the diverse needs of the postsecondary education community. The materials include guides, manuals, bulletins, fliers, and a newsletter, the Catalyst, publisher three times each year.

Evaluation and Assessment
The Center will continue to work to make evaluation a routine part of how college-based prevention programs operate. To this end, the Center provides evaluation technical assistance to colleges and universities and conducts an ongoing search for promising prevention practices. This year, Center staff will work intensively with three IHEs to plan and implement rigorous evaluations of prevention activities. In option year one the Center will conduct a rigorous survey of IHEs to assess training and technical assistance needs.

Other Aspects of the Center
Provide Training and Technical Assistance on the Drug Free Schools and Campuses Act of 1989 (DFSCA) Compliance to Postsecondary Institutions. During fiscal year 1996, the Center will provide training to 300 postsecondary institutions. In addition technical assistance will be provided. In the second option year a sample of biennial reports will be analyzed.

Support for the The Network Addressing Collegiate Alcohol and Other Drug Issues
The Network is an important ally in the fight against alcohol and other drug use and in promoting prevention activities and efforts on campuses nation-wide. The Center supports a variety of Network activities including its executive committee, regional coordinator meetings, and regional meetings. Many of the Network's regional coordinators are Center trainers.

The Presidents Leadership Group
The Center has formed a Presidents Leadership Group to create a blueprint for alcohol and other drug prevention on college campuses, the Center announced today. This effort represents the first time this decade that a national group of college presidents will come together to review various approaches for curbing student substance use and to develop a comprehensive plan of action.

The Future -- The Center is moving to expand its capabilities to reach the higher education community. The need for assistance is increasing as funds to individual campuses and student organizations through discretionary grants have presently eliminated.

In this time of fewer financial resources available at both the federal and state level to IHEs, we recognize the need to provide products and services to meet the increasing need of IHEs who wish to prevent AOD and violence on their campuses. It is the hope of ED that the Center will be the premier provider of prevention services and products, a catalyst in providing leadership in higher education prevention, and provide a forum to administrators, staff, and faculty to share their best thinking on how to solve the problems associated with the illegal use and misuse of alcohol and other drugs on our nations college campuses.

Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention
c/o Education Development Center, Inc.
55 Chapel Street
Newton, MA 02458
800-676-1730
Fax: 617-928-1537
http://higheredcenter.org/