Lincoln, Neb., Oct. 1, 2003 -- High-risk drinking and the harms associated with it continue to decline among students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, according to data released by the NU Directions campus-community coalition.
Survey results from the 2003 Harvard College Alcohol Study, conducted in the spring, found another 3 percentage-point decline in the "binge drinking" rate among UNL students, bringing the figure to 47 percent from its original measure of 62 percent in 1997. The margin of error in the survey is plus or minus 5 percent.
Other measures of harms to students who drink and harms to students who live with those who drink also showed declines. Students experiencing five or more problems due to their drinking, including missing class, engaging in unplanned sexual activity, arguing with friends or doing something they regret, dropped from 25 percent in 2002 to 15 percent this year. Significant declines were also seen in students who reported having to "baby-sit" a drunken student (from 59 percent to 53 percent), having property damaged by a drunken student (18 percent to 12 percent), or having been insulted or humiliated by a drunken student (from 33 percent to 24 percent).
The news comes amid the awarding of a four-year renewal grant totaling $468,000 by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which has funded the coalition's activities since 1998. The NU Directions coalition was the first of the 10 sites offered grants by the Foundation to show consistent reductions in drinking rates and subsequent harms.
Coalition co-chairs James V. Griesen and Police Chief Tom Casady credit the declines to the comprehensive work done by the campus-community coalition.
"This data confirms that we're on the right track by focusing not just on the student but on the larger alcohol environment students enter when they attend the university," Griesen said. "Everyone in the community has to be working together to create an environment that discourages dangerous choices for young adults."
The coalition uses a three-tiered approach that incorporates policy, education and enforcement in addressing everything from the way in which alcohol is used on campus and in surrounding neighborhoods to the way in which alcohol is marketed and sold in the community. The coalition works to create dialogue between campus and community members, from bar owners and neighborhood residents to students, administrators and parents, in order to find solutions that the entire community can support. "We can't place a student in an environment where alcohol is readily available, consequences are minimal and the culture encourages intoxication and expect them to make responsible decisions," Casady said.
"The coalition's greatest success is being able to demand a better environment for those who come to Lincoln to live and get an education."
Casady and Griesen said the coalition will continue to focus on environmental issues residing on campus and in the community over the next four years but will also work on several new issues, including student drinking and driving, alcohol use in rituals and traditions, and the creation of a statewide initiative to address high-risk alcohol use at colleges and universities across the state. The coalition will also assist greek-affiliated organizations in reducing high-risk drinking. A U.S. Department of Education grant written by coalition members was awarded an additional $295,000 in the summer to help with that student population.
CONTACT: Tom Workman, NU Directions, (402) 472-8155
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Posted by Tom Simons, Office of University Communications
Phone: (402) 472-8514, Fax: (402) 472-7825