University joins group fighting high-risk alcohol use

Dartmouth president Jim Yong Kim announced a Learning Collaborative on High-Risk Drinking on May 2 as the inaugural effort of his National College Health Improvement Project. Princeton is one of 13 colleges to have signed onto the project, with seven more expected to join before June.

The new initiative aims to lower the rate of binge drinking and frequency of destructive behavior that results from binge drinking on college campuses by bringing together teams of students, faculty and administrators from schools across the nation. The groups will meet in person every six months beginning in June to share data and effective strategies for alcohol abuse prevention. The teams’ primary objective over the course of the three meetings will be to discover “which [alcohol intervention programs] work, where they work and why,” according to the Dartmouth Office of Public Affairs.

In between sessions, participating schools will also attend monthly virtual meetings and draw on the resources of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice as necessary. The group will then publish its findings.

University Director of Campus Life Initiatives Amy Campbell said in an email that the group will serve as a “complement to our current work, including the Alcohol Coalition Committee, education through University Health Services and Health Promotion and Wellness Services and other educational programs aimed at addressing high-risk drinking.”

“We are in the process of identifying who will be invited to serve on Princeton’s team,” she said. “This is a new initiative, and we won’t know the full potential of the program until we meet with our colleagues.” She added that the ACC plans to involve more students in the discussion in the fall.

In addition to Dartmouth and Princeton, the initiative also includes Boston University, Cornell, Duke University, Frostburg State University, Northwestern University, Ohio University, Purdue University, Sewanee: The University of the South, Stanford, Stony Brook University, University of Wyoming and Wesleyan University.

“High-risk drinking is a complex issue and one that requires ongoing work, a realistic approach, welcoming engagement of students and a consistent message about the dangerous impact and health consequences,” Campbell said.

“Taking care of yourself and others has become a part of the ACC’s message,” Campbell added, “and we hope students are beginning to become aware of the responsibility they have to themselves and others.”