Alcohol and our Campus Community (August, 2006)

August 3, 2006

Dear Undergraduate Students and Parents:

With the new academic year fast approaching, I wanted to take this opportunity to let both parents and students know about a recent presentation made during the Class of 2010's June orientation. The presentation was entitled "Expectations/College Culture." On the second day of each orientation session, parents and students gathered together to consider the issue of "community," and in particular, what our collective expectations were when it came to issues of alcohol usage on campus, and our attitudes concerning diversity and difference. While seemingly different on the surface, the topics of alcohol and diversity are uniquely critical to Fairfield University's ability to foster a healthy and dynamic living and learning community. The formal remarks which were offered by Mr. Mark Reed, vice president for student affairs, and myself have been posted online at http://www.fairfield.edu/sl_sc6-07.html, and I welcome you to review them.

I write to you today to expand upon some of the themes of that presentation as they relate to our alcohol policies. You have undoubtedly read much about the issue of alcohol on college campuses, whether in correspondence from the University or in the national media. My goal here today is not to speak about the issue generally, but rather, to let parents and students know about some specific steps the University is taking to foster greater attention to the realities and risks associated with high risk drinking. I also hope that this letter will prompt a discussion between parent and student about your respective expectations when it comes to the issue of high-risk alcohol use. In the end, the issue of alcohol usage is very much a question of personal values - how do you, the student, value your own health and well-being as well as that of the community around you? Is it reflected in your use of alcohol or in any other ways in which you live your life while on campus? Is this the way you want to live, or are you attempting to comply with a model of what you think is expected of you as a college student? Is it consistent with what your family and friends believe? I pose these questions in the hope that a discussion will begin now, at home, between parent and student. In my mind, this is the most important place for this discussion to occur.

Alcohol and our campus community

Maintaining a safe and secure campus is an issue that is as old as higher education itself. So too is the fact that alcohol abuse presents the most significant impediment to the welfare and well-being of campus residents. We tend to think of alcohol abuse as an isolated, individual event. The reality, however, is that high-risk drinking is a community issue - particularly on college campuses. When a student becomes intoxicated, it doesn't just impact the drinker. It impacts the lives of others around the drinker, the drinker's family and friends. It impacts the physical surroundings and, unfortunately, it impacts the way in which the public perceives the institution.

Is this a prevalent problem? As stated by Mr. Reed in his March 2006 correspondence to students and parents, nearly every incidence of disruptive conduct that he was involved in during his tenure as Dean of Students could be tied to alcohol. In my relatively short time as Dean, I have made similar observations. Our data from the past academic year show increases in the number of alcohol-related disciplinary cases, as well as health center and hospital visits resulting from intoxication. Is this problem unique to Fairfield? Not at all. This is a national trend, but it does require a considered response from the college community. The good news, as expressed in the presentation we made at this past Orientation, is that there is a silent majority of students who do not subscribe to the notion that a rich social experience at college can only be obtained through intoxication. Yet, it is a silent majority. It takes courage to suggest a new and different way of living life. I am not here to suggest that Fairfield become a dry campus. I am here to suggest that we look at new and meaningful ways to make it a safer and healthier campus.

In January, Fairfield University joined other colleges and universities in the State of Connecticut as a partner in the Connecticut Statewide Healthy Campus Initiative. In brief, this initiative calls upon administrators to create campuses that are actively engaged in efforts to reduce high-risk alcohol consumption. We do this through the development of evidence-based prevention and intervention initiatives, as well as through open dialogues with our partners at other schools. In line with this commitment, my office has been in contact with colleagues at other institutions, and we have also engaged students on the residence life staff and members of the student senate on their thoughts regarding high risk behavior, trends and tendencies on our campus. We have received insightful feedback. In addition to this, we have looked at the reports of earlier alcohol task forces on campus, as well as the results of recent surveys which suggest that students want to be given more freedom to conduct their lives, and perceive administrative interventions as often times overly paternalistic. Finally, we have also considered comments from many students noting that some current policies, while straightforward and important, are ineffective and/or difficult to enforce (e.g., the party registration process; the restriction on usage of townhouse basements for social gatherings).

Based on the information we have received, and consistent with Governor Rell's Healthy Campus Initiative, we have modified some of our policies and practices in a way that we believe will better reflect the unique attention that should be paid to high risk behavior and its attendant consequences. While all violations of our alcohol policy will continue to be addressed, our response to "low risk" behavior will differ in nature from the response we give to those violations that are "high risk" and have implications for the community. We want to concentrate our greatest energy on those things that put the health and well-being of students at the greatest risk. Consistent with this approach, kegs and other large common containers will no longer be allowed on campus. In light of our commitment to a healthy campus, this policy change is the right thing to do. (This change was actually recommended as far back as 1990 by a federally funded alcohol task force on campus.) Beyond being the right approach to take, it reflects the best practice in this area - no other college and university in the State of Connecticut - public or private - permits kegs on campus. (As of this writing, Connecticut College permits kegs, but only after students have complied with a fairly comprehensive registration process.) In a somewhat different vein, the party registration process for the townhouses and apartments will also be discontinued. We will still provide important educational initiatives to students, but our goal is to move away from well-intentioned but largely bureaucratic mechanisms that tend to contradict our commitment to treat our resident students as adults. In terms of preventative initiatives, Fairfield University's counseling center has recently added an abstinence program to its roster of treatment interventions. This was done in response to a growing need to attend to those students who wish to and/or need to cease drinking behaviors altogether.

I would not suggest to anyone that the steps outlined above will eliminate high-risk behavior altogether. They will not. They are, however, important steps for our community to take as we reaffirm our collective commitment to providing the safest and healthiest environment possible for learning to occur.

I thank you for taking the time to consider these important topics, and wish you an enjoyable remainder to your summer.

Sincerely,

Thomas C. Pellegrino, Ph.D.
Dean of Students