Building a Responsible Community

The DePauw Greek Community:

An Assessment of the Environment

by Peter F. Lake* and Holiday Hart McKiernan**

 

*Peter Lake is Professor of Law at Stetson University College of Law in St. Petersburg, Florida.  He received his A.B. in philosophy from Harvard University in 1981, magna cum laude, (Phi Beta Kappa), and he earned his Doctor of Jurisprudence in 1984, cum laude, also from Harvard.  Professor Lake has co-authored the book The Rights and Responsibilities of the Modern University: Who Assumes the Risks of College Life (1999).  Professor Lake sits on the Board of Advisors for the Higher Education Center, the Board of Directors of the Center for Academic Integrity, is Vice President of the Association for Interdisciplinary Initiatives in Higher Education Law & Policy and works extensively in the field of higher education, law and policy.

 **Holiday Hart McKiernan is Executive Director & Counsel of Alpha Chi Omega, serving as the chief executive officer of the three entities that comprise Alpha Chi Omega.  She earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1980, magna cum laude, from DePauw (Phi Beta Kappa), and her Doctor of Jurisprudence in 1983, cum laude, from Indiana University School of Law.  Ms. McKiernan has developed expertise on tax, organizational and legal issues affecting Greek organizations and institutions of higher education.  She is vice-chair of the Bishop Chatard High School Board of Regents, a founding member and secretary/treasurer of the Association for Interdisciplinary Initiatives in Higher Education Law & Policy, a member of the NIC Foundation, Inc. Board of Directors and a member of the Indiana State Bar Association.

 

I.          Introduction

DePauw University has a tradition of Greek organizations as an integral element of campus life.  Greek organizations have defined what it means to be community at DePauw.  Two women’s organizations were founded at DePauw.  This heritage is part of the DePauw story.  Many alumni remain connected to the institution because of the community they experienced in their Greek organizations.  DePauw is believed to be one of the most “Greek” institutions in the United States.  It is estimated that 70% of the students are members of Greek organizations.  Further, 50% of the students reside in Greek housing.  The level of participation alone tells a story of the value that has been placed by DePauw on this Greek presence.  But, arguably the Greek presence has a dark side to it as well.  Greek life is portrayed in the media, and by documented statistics, to include a high-risk alcohol environment.   This high-risk alcohol environment undermines the academic mission of DePauw.

President Bottoms and the Board of Trustees acknowledge that DePauw has both a Greek culture and a high-risk alcohol culture.  President Bottoms and the Board have wrestled with how to effectively preserve the Greek culture and yet change the high-risk alcohol culture that has manifested itself in DePauw’s Greek organizations and therefore the culture of DePauw University.  The appropriate response to this challenge is obviously critical to Greek organizations.  Greek organizations must be a compliment to the academic mission of the institution.  Greek organizations must provide a value-added benefit to students to be a worthwhile component of the higher-education experience.  But, the appropriate response to this challenge is critical to DePauw.  DePauw is Greek.  Within the existing paradigm for DePauw to be successful, Greek must be successful.  The Greek culture at DePauw must change.

At the request of President Robert Bottoms of DePauw University, Holiday Hart McKiernan (Holly) was asked to provide assistance in assessing the Greek community and the alcohol issues at DePauw.  Holly proposed to Dr. Bottoms that Professor Peter Lake (Peter) be engaged to consult on the project.  Peter brought to the assessment both expertise on higher education and the objectivity of one not a product of the DePauw experience.  In August 2002, Holly and Peter met with President Bottoms and DePauw staff members at the Alpha Chi Omega Headquarters in Indianapolis to plan the consulting project.  The goal of the project was to provide Dr. Bottoms with an assessment of the DePauw Greek environment and to provide recommendations as to how to change the ethos of DePauw University.  To meet that goal it was necessary to gather input from a wide variety of campus stakeholders.  On September 9 and 10, and then again on September 17, Holly and Peter met in person with stakeholders.  Holly and Peter were able to meet by phone with other campus stakeholders including a member of the Board.  On December 9, Holly met with representatives of the house corporations that own and manage the Greek organizations’ living units.

The meetings with stakeholders proved to be very enlightening.  The President's staff members and members of the Board were extremely helpful in providing information and were willing to talk openly about issues presented.  Most students were willing to be quite candid.  Holly and Peter also toured the immediate campus environment, stopping at restaurants, a local Wal-Mart and shops in the area.  Although we were unable to meet with community leaders, we were able to get a strong sense of DePauw's overall environment within the Greencastle community.  It is worth noting that DePauw is advantaged in its somewhat isolated rural location as student's options for activities — both positive and negative — are somewhat limited.  The community on the whole does not appear to be a high crime area.  This was confirmed by the students.

The initial parameters for the consulting project were articulated as focusing on Greek issues.  At our request, the issues were broadened to include the entire safety context of the DePauw environment.  This approach, the environmental management approach, is a documented successful scientific approach to alcohol problems on campuses.  This approach will be developed in detail throughout the report.

DePauw has a tremendous opportunity to improve the safety context regarding alcohol in its environment.  It is beneficial to begin with data to quantify the DePauw alcohol culture.  The most common measure used to access overall student alcohol culture is the Core Alcohol and Drug Survey administered through the Core Institute.  Staff members at DePauw administered the survey in March of 2000 and March of 2002.  The Core Institute which sponsors the Core Survey breaks this data down into significant detail.[1]   The most commonly focused upon statistic in assessing the relative danger of an alcohol environment is the statistic that focuses on “binge drinking” in the last two weeks.  Compare this to a national average of 46.5% for the same period.  In March 2000 according to survey results, 47.0% of the DePauw students self-reported that they had “binged” at least one or more times in the previous two weeks.  (The term binge is highly controversial in the scientific field, and usually designed to discuss situations where a student drinks five or more drinks in one sitting.[2])  Nationally, a very small percentage of drinkers engage in between six and 10 binge drinks episodes in a two-week period.  These individuals pose extremely high risk to themselves and others and should be the target of specific enforcement techniques.

In this report, we recommend that DePauw utilize an environmental management strategy to address the high-risk alcohol culture.  Drinking problems such as they exist at DePauw are not Greek problems.  These are problems that exist in the environment as a whole and can only be addressed environmentally.  A leading monograph on the environmental management strategy, as well as its endorsement in the recent report released by the National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (“NIAAA”)[3] are attached to this report for further reading.

The importance of an environmental approach can be demonstrated with an example.  One might spend as much as $100,000 to improve the furniture quality at a particular male Greek house.  The desire is to improve the quality of life for the students and for the students to respect and take care of the facility.  However, it is not unlikely that the house would be trashed again following every typical Saturday night event and there will be frustrations that the money was poorly spent to address the problems in that house.  From an environmental strategy perspective, it is apparent that this type of singular solution is doomed to fail.  It is likely that a refinished house will draw more party goers than a less finished house, therefore leading to greater numbers than the house had previously encountered.  This increase in attendees puts an already strained environment under further duress leading to a complete breakdown of the management of the property.  This typically leads to punishment of Greek groups and vilification of individuals.  However, the culture does not change.  This is just for illustration, but to give the reader some flavor of the central theme of our opinion.

We would also like to acknowledge that we have read and taken into consideration the August 2002 report by Patricia Owen of the Hazelden Foundation entitled, DePauw University Alcohol Use Needs Assessment Based on Site visit April 2002.  Patricia Owen is well known to Peter, and DePauw is to be commended on utilizing Ms. Owen to offer advice to DePauw.

DePauw University is a heavily Greek institution and this is well known as such to students in and outside the community.  DePauw's essential character is intertwined with Greek traditions, and we view this as a tremendous asset for student safety in the future of DePauw.  Greek groups nationally are often targeted as being “the problem” regarding high-risk alcohol use.  Clearly the statistics support the conclusion that a high-risk alcohol environment has manifested itself in Greek culture.  However, DePauw must look at the entire environment, not just the Greek organizations, to shift the ethos of DePauw.  It is readily apparent to us that if DePauw were to eliminate its Greek system, a position we adamantly oppose, then high risk alcohol rates would likely increase substantially in the short and long term.  Our experience at other institutions shows that when Greek systems are eliminated, or substantially reduced, high-risk problems are increased, not decreased.  Moreover, Greek institutions having traditional strong organizational skills are a tremendous asset in the community.  We would go so far as to say that many of the DePauw student leaders are some of the most impressive young individuals that we have met at any of the institutions with which we have had contact.  Greeks are an asset to DePauw: this report works from the premise that the Greek system is a source of potential value in solutions to high-risk drinking and associated dangers.

This report will address the topic of the high-risk alcohol environment as follows.  First we will provide an overview of the campus environment as gleaned from the stakeholders, from data and research provided to us and from university publications.  Second, we will provide recommendations to change the campus culture at DePauw, recommendations to change the ethos that currently exists.

                                                                                                                                               

II.        The Campus Environment

The key to reducing DePauw's core drinking rates and associated alcohol dangers is to assess key environmental factors which symbiotically create the current environment.  The general campus climate we observed was one described as a “work hard, play hard” environment.  Students seem to see the two variables as essential to each other — work requires play, and hard work and hard play at that.  Hard play is typically described as hard drinking.  Students generally admit, as do staff members, that the principle social outlet for students is alcohol consumption.  Many students cannot envision any other type of social environment; many students do not want to create a different environment.  Students arriving at DePauw for the first time either in orientation, as transfer students or as first year students, typically perceive that DePauw is primarily oriented around social events with alcohol.  It is reported that students who do not participate in the alcohol culture either leave or disassociate themselves from the general range of student activities.  A key environmental transition that must be made in the DePauw ethos is that hard drinking is essential to the DePauw social climate.  If this culture is not altered, DePauw has a substantial risk of incidents involving serious injury or death.

As Patricia Owen pointed out in her Hazeldon Foundation Report of 2002, “it is important to recognize that almost all college campuses have problems with alcohol/drug use.”  See Report at page 2.  She is correct.  However, it is important to emphasize that although DePauw’s problems are not unique, the law and policy environment in which DePauw and all institutions of higher education exist are increasingly less tolerant of institutions that do not use reasonable efforts to protect students from foreseeable dangers associated with alcohol use.  Thus, the goal of a modern university is not to ban all alcohol use per se, nor is it to reintroduce prohibition.  The goal is to target high-risk behaviors so as to reduce significantly the risk that students face in the alcohol culture.

 

The following subsections address specific key features of the DePauw environment.

1.                  Town/Gown Relations

We had a limited opportunity to interact directly with members of the community.  Nonetheless, a few features of the campus environment became apparent from individuals we talked to, including the public safety director.  DePauw sits in a relatively isolated small community.  The community surrounding DePauw does not share the demographics and income models of the students at DePauw.  Students and others reported friction between people of the town and on campus.  Largely, it appears to us that there is a parallel set of youth activities going on: the campus participates in its activities largely in the campus and immediate surroundings, and the town performs its activities in its sphere.  The relationship is a traditional 1950's style relationship between town and gown – a relatively isolated college campus situated in a community with largely superficial relationships apart from commercial activity.  One of the points of friction seems to be arising from movement of the students into housing situations adjacent to campus in what has been traditionally town neighborhoods.  We were made aware of various reports of alcohol related disorder in the community including vandalism, trash and noise.  There appears to be some balkanization in the town directed at the University because of the perception that the students are sometimes trashing specific neighborhoods.

Alcohol outlets are not particularly dense around DePauw's campus.  Specific bars have been the focus of issues from time to time, including a grouping of bars adjacent to campus.  The bars are small and inhabit buildings that do not present a particularly attractive facade.  These establishments are not establishments that individuals passing through DePauw would readily walk into and would not cater to a mid-scale or upscale clientele.  While not college bars per se, they are well suited to drinking patterns associated with college students.  Students and others reported reasonably easy access to alcohol in the neighboring communities.  Patricia Owens' report of August, 2002 also draws attention to something reported to us, namely, that the local Wal-Mart is an easy point of access for liquor for students.  We understand that actions have been taken in this regard and would suggest that if they are ineffective that the issues be pursued with the national organization.

Students do not describe the town as a particularly attractive place to hang out or to engage in social activities, and there seems to be very little social action between “townies” and members of the DePauw community.  For example, no one that we met in the student body reported dating or having a friendship with a member of the community.  This reflects the fact that the social scene at DePauw is largely an on campus or near campus culture.

Some students reported that from time to time they would transport to nearby Indianapolis or other college campuses for social activity.  This was especially true of the black students who found that social opportunities were often superior in other locations than DePauw.

One point of concern with the town seems to be an issue of race and sexual orientation.  We had several reports that there had been incidences involving members of the community toward DePauw students involving race or sexual orientation issues.  Racism and homophobia are a part of many American communities and appear to be significant in the area around DePauw.

 

2.                  Admissions

We personally met with members of the Admissions staff twice.  The initial meeting did not include the Director of Admissions and was somewhat guarded, although staff members were very helpful.  A later meeting with the Director of Admissions provided a very candid discussion.  We had a chance to meet with individuals who were connected with the tour process that students have when they come to visit DePauw and spoke with students about prospective student overnight visits.  (It is worth noting that when visiting small private colleges it is not uncommon to encounter some resistance to outsiders.  We encountered very little of this at the DePauw campus among staff and students.)

The admissions process is functionally split into two very different processes.  The first is the formal admissions process which runs a standard and very effective admissions tour and orientation process.  The Admissions staff is of extremely high caliber: the individuals working in the Admissions office could easily gain employment at any top major university in the country.  The primary focus of the admissions process as directed through the admissions office is to orient students to the academic strength of DePauw, its physical and intellectual assets, and its student body, inter alia.  Associated with the formal admissions process is a somewhat less formalized tour process which is largely facilitated by students.  The students see to it that prospective students experience the social environment of DePauw in the hopes that they will choose to come to DePauw.  From various discussions with students and others, it became apparent that the less formal student orientation process functioned to facilitate, in many cases, the image of DePauw as a hard drinking school.  We had reports that high school students who came to DePauw on visits participated in alcohol drinking culture either in residence halls or at Greek parties, even though it is both unlawful and against school policy to do so.  Moreover, we also detected that independent of the admissions process itself, many students held the expectation that DePauw was a hard partying school.  In other words, many students are choosing DePauw, even before they are receiving information from Admissions, because they believe it is a hard partying school.  We also received reports that the students visiting DePauw who observed the alcohol culture but did not wish to participate in it lost interest in DePauw and chose other schools.

This phenomenon is known as adverse selection.  As students begin to coagulate around a drinking culture, that culture tends to attract more students with similar propensities.  We have observed that even schools with average core drinking rates are at risk of experiencing a rapid decline in rates of abstention from drinking.  In other words, as the process of adverse selection continues it tends to worsen alcohol issues, and in some cases even increases the overall core drinking rate.  This is a very significant problem which needs to be addressed.  It would be next to impossible to educate and create an environment for students in which reasonable activities flourish if prospective students expect and believe they are entitled to a high-risk drinking culture at DePauw.

The Admissions staff does an excellent job in identifying high quality students.  We were uniformly impressed with the intellectual and moral development of the students we met.  We were particularly impressed with the student leaders in the Greek community.  The leaders of the mens’ groups are especially “heroic” in that they shoulder knowingly all the burdens of their houses.  We can easily see why DePauw has become known as the breeding ground for potential leaders, as it is evident in the short visit to the campus.

Improved admissions statistics likely lie in a connection to reducing levels of high risk alcohol use on campus.  DePauw sits very high in national rankings, but there is a possibility of moving significantly higher.  To do so, DePauw will need to significantly reduce its high-risk alcohol culture as virtually all of the top tier schools feature significantly lower core drinking rates.  Students choosing the most elite schools and universities typically do not want to immerse themselves in high-risk alcohol culture.  Thus tremendous opportunity in improving its high-risk alcohol issues and also including its admissions statistics.

 

3.                  First Year Social Programs

The First Year Programs at DePauw are connected to the Greek system.[4]  The decision to house freshman differently in their first year from the Greek system has created parallel living arrangements.  Many students we spoke with found first year residence life to be boring and were anxiously awaiting the opportunity to join Greek houses.  First year students are typically prohibited from Greek parties by policy and therefore because the Greek social scene is the dominant social experience on DePauw's campus, first year students are typically forced to find other ways to entertain themselves.

DePauw is in the process of improving non-Greek, non-alcohol social programming venues and activities, and it would appear that freshmen anxiously await the arrival of those programs and facilities.

Despite the fact that there is a formal division between the first year and the sophomore through senior years in both programming and also housing and membership in Greek organizations, the divisions are not as strong as they appear.  First year students do find a way into Greek parties fairly readily.  We were told of situations where a freshman who desired to join a particular house might be allowed access to alcohol in anticipation of that individual's joining the house.  Alcohol is used as one tool to coax membership in Greek houses.

There appears to be significant and dangerous drinking patterns going on among freshmen.  Freshmen have rapid access to hard liquor.  Hard liquor seems to be preferred because of its lower volume and because it is easier to smuggle in and out of rooms (and its ability to rapidly intoxicate).  First year students often drink in small groups in the residence halls or “front load” (a term used to describe a very heavy episodic drinking episode prior to attending an alcohol-free event) and then move on to social events.  Students that did not do these things often look forward to boredom and isolation, and this has implications for retention as well.

First year students are recognized around the country as one of the most at risk groups for serious injury or death arising in the alcohol culture.  The prominent deaths of Scott Krueger at MIT and Benjamin Wynn at LSU have illustrated the particular risk associated with students in the transitional phase entering college.  It is well known in risk management that when an individual moves from one environment to a new environment, that individual frequently experiences a higher risk frontier in the new and unfamiliar environment for a period of time.  Over a course of time, individuals typically acclimate to their environment and then begin to moderate the risk patterns to those that are the average of the community.  DePauw has taken important steps in identifying the freshmen experience as unique and needing more programming.  Nonetheless, serious risks still continue.

4.                  Diversity

DePauw is not a particularly diverse community.  A large number of students come from nearby geographical areas and there are few black, Asian or Hispanic students, inter alia on campus.  We met with black students, all of whom had come to DePauw on various scholarships.  It is unfortunately apparent that without this scholarship they probably would not have attended DePauw, and several individuals told us this.  While trying to hold the school spirit high, it was apparent that black students live a different existence at DePauw from the white majority students.  For example, there are few male or female black students that are members of traditional DePauw fraternities or sororities.  These students report rarely attending Greek parties on DePauw's campus and typically tell us that there are not the kind of social activities at DePauw in which they choose to participate.  Most of the students reported traveling to other campuses with a larger diverse population to participate in parties and social events at those campuses.

The purpose of our report is not to address these issues, but it is noteworthy that the national statistics show there is a radical difference between white populations and non-white populations in high-risk alcohol use.  Black students in particular drink at very low rates compared to white students.  The conclusion is obvious: by increasing diversity at DePauw, one is very likely to radically change the high-risk alcohol culture.  There are many reasons to have a diverse culture, but from an alcohol perspective there is a specific advantage to be gained in pursuing a broader population.  Regional variations as well may be advantageous in that students from the north central region drink at higher rates than certain other regions in the United States.  Admissions activities directed at regions with lower drinking patterns may also advantageously effect the overall drinking patterns at DePauw.

 

5.                  Athletics

We were unfortunately unable to meet with the athletic director in our visits to DePauw.  It became apparent, however, from conversations with other campus stakeholders that athletics plays a significant but fairly small part of social life at DePauw.  The exception is that they do have social functions of their own, but we were unable to gain significant information about these activities.

 

6.                  The Greeks

DePauw is a Greek campus in the eyes of its stakeholders.  DePauw is known nationally as having a very high Greek population and is well known to students who seek the Greek experience.

The Greek “environment” divides by gender.  The women's groups feature alcohol free housing.  Their housing units are well-maintained and well-manicured.  The women's housing is clean, safe, and attractive.  The women do not host parties with alcohol in their buildings.  The Greek men's organizations are living, learning and partying environments.  Most of the Greek men's houses are substandard living facilities.  They appear to be crowded, disheveled and poorly maintained.  From a visit of several houses, it is apparent that the houses present fire and other safety hazards in addition to alcohol specific risks.  There is a noticeable difference in quality between the male Greek housing and the female Greek housing.

Much of the difference between the quality of the living arrangements can be directly attributed to the fact that Greek houses are the central focus of DePauw's alcohol party culture.  Almost unanimously, students and others concurred that the social culture at DePauw, takes place in the men’s Greek houses.  Social position and status is often determined by relationships to key Greek male organizations hosting parties.  Parties in the Greek houses draw students from all over the campus.

The party scene is quite consistent as some of the houses had parties throughout the semester on more than one night during the week.  Monday and Tuesday seem to be something of an alcohol sabbath, but every other day of the week is available for formal or less formal parties involving alcohol.  The larger parties appear to be challenging.  The houses reach and possibly exceed capacity and alcohol is very available.  Often there is property damage such as furniture or the structure being damaged and other disorders occur disrupting the cleanliness and safety of the facility.  The focus of much of the attention on problems related to alcohol at DePauw is naturally thus focused on the male Greek system.  This is a little unfair to the male Greek system as from an environmental perspective it is obvious that the environment dumps both the possibilities and problems of a party culture on the male Greek system, unfortunately often without the proper resources to manage the issues that arise.  (As a point of comparison there are very few industries that feature a living, working, and partying combination all in one housing unit.  The closest analogy is casinos and cruise boats – both are managed environments and do not present nearly the level of challenge of a college campus.)

A typical male Greek house at DePauw functions on one hand as a college library, on the other hand as an apartment complex, and simultaneously in the same building as a major outlet for alcohol use featuring significant numbers of people in small spaces.  The environment seems to have made this decision unconsciously.  There has not been a deliberate decision that it is in the University’s best interest to have the campus social life and its high-risk alcohol environment take place in the men’s Greek houses.  The environment evolved to be that.  It would be inappropriate to level criticism or blame solely at male Greek organizations: young woman in the Greek system and non-Greeks who choose to party and possibly trash the male houses are equally culpable.  Every player in the community that shares in the social life at DePauw is responsibility for this environmental feature.

We had occasion to spend a great deal of time with the President of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Chapter.  An impressive young man with intellectual and political skills, this chapter president gave us an inside tour of his house.  He appreciated that at any moment he could become individually liable for issues that arose in his house, could have social privileges withdrawn, could have problems in his personal transcript, and nonetheless has chosen to be the leader of his house.  It is apparent that he is a leader not just in form but in substance.  As we walked around the house, it was clear that he commanded the respect of the members of the Chapter.  His situation is an untenable one.  He simply does not have the resources to manage a library, an apartment complex, and alcohol party environment simultaneously.  It is easy to perceive the look in his eyes, “What can I do about this?”  The SAE house and its president are a visible result of an environment that has failed to create reasonably safe activities for students.

It is too easy to assess fault with the men’s fraternities.  It is simply impossible for an individual Greek house or even a consortium of Greek houses to radically reorient the DePauw culture to a safer norm.  In our specific recommendations we will talk more about this.  It is worth noting that the Greek houses continue to be de facto designated party zones.  The University will have to devote significant resources to the quality and management of Greek houses.  This could be at a level that have well in excess of levels that have been previously offered.  For example, professional party management, assistance and architectural redesign of the building to be more suitable to a party environment will be appropriate.  This does not mean that we advocate the abdication of all responsibility of the members in their house: clearly they should shoulder their share of responsibility for taking reasonable steps to facilitate a safer environment.

Greeks are not only an asset to DePauw culture, but virtually essential to it.  If a Greek culture were substantially altered, DePauw would lose its identity and history and might encounter a period of uncertainty in the future.  Moreover, we detected tremendous leadership skills in both the male and female Greek leaders; skills that are currently under utilized in the existing environmental model.  During the American Revolutionary War, the American Continental Army was ready and willing to fight, but lacked skills and training.  Fortunately our allies provided such training.  This is exactly where the Greek system sits now; on the verge of a tremendous opportunity if the proper environmental stimuli are applied.

 

7.                  Non-Greeks

There is a population of non-Greeks at DePauw.  However, non-Greek is probably a poor name for these individuals as they also significantly play and live among the Greek community.  Very few students fail to participate in Greek activities.  For men, residence life is usually a superior living environment physically.  In addition, certain new living facilities have been built following the Rector fire, that are highly sought out by students who do not want to live in Greek houses.  When asked why many young men chose non-Greek housing, the answer was fairly consistent.  The perception was that the living standards in the Greek houses were substandard.  These students said to us, “Why live in a Greek house when you can play there anyway?”  Even the non-Greek students expressed concern about constrictions on the Greek system, as that is their primary social outlet.

 

8.                  Student Process

As is typical on many private university campuses, student process is divided.  There is a residence life process for students residing within the residence hall, a Greek process and a generalized student code of conduct administered by an individual who splits his duties among other functions.  There is truly no unified process on DePauw's campus.  Depending on how an incident arises, it may be dealt with in a different system.  For example, a disorderly conduct situation in a Greek house would likely be dealt with in a Greek process.  The same incident if it occurred on campus grounds would be held under the student code and in a residence hall likely under a residence hall policy.  There are predictable issues involving consistency and working towards unified safety goals.  Our philosophy of student process is that student processes should be working to promote a reasonably safe environment (academic integrity issues are a separate issue not dealt with here).

There is a substantial division between the reach of the school's student code and Greek process.  There are in effect two parallel processes: a discipline process for the Greek system and a discipline process for non-Greek incidents.  Very little jurisdiction crosses into the Greek system if the incident is perceived as purely Greek.

Greek systems function like non-monopolized cartels.  Without assistance Greek systems have difficulty regulating past the lowest common denominator.  For periods of time they may be able to reach agreements on standards and practices, but if one group undercuts the standards of the agreement the cartel is undermined.  This precise experience was described to us again and again — not in high macro-economic terms — but in terms of certain events typically arising even after the Greek groups have met and agreed to certain standards.

One of the most significant recommendations we will be making relates to this parallel process phenomenon at DePauw.  The process norm in place at DePauw is no longer a best practice in higher education.  This is a vestige of another era in Greek-university relations.  The parallel process phenomenon is a part of the environment that needs to be changed immediately.

 

 

9.                  Public Safety

DePauw is fortunate to have an outstanding Director of Public Safety.  With over 15 years of experience in the DePauw community, we were impressed with the qualifications of the safety department.  The safety director had a thorough understanding of the risks in the DePauw community and the adjacent community, as well as a very solid understanding of town/gown issues.  Public safety reported a phenomenon similar to that of student process.  If there is an incident at a Greek house, public safety will not enter the house unless there is an incident that is visible on the lawn or the exterior of the Greek house.  So, for example, if there is a fight in the Greek house, unless someone asks for public safety to come, they typically will not go, and will only intervene if they actually see the fight in public areas of the housing arrangement.  It is equally likely that town police will respond to an incident inside the house.  Again, even from a legal prospective, the behavior of students inside the Greek house is largely left to regulation by the Greeks themselves unless they choose to involve either student process, public safety, or town police.  It is intriguing that many jurisdictional entities could choose to have a more active interest in the safety regulation of Greek housing, but by environmental convention none of the groups has chosen to take that approach.  The University safety efforts need to have the authority to be involved on “Greek property.”

DePauw is a significantly safe campus in terms of campus community crime.  The campus is not plagued with safety issues confronting many urban campuses.  Public safety shared the same theme heard throughout our visit: the greatest risk to students is themselves in the alcohol culture.

 

10.              Academics

DePauw rightfully prides itself on superior academic programming.  The students are bright and articulate.  They take challenging courses in a complete curriculum.

As is so typical in modern universities, academics is almost entirely divorced from student life.  This starts in the introductory process in admissions and continues throughout a student's career at DePauw.  Students report relatively few interactions with professors in social environments beyond casual encounters.  Moreover, there seems to be limited use of curriculum infusion as a technique in reducing alcohol consumption.  At DePauw, academics are academics and social life is social life.

The divide between academics and social life appears to be particularly real for DePauw’s female students.  In April of 2002 The Task Force on the Status of Women at DePauw University submitted a report to President Bottoms.  It is troubling that women students feel successful and respected in the classroom, and yet that success and respect is not experienced socially.  Social success is defined as success within the Greek system.  It was reported that at DePauw social success is more important than academic success.

 

11.              Student Leaders

Student leaders at DePauw are impressive individuals who are committed to their work.  Frequently, within a campus environment the true student leaders are not the students who hold titled positions of leadership.  Although DePauw has many opinionated students, it appears that the opinion leaders do not hold more power over student conduct and behavior than do the student leaders.

The student leaders seem well aware of the challenge of changing the alcohol culture of DePauw.  They are seemingly committed to fight high-risk alcohol use, but recognize that the culture supports the use of alcohol in ways that it is hard to fight.  Student leaders were committed but there was a sense of the inability to seriously affect the environment.  Empowerment of the student leaders is a critical opportunity for DePauw and will be the basis of some recommendations.

 

12.              Alumni

In the prevention field there is little programming directed specifically at alumni groups.  However, alumni perceptions strongly influence the behavior of American institutions of higher education.  Alumni serve on boards and frequently participate financially or otherwise in expressing their opinions about the future of an institution.  Many alumni share similar attitudes regarding high-risk alcohol use.  Depending on the generation of the students, you will find everything from a prohibitionist sentiment to an attitude that is embracing of high-risk alcohol culture as an essential feature of the college experience.  It is not uncommon, for example, to hear professors and/or alumni say, “We drank heavily in college, we're hypocrites if we tell them not to.”  However, the heavy drinking of the past is not the same alcohol culture we experience today.  Statistics now show that alcohol culture has intensified in the 1990's and beyond, especially at the high edges of high-risk alcohol culture.  Statistically, students who drink at heavy binge drinking levels have intensified, and the phenomenon that is so different in today's students from previous generations of students is that so many students report the intention to drink to get drunk.  Moreover, rates of female drinking have increased dramatically, and promise to soon reach the levels of drinking of male students.  Alumni generally have no perception of this and can be an obstacle to meaningful reform on college campuses.  Specific alumni programming is essential for the success of any significant environmental programs at DePauw.  Alumni leadership is also critical to change and to shift stereotypical perceptions.

While we are aware of many committed alumni, we also became aware that alumni have been viewed as a problematic force in working to improve DePauw's culture.  One of the more damaging features of alumni culture is that alumni often perceive that to succeed in fighting problems involving alcohol, one must assess blame to specific groups or individuals.  The environmental management model recognizes that although personal accountability is an essential facet of creating an environment that is reasonably safe, it is not the only facet.  Individual choices will be shaped in part by the environment that students live in and it is unlikely that imposing punishment on one particular group will radically change the environment.  The usual result is that the environmental factors simply shift their focus to a new area.  For example, if DePauw continues to punish Greek leaders for management issues in Greek houses, it is likely that there will be an increase, probably fairly rapid, in off-campus parties outside the Greek system.  This process is actually already under way. 

 

13.       Alcohol Education and Prevention Programs

Currently, DePauw has an individual with part-time responsibilities for alcohol education and programming.  DePauw's environment demands at least one full-time person in prevention.  Research shows that while alcohol education is important in an environmental management strategy, education alone is not sufficient.  What we find in campuses that choose modest prevention programs coupled with substantial education programs is that we have created a cadre of extremely well-educated hard drinkers.  The educational literature demonstrates an important feature of the environmental management strategy.  Merely educating students and improving their information for personal choices is not sufficient to change behavior.  Personal choices appear to be made in an environment which has stronger influences than information.  The environmental management theory is surprisingly Aristotelian:  a human being realizes her full potential in an environment that promotes virtue.  Education is important but not sufficient.

Given limited resources, DePauw’s current prevention efforts have been aimed at education, administration of aspects of the CORE survey, and modest social norming approaches.  All of these efforts are excellent but need to be significantly increased.

 

14.       Institutional Leadership

Virtually every form of business organization, from small family businesses to major corporations, has been the subject of significant research as to management approaches.  Institutions of higher education have yet to be the focus of management theory.  The pressures on the modern university have been tremendous, especially in down economic times.  Presidents need to focus on fundraising and alumni relation roles and often are forced to devote less time to student affairs, student life, and even academics.

The Higher Education Center strongly promotes presidential leadership as a key to successful prevention work.  In the terms that the Higher Education Center prefers to use, a president must be “visible, vocal and visionary.”  This means that a president must be consistently visible on prevention issues:  it is not enough to delegate this to highly competent deans.  The president must be vocal.  Staying focused on the prevention message is key.  Finally, the Higher Education Center promotes visionary presidential leadership.  It is apparent that everyone in the DePauw community agrees that the current presidential leadership is visionary.  One of our recommendations will be that the president become actively and vocally involved in student affairs on the prevention side.

An effective key to any environmental strategy is participation in campus, community and state-wide coalitions.  State-wide coalitions include prevention professionals from major universities, presidents and other stakeholders including, for example, liquor licensing boards and attorney generals.  DePauw has made some effort forming community coalitions but is handicapped because it exists in a state with a newly formed state-wide initiative process.  (The Higher Education Center promotes a fairly specific model of state-wide initiatives and holds annual and regional meetings to this effect.)  DePauw would be greatly benefited by taking advantage of state-wide and possible region-wide coalition activity.

 

III.             Recommendations

A primary goal of the environmental strategy is to change the DePauw ethos from a work-hard, play-hard environment to another ethos.  It is not the role of consultants to establish the specific ethos of DePauw.  This process should be led by the president directly with student leaders and other stakeholders in the campus community.  The goal should be to identify a safe ethos for the campus community to adopt.  The university should make it clear that its role is not a babysitter nor bystander to the activities of students but instead a facilitator.  A facilitator helps others make responsible choices for themselves.  DePauw's job is not to ensure student safety but to facilitate conditions under which reasonably safe choices can be made.  This model is based both on legal principles and prevention principles and espouses the notion that when an environment is reasonably safe students can make responsible choices for themselves and for others.[5]

The recommendations are based on the assessment of the DePauw environment and on the commitment demonstrated by DePauw’s leadership, staff and students to change the ethos of the Institution.  The adoption of an implementation strategy is critical to the success of this initiative.

The approach of this report and its recommendations is to identify issues that need the attention of the institution and a process, programmatic suggestions and strategies for addressing those issues.  The recommendations purposefully do not include templates for implementation.  Our experience indicates that for an environmental strategy to be successful, stakeholders must be included in creating and implementing the strategies.  Should DePauw desire models for any of the recommendations contained in this report we would be glad to provide such for its use in formulating its strategies.

 

1.                  Adopt Visible Institutional Leadership for this Initiative

Each recommendation contained in this report is based on this first recommendation – the University President needs to be the individual who leads the initiative for change.  It is our belief that Dr. Bottoms being visible and vocal to campus stakeholders demonstrates the institution’s commitment to changing the environment and models for the student leaders the role of institutional leadership.  We acknowledge the multiplicity of roles that a University president must play and the demands placed on the leader, but for an environmental strategy to be successful and create the desired change, President Bottoms must be seen as the leader of the initiative.

 

2.         Improve Town/Gown/Community Coalitions and Organize State-Wide Initiatives

DePauw should seek to improve its campus community coalitions as in the short term it can expect high-risk drinking to mutate into new forms in the community.  Newly designed fraternity houses would likely inculcate in some DePauw members currently on campus an attitude to take heavy drinking in other places.  To prepare for this, a stronger campus community coalition should be formed and routinely meet.  This has to be facilitated directly through the President's office and is important to keep the stakeholder meeting on a regular basis.  For guidance on how to sustain such a coalition, DePauw can seek further information from the Higher Education Center and from us.

DePauw has a unique opportunity.  Because there is an existing state-wide coalition in the state of Indiana in accordance with the Higher Education Center's guidelines for state-wide initiatives, DePauw could become a state-wide leader in participating in such a coalition.  This is a step that will take several years to accomplish to full fruition.  To begin the process, a group should be formed at DePauw which consults directly with the President that can contact the Higher Education Center, specifically, Jerry Anderson (800-676-1730), for further information on how to work with the state-wide initiative.  There is historical information on successful and unsuccessful techniques in the field and DePauw could readily plug into this process and establish itself as a state-wide leader on the issue of alcohol prevention.

 

3.         Employ Environment Strategies as Part of the Admissions Process

The admissions process currently works to perpetuate the high-risk alcohol culture at DePauw.  Through de facto processes students are weeded out that do not wish to drink heavily and other students are taught the alcohol culture.  Admissions visits and sleepovers must be thoroughly regulated.  This is an issue which should be addressed by the Admissions staff in conjunction with a newly formed Campus Alcohol Coalition, see below at Recommendation 10.  Consideration should be given to identifying specific housing units that students could stay over in a sleepover situation and to enhance the monitoring of those overnight visits.  There are guidelines currently in place for such visits.  However, there were far too many reports that the visits were not followed properly to allow the practice to continue without substantial modification.

In Recommendation 7 there is a discussion regarding the formation of a Student Code.  This code should become part of the admissions and acceptance processes.  Specifically the admissions application should include an essay requiring potential students to write about the rights and responsibilities that exist between a DePauw student and the University based on the Student Code.

 

4.         Expand the First Year Program to Create an Engaging Social Experience

The first year program process is impressive at DePauw, especially as such involves academic engagement.  However, improvement can be made by focusing on the issues of social life at DePauw.

The first year experience is often described as boring or as anticipating a more interesting upperclass experience associated with Greek life.  There is substantial development of the first year program concept in the higher education community including John Gardner's pioneering work.  It is important for DePauw to increase the social activity level for students at DePauw, including late night activities such as keeping athletic facilities and other areas open in the hours that students frequent them.  This generation of students is a vampire generation: they typically socialize between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m.

More emphasis should be placed on the connection between first-year students and participation in Greek life.  First year students should not be permitted to participate in the hard drinking culture.  Students in the freshman class that do participate in upperclass drinking should be disciplined as well as those who facilitate the drinking of the underage students.  Specific programming should be directed at first year students on what to expect in a Greek system.  All too often the values of the Greek system are set in the minds of freshman by upperclassmen without direct attempts by DePauw to identify the values that are expected in a Greek system.

The admissions process needs to include information to inform prospective students about the student code and the rights and responsibilities of a DePauw student.  The orientation process needs to include such as well.  Further, parents must be informed of the expectations DePauw has for its students.

Specific targeted enforcement should be directed at high-risk activities such as front-loading in dorms.  Frequent reports of hard liquor appearing in freshman dorms raise issues of who has facilitated the purchase and transfer of such hard liquor.  Typically a student who is caught with hard liquor is disciplined personally, but little effort is put in terms of trying to find the facilitators.  As discussed below, high-risk facilitators are a major issue on American college campuses and should be targeted specifically for enforcement.  Students caught with hard liquor should be required to disclose the sources of liquor or face additional or severe punishment.

 

5.         Revitalize the Male Greek Housing

The quality of housing in the men's Greek units must change.  This requires a complete reconceptualization of the issues facing the Greeks' living arrangements.  It is important to recall that the Greek arrangements form a learning, living and entertainment function.  This is a very complicated and risk-intensive combination.  If parties are to continue in any environment where living and learning occur, substantial and appropriate resources have to be devoted to those environments.  For example, to facilitate appropriate party management it will be essential to have the kind of risk management assessment done that a similar situated commercial enterprise might have.  This would mean using the same kind of resources as a discotheque or a bar and grill might use to manage its premises.  This also might recognize that the group in question is a much higher risk group than many lawful clubs and others use and appropriate risk techniques must be taken.  Attention must be given to the fire hazards in the various living arrangements as many of either, by their construction, offer significant hazards to health and safety.  Architectural opinions must be taken and acted upon to ensure that the housing units are both safe and up to standard.  In addition, architectural opinion should be taken on the appropriate types of furnishing and housing arrangements to facilitate the multi-uses of the Greek units.  This could involve redesign of each and every unit that is used now as a party facility at substantial cost to the university.  The entire community should bear the cost of this renovation of the Greek system as the entire community advantages itself of the Greek party system.  The environment at DePauw has determined, perhaps indirectly, that Greek houses are the best and safest places to have alcohol parties.  That decision should be reexamined, but if the decision remains that the male Greek houses remain party houses, a major revision in cultural thinking must occur.  The University must interject itself into the management oversight of events in the Greek facilities.  To be a part of the DePauw community the Greek living units must permit University involvement.

Without substantial major revisions in the male housing units, it seems almost a certainty that serious injury or death will follow in a period of time.  This is a major capital undertaking and should be viewed accordingly.

 

6.         Formalize the Relationship between DePauw and the Greek Organizations

A shared responsibility model necessitates the facilitation of a relationship founded on rights and responsibilities.  DePauw needs to establish a clear vision of the role its Greek organizations play within its community.  This vision should be grounded on the Student Code.  DePauw will establish what the expectations are for a Greek organization to be a part of the DePauw community.  The Campus Alcohol Coalition described in Recommendation 10, should have an ongoing responsibility to monitor compliance to the expectations and be proactive in identifying environmental issues and policy responses.

 

7.         Re-engineer the Student Judicial Process at DePauw

The overall environmental process does not function to facilitate a safe environment.  Currently one individual serves in a part-time judicial role.  The reason that this is possible is that a great deal of adjudication issues are delegated to the inter-fraternity council and the Greek units themselves.  We recommend that there be a full-time position devoted to judicial affairs.  This individual should be trained according to the Association of Student Judicial Affairs (“ASJA”).  There also needs to be unified jurisdiction over all matters on campus.  Anything that happens in a Greek house is also subject to campus discipline.  To accomplish this a complete remodeling of the student code needs to occur.  This process should involve students, student leaders, faculty, the administration, Greeks, and other stakeholders.  The process should not be aimed to take several years but should occur in a fairly short time line preferably within a six to eight month horizon.  The longer DePauw goes without an adequate process system, the more likely injury or death will occur.

The process system should be aimed to facilitate a student's safety choices.  Student process should be aimed specifically at high-risk activities not general prohibitionism.  This means, for example, that risk activities that should be focused on as part of the student code should include:

(i)         Disorder and order maintenance issues.  For example, garbage and trash are indicators of high-risk alcohol behavior.

(ii)        Frontloading and similar high-risk drinking behaviors that include rapid consumption of hard liquor (or other liquor) such as on a 21st birthday.

(iii)       Drinking and driving.

(iv)       Sexual assault and alcohol.[6]

(v)        Alcohol and the connection between initiation, retention and membership in a group any time alcohol is connected to group membership, retention, etc., high-risk behavior occurs.  This is commonly known as hazing but includes many other forms of behavior.

(vi)       Transitional and first-year students as we noted from above.  Transitional and first year students are at the highest risk and conduct directed toward these individuals should be treated most seriously.

(vii)      High-risk facilitators, so-called “beer bullies.”  (In Peter Lake's book with Robert Bickel, The Rights and Responsibilities of the Modern University, Bickel and Lake coined a term “beer bully.”  The term refers to high-risk facilitators.  These individuals are usually well known on the campus community and appear to be well known on DePauw at this time.  These individuals engage in consistently high-risk behavior and perhaps even worse, facilitate that behavior for others.  These are the individuals who are associated with the purchase of an illegal keg, the transportation of hard liquor in large quantities for distribution in the freshman dormitories, etc.)  Most honor codes around the country focus in on primary behavior not enabling behavior.  The American jurisdiction system has realized that targeting enablers and facilitators is more effective than targeting primary users.  The new code should focus in on the problem that those who facilitate high-risk activities, though they may not engage in specific high-risk conduct themselves, are as dangerous if not more dangerous than the users.  (Someone purchased the alcohol that killed Scott Krueger.)

 

The new code should not be overly due process oriented as due process requirements do not apply to private universities.  The law requires that the process provide substantial contractual fairness.  This is a looser standard than due process.  The drafting of this code should include a rights and responsibility statement that is included in university communications.  For example, the statement is part of the admissions process, it is part of the acceptance process, and part of the ongoing student life processes.  DePauw should look to use mediation and other alternative dispute resolution methods to improve the judicial process.  The DePauw community is a very tight community and mediation techniques could be very powerful in that community.

This recommendation is critical.  There must be a substantial increase in resources devoted to judicial process at DePauw.  This will include first a large increase in resources, second a complete re-tooling of the process system into a unified system, that is centralized under one code.  The fairest process is the one that facilitates the safest environment.

 

8.         Increase Resources Devoted to Public Safety

An increase in resources devoted to public safety are needed for two reasons.  First, there will be a reaction to changing the DePauw ethos.  In all likelihood new movements to reduce high-risk alcohol in the short term will cause some high-risk alcohol users into the community.  DePauw’s statistics demonstrate that there is a core group of binge drinkers who “binge” between five to ten times within a two week period.  These people will no longer feel comfortable in the new DePauw environment and will likely move into the immediate surrounding community complaining that the administration is trying to kill the Greek system and destroy the fun, trying to enlist other students to their cause.  Second, public safety will need to play an increased role in residence life, especially in Greek life.  The era that has seen Greek houses at DePauw being extrajudicial structures must end.  Campus police, as well as the student judicial process have an interest in the conduct in and outside the houses.  To anticipate this DePauw should make budgetary commitments for needed additional enforcement and also should enhance its connection with the town police to anticipate this problem.

 

9.         Infuse Prevention Strategies into Academics

DePauw could benefit tremendously from curriculum infusion.  Curriculum infusion encourages professors to include alcohol prevention training in academic context.  For example, in Peter’s Torts class at Stetson, he often reminds students very matter-of-factly, that his perception is that students who use ecstacy and marijuana typically perform poorly on finals.  This seems to have a noticeable effect.  To go along with curriculum infusion, training and leaders in the faculty are needed.  There usually is substantial faculty resistance and faculties typically view this as an invasion of the student's privacy and outside of their job duties.

However, working to erase the divide between academics and student life has tremendous benefits.  The President and Board should consider the cost associated with the professor taking on curriculum infusion issues.  Popularity with the students usually insures lack of problems with students: taking on hard issues can create enemies that cause issues with salary and retention.  Faculty members may be averse to getting involved for the negative consequences of involvement with students on a more personal level.  These issues should be addressed and dealt with appropriately:  there also should be positive incentives for faculty to do curriculum infusion.  For example, on faculty reporting forms one line on the activity report is: state the curriculum infusion techniques you used this year and describe them.

 

10.       Establish a Campus Alcohol Coalition: Engage Student Leadership and Alumni

Two powerful assets at DePauw are its student leadership and dedicated alumni.  Most of the student leaders feel helpless individually and collectively to seriously change DePauw's culture, although they wish to do so.  By creating a Campus Alcohol Coalition[7] which student leaders regularly participate in, student leadership can be a powerful voice for change.

A Campus Alcohol Coalition, a key feature of an environmental management strategy, espoused by the U.S. Department of Education Higher Education Center, is an essential feature of prevention efforts.  This campus coalition should meet regularly and consist of representatives from student leadership, faculty, administration, public safety, residence life, Greek organizations, alumni and other stakeholders in the community.  The role of the coalition should be to devise alcohol policies for the honor code and be given the authority to devise rules and procedures that be implemented immediately.  This is not only a rule-creating body but also is an issue identification body.  By sharing and collecting information the Coalition can identify problem individuals and problem areas and act more quickly.  This process happens informally at DePauw which is a very tight community but needs to be formalized and to meet more regularly.  Our perception after talking with various staff members and students was that the coalition-like activities that occurred at DePauw are very incident driven.  An environmental management strategy counsels in favor of a more prevention oriented strategy as opposed to reactive strategy.  This Coalition, an ongoing and permanent feature of the DePauw community, should be implemented immediately.  We will assist in the formation of this Coalition.

An alumni education program is essential.  This program should include Board of Directors, the President, alumni, alumni leadership and development groups.  The purpose of the program and ongoing communications with the Board should be to keep the alumni and the Board apprised of modern alcohol prevention theory and prevention strategies.  This could be facilitated by one or two-day conference or a session at reunion activities and/or all of the above or others.  The session should include nationally recognized experts in a variety of prevention fields.  We would be happy to provide names and contact information for a wide variety prevention theorists in the field.  This type of activity can be effective to dispel a large number of new points that are no longer scientifically valid or legally or socially acceptable.

One should not expect too much from this process however.  There will be some stakeholders that will be entrenched in their views and will be resistant to change.  The success of the models does not turn on unanimous acceptance but on substantial change.  We recognize that there are alumni who reinforce the image of DePauw as a drink-hard party school and to change that ethos attempts must be made to move the opinion of the alumni groups.

 

11.       Increase Alcohol Education Programs and Prevention Efforts

As indicated earlier, DePauw needs to substantially increase its resources devoted to alcohol education and prevention.  At this time there is only one individual dedicated part-time to the issues.  This is insufficient.  There must be at least one full-time prevention staff member who receives appropriate national training in various techniques.  For example, it would be essential for this individual to attend the U.S. Department of Education's annual meeting on higher education issues to keep current with the field.

DePauw also could benefit from a developed social norms program.  This concept has been implemented at DePauw to a small extent, but there are tremendous advantages to upgrade this.  Social norms marketing theory identifies the inconsistencies between students’ perceptions of behaviors and their actual behaviors.  Students often report that they perceive drinking levels to be substantially in excess of actual levels of drinking.  This is confirmed by several social norms documents that were taken at DePauw already.  Social norms marketing has shown that in many situations, if done properly by instructing students through various marketing techniques, students will begin to align their perceived rates of drinking to their actual rates of drinking and lower the overall drinking rate.  Social norms marketing, if complemented by an appropriate environmental strategy, has had dramatic effect.  However, the use of social norms marketing without environmental management techniques can be counterproductive.  The appropriate step to take is to hire a recognized national expert in social norms marketing.  We can assist in this effort.

 

12.       Deliberate and Targeted Enforcement

As developed earlier in the report, tremendous gains can be made in reducing high-risk alcohol use by targeting specific high-risk behaviors.  The high-risk behaviors are listed in the Recommendation above.  Moreover, DePauw should seek to identify the individuals who fit in the frequent binge drinking category (five to ten or more binges occ wo week period) and target these individuals for special programs and enforcement models.  Perhaps most importantly, DePauw should seek to create and enforce enabling and facilitating norms.  In other words, the suppliers and facilitators are as much the problem, if not the main problem in a campus community like DePauw.

 

13.       Incorporate NIAAA Report Strategies

The recommendations contained within the NIAAA report should be incorporated into the work of the Campus Alcohol Coalition in Recommendation 10 and the Alcohol Programming set forth in Recommendation 11.

Tier One Recommendations

Tier One recommendations include evidence of effective programs among college students.  Tier One strategies are individually based.  There are three such strategies.  The first is cognitive behavioral skills training.  The second is norms clarification, and the third is motivational enhancement.  Scientific studies have proven that these can be effective techniques with individuals.  An appropriately trained alcohol prevention expert, as described above, can easily implement these proven strategies as outlined in the NIAAA report.  Please note that this is not merely an educational program.

Tier Two Recommendations

Tier Two recommendations of the NIAAA report focus on programs that have been successful with general populations in college environments.  The following strategies have been proven effective:

(1)        Increasing enforcement of minimum drinking age laws.

(2)        Implementing, publicizing and enforcing drunk driving laws.

(3)        Diminution of alcohol retail outlet density.  (Note that DePauw does not have a particularly high alcohol density in the immediate neighborhood.   That alcohol density is substituted by a high density of Greek housing units, male Greek housing units, which provide ample outlet for alcohol use.)  One clear strategy would be to begin to diminish the number of parties.  This might have the effect of pushing drinking patterns into the community and, therefore, strategies directed toward community drinking would have to be implemented as well.

(4)        Studies have shown that increasing prices and taxes on alcohol beverages reduces alcohol consumption.  DePauw should engage local community leaders in an effort to either increase the price of alcohol to college students or taxation thereof.  Again because DePauw features a heavy Greek housing/party environment, alcohol is extremely inexpensive.  DePauw should initiate strategies to increase the actual cost of purchasing and distributing liquor on the DePauw community or in the community generally.  Small increases often have much bigger results than might be anticipated.

(5)               Creation of responsible service policies both in social and Greek settings and in commercial settings.  Here we quote directly from the NIAAA report: Studies suggest that bartenders, waiters, and others in the hospitality industry would welcome written policies about responsible service of alcohol and training and how to implement them appropriately.  Policies can include serving alcohol in standard sizes, limiting sales of pitchers, cutting off service of alcohol to intoxicated persons, promoting alcohol-free drinks and food, and eliminating last call announcements.  Service and other staff receive training in skills such as slowing alcohol service, refusing service to intoxicated patrons, checking age identification, and detecting false identification.  To prevent sales to underage patrons, it is important to back identification policies with penalties for noncompliance.

 

DePauw could gain tremendous advantage from working directly with liquor licensing officials and responsible servers to develop programs as outlined as in NIAAA strategies.  It is unrealistic to think that Greek male housing units on their own will be able to effectively implement and adopt these policies without assistance from the greater DePauw community.  This will mean resources, in terms of training, staffing and enforcement.  It is understood that DePauw currently has party management policy in place but they are not scientifically adequate in light of the NIAAA recommendations and reports.

 

(6)        The formation of campus and community coalitions involving major stakeholders is outlined above.  This includes the formation not only of a Campus Alcohol Coalition, but also the forming of community coalitions including participating in a state-wide initiative as outlined above.

 

The Tier Two strategies are understood to occur in the overall context of environmental management strategies.  In other words, these strategies must be implemented together and simultaneously and also in the context of a greater environmental management risk management protocol.  In implementing these strategies it will be important to follow the recommendations outlined above relating to specific environmental factors, including the formation of an ongoing Campus Alcohol Coalition to anticipate newly forming problems in the community.  Thus, without targeting enforcement and substantial improvement of the Greek male housing units, these strategies will not be nearly as effective.  Also recall that individual behavioral changes are only one feature of these recommendations.  Personal choice is clearly demonstrated to be affected by environmental factors in the public health field. 

Tier Three Recommendations

Tier Three focuses on programs that show logical or theoretical promise but will be subjected to more evaluation.  According to the report, the NIAAA task force is “eager to see these strategies implemented” and also has requested they be evaluated.  Our experience shows that these strategies are largely promising and potentially helpful, with little or no downside.  Many of the NIAAA report recommendations in this matter parallel recommendations we have made earlier.

 

Strategy I:         The following practices aimed at reducing high-risk alcohol use are promising.

(a)        Reinstating and increasing Friday classes and even possibly introducing Saturday morning classes.  DePauw has done quite a bit to have Friday afternoon class activity, but more could be done. 

(b)        More alcohol-free late night student activities.  As we suggest above, student activity centers should be open to the wee hours of the morning for students, and other activities should also be scheduled late into the night.

(c)        Eliminating keg parties.  DePauw presumably does not have kegs at functions.  Kegs are particularly difficult to police and have shown to be lightning rods for high-risk alcohol use.  Eliminating kegs in favor of responsible service providers is preferable.

(d)        Alcohol-free housing.  DePauw already has significant alcohol-free housing and should be willing to meet the demand as it increases.  Statistics show that the number of students interested in alcohol-free housing is increasing nationally, and as DePauw improves its environmental scenario, more students will likely want this type of housing.

(e)        “Employing older salaried assistance by hiring adults to fill that role.”  Difficult as it may be to find individuals to fill this role, the time may be coming that we should consider returning to the era of dorm mothers and other responsible adults in a living arrangement.  To a certain extent this is already occurring at DePauw, but this would anticipate the possibility of bringing full-time individuals into Greek houses and other living arrangements.  The men’s Greek houses often have an adult who lives in the facility during the week, but not on the weekends.  The oversight should be on the premises when the high-risk conduct is happening.

(f)         Controlling or eliminating alcohol at sporting events and eliminating tail-gate parties.  DePauw does not seem to have a major problem with alcoholic sporting events or tail-gate problems but to this extent that is identified as an issue, the alcohol task force should act on it.  Refusing sponsorship gifts from the alcohol industry to prevent perception of drinking is acceptable.  As we were unable to meet with the athletic director, we do not get a clear sense of sponsorship of athletic events and the alcohol situation.  This should be evaluated and if the industry is heavily involved in advertising the use of alcohol money for advertising should be reconsidered.

(g)        Banning alcohol on campus including faculty and alumni events.  One of the more difficult issues that often arises on modern private campuses is that alumni want to come back to campus and drink at alumni events.  This models poor behavior for students and it shows a double standard.  It is a promising practice to eliminate this type of behavior.

 

Strategy II:       Specific enforcement of events that promote excessive or heavy episodic drinking.

In the DePauw environment this would clearly mean, as indicated above, that a campus code of conduct must be not only enforced in Greek houses but also targeted to events known to create high-risk drinking.

Strategy III:      Increasing publicity about enforcement of minimum age drinking laws and the elimination of mixed messages.

A good example of this was found in our visit.  We easily obtained a one-page advertisement posted around campus by a group identifying itself as the DPU college republicans, including an email address.  The ad implores students to join CR – college republicans “the best party in campus” with a prominent image of a male figure with a frothing beer mug.  This kind of advertisement is completely unacceptable and should be eliminated from the campus environment.  It sent the completely wrong message to students regarding activities and the use of alcohol, see above.

Strategy IV:      Consistently enforce disciplinary actions.

There are two aspects of this in our opinion.  One is that there must be targeted enforcement of specific high-risk behaviors, often what students refer to as inconsistent enforcement and consistent overall campus enforcement.  Critically, at this time DePauw does not have a consistent enforcement system as violations in Greek houses are treated substantially different from violations in other areas of the campus.  Promising research shows that even of itself this can help to increase safety rates.

Strategy V:       Social norms.

Correcting individual misperceptions has been demonstrated to be effective.  Using social norms marketing campaigns has been extremely promising in the fight to correct student misperceptions about their own and other student's alcohol use.  In many environments, including DePauw, students consistently overestimate the amount of alcohol use by peers and it is possible that they then act on that perception and drink more heavily.  Research has been promising to show that corrections of these misperceptions can lead to reductions in alcohol use overall.  Remember that these strategies are most effective in the context of an overall environmental strategy.

Strategy VI:      Safe rides.

While there is a great deal of debate about whether safe rides are enabling behavior or safety generating behavior, the NIAAA report generally endorses them with a caveat that the downside should be considered in “design, promotion and monitoring.”  We add that when safe rides are provided, which we feel that they should be when necessary, appropriate training and security should be provided as the safe ride environment is a high-risk environment itself with the possibility of fights, etc.  Clearly one thing that should be discouraged is having the least drunk person be provide the ride.  This is not a safe ride scenario and should be actively discouraged.

Strategy VII:     Regulating of happy hours and happy hour promotional sales.

Strategy VIII:   Inform students and parents about alcohol policies and consequences before admission and during orientation time periods.

Tier Four Recommendations

The fourth tier of recommendations in the NIAAA report relate programmatic approaches which have consistently shown ineffectiveness in scientifically based evaluations.  The NIAAA addresses the first such strategy as “the informational, knowledge-based, or values clarification interventions about alcohol and the problems related to its excessive use, when used alone.”  Strategies focused on information or values clarification and identification, alone have proven ineffective outside of an overall environmental management strategy.  These are the most commonly used techniques in alcohol prevention and DePauw is no exception.

 14.       Ongoing Evaluation and Assessment

Changing the ethos of DePauw will not happen overnight.  The administration, Board, faculty, students, alumni, and all stakeholders must be committed to beginning a process that will take time.  There must be also a commitment to ongoing scientific assessment to determine what strategies are working and what is not working.  The Board should be kept apprised of the implementation of strategies and the successes and failures of those strategies.

IV.       Conclusion

Patricia Owen wrote in her report “DePauw, not unlike other campuses, has an alcohol problem.”  We concur in this assessment and recognize that DePauw has to make a serious commitment in both resources and time to make significant progress with its alcohol issues.  Nonetheless, the environment is a promising one.  The drinking rate remains below the 50 percentile allowing for social norms marketing techniques to be quite effective.  Improving enforcement and prevention efforts will bring tremendous benefits.  DePauw has an active and committed Greek community that can be a source of national pride.  DePauw can show state-wide leadership by involving itself in a state-wide initiative movement.  With small marginal gains, DePauw may begin to defeat the adverse selection process that is currently underway and begin to attract a less alcohol intensive group of students.  An environmental management strategy that obtains the support of leadership and stakeholders can move DePauw to having a safer social environment and also to greater academic success and more prominence in the national academic community.

 

                                                Respectfully Submitted,

                                                Peter F. Lake

                                                Holiday Hart McKiernan

                                                January 15, 2003