About ten days after the University debuted its newest responsible-drinking campaign, a large federally funded study concluded that similar campaigns can help cut down on the dangerous habit.
The Jayhawk Buddy System, which began this month, is the latest effort made by the University to curb the problem. The new program encourages students to stay with a ‘buddy’ while drinking.
Colleges and surrounding communities that team up to combat alcohol abuse have been met with some success, according to a recent press release for a study funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse. The study tested the effectiveness of 14 California public universities’ alcohol abuse prevention programs and will be published next month in the the American Journal of Preventative Medicine.
Its findings in some ways reaffirm the concerted effort made by the University and city organizations in recent years to promote safer drinking habits among students.
The University
After two alcohol-related deaths in early 2009, the University has been pushing for more responsible student drinking.
Beginning in the semester after these deaths, incoming students who were 21 or younger were required to take an online alcohol education course. And the University already had SafeBus and SafeRide, which are available at night for KU students who need a ride home.
The Jayhawk Buddy System debuted Nov. 1. Similar to the successful universities in California, it focuses on off-campus drinking, since the University has a dry campus.
Molly Kretzer, a senior from Wichita, was on a team that came up with the Jayhawk Buddy System. Her team was one of six that did research on responsible-drinking campaigns at campuses across the nation in associate professor of journalism Bob Basow’s campaigns class.
Kretzer said that KU students go to bars more often than those at other universities, probably because of the strict dry campus rules.
Her class also found that students respond better to positive messages — not preaching or scare tactics. She said the best option was a positive message coupled with strict enforcement, a sort of good cop-bad cop routine. Those two elements — a publicized campaign and more enforcement — were the two key factors to preventing alcohol abuse, according to the California study.
“We didn’t just say, ‘Give us your best ideas.’ We said, ‘Go out and research what works,’” said Frank DeSalvo, associate vice provost of student success and customer of the campaigns class.
The community
One of the most important aspects of success of the schools in the California study was that the universities weren’t alone, but got support from the community and local law enforcement.
“It has to be a multi-faceted approach,” DeSalvo said. “No single thing will work.”
The GaDuGi SafeCenter, Douglas County’s rape crisis center, created the Safe Bar Alliance over the summer. It’s a coalition of bars, restaurants, and taxi services who have agreed to keep an eye out for their patrons’ health.
“It’s not just a title,” Kretzer said. “It’s something they must do.”
Kretzer, who also is working with the alliance, said the companies who sign up are obligated to stop harassment and help drunk people find a safe ride home, and bartenders even have to know the phone number to a taxi, “instead of being a bystander.”
Kretzer said seven bar owners communicated with her campaigns class from its start, and she is trying to recruit as many Lawrence bars to join the alliance as she can.
“It’s just going to take time,” she said.
DeSalvo said the “unified front” between University and community told the students two things.
“One, you’re important to us,” he said. “Second, you’re doing a lot of things right, and we’ll reinforce that. We’ll remind you.”
The future
While the Safe Bar Alliance is adding as many new bars as it can, the University has plans on its side of the fence, too.
DeSalvo said his office is working with SafeBus to put its stops in more convenient places for students.
A website for the Jayhawk Buddy System is expected early next semester, and DeSalvo said he hoped that a corresponding toolkit would be ready by spring break.
The University police have started putting the buddy system logo on their cars, but it’s only on a few so far.
“It’s an easy partnership we have with student success,” University police chief Ralph Oliver said, “and we want to keep it that way.”
Oliver said the police was in the process of being educated about the buddy system and they would be able to talk about it, for example when people at a basketball game ask about the logo.
DeSalvo said that one of his office’s biggest challenges was dealing with the high rate of student turnover from year to year. It’s difficult to get a message out to people if a third of them leave every year.
“The ultimate goal is for us to encourage a culture change in the students,” he said. “That takes time.”
— Edited by Michael Bednar
ABOUT THE STUDY
The study started in 2003 and examined 14 large public universities in California. Then, half of the universities and their local communities started combining responsible-drinking campaigns with stricter enforcement on students drinking off campus, while half stayed the same.
Students at the enforcing universities did better than the others. They are about 6 percent less likely to get drunk anywhere, 9 percent less likely to get drunk at off-campus parties, and 15 percent less likely at bars and restaurants.
The study’s press release pointed out that the most successful schools were the “universities with the highest intensitity” of cracking down, complete with heavy publicity and highly visible enforcement.
Students didn’t just choose to go elsewhere, either. The study reported that non-targeted areas like parks, beaches and residence halls didn’t see an increase in alcohol use.
Between 500 and 1,000 students per campus per year filled out an online survey for four years for the study.
