Faculty Involvement in Campus Alcohol/Drug Prevention

Creating a culture that offers more opportunities for open discussion between faculty and students about the consequences associated with risk taking behaviors, particularly as it relates to alcohol and drug use, is believed to an important component of campus prevention efforts but one which receives little attention. This session will focus on a particular program in which faculty and students learn about drug use, then lead discussions with entering freshmen about the ways in which decisions related to alcohol and drug use can hamper academic potential.

During the Fall 2008 Orientation program, a large metropolitan university situated near Baltimore introduced a new program using small group discussions. A discussion facilitation guide was developed for use by First Year Experience (FYE) advisors and student Orientation leaders, who partnered to lead the discussions. An evaluation of the discussions indicates they were well received by faculty advisors, student leaders and entering freshmen. FYE advisors and student orientation leaders both noted that the freshmen were engaged and seemed to come away with an awareness they may not have had about decision-making and future goals. The sessions were also described “eye-opener” for both advisors and student leaders, offering insights about their advisees that they did not expect. In addition, nearly 86% of randomized sample of freshmen who responded to a survey about their orientation (N=403) indicated satisfaction with the discussion sessions, the majority of whom indicated a great deal of useful information was provided to them during the sessions.