Drugs on Campus

Regulation: sufficient for campus cultural change?

In the United States much attention has been paid to – and many resources poured into – efforts to combat alcohol-related harms among college and university students. The primary target has been to reduce heavy episodic consumption (so-called “binge drinking”). This is no surprise, given the elevated liability to adverse consequences associated with getting drunk. While somewhat dated (2002), one comparative analysis of self-reported patterns found a lower proportion of US collegians drinking than their Canadian counterparts, but indulging more often in an exorbitant fashion. Yet intoxication has appeal among postsecondary students north of the border too (though this allure is often exaggerated on both sides of that boundary).

Given the apparent ineffectiveness of strategies to raise students’ awareness of potential harm from drinking too much, attention has now turned to environmental management of the campus context. Attempts to alter the campus setting itself (and, expanding that, the surrounding municipal milieu) bode well in view of encouraging results from larger-scale community initiatives and some promising examples that start from postsecondary contexts. This more comprehensive socio-ecological thrust has included various measures including limitations on availability and advertising of alcohol, appropriate monitoring of venues, supervision of festive gatherings, consistent enforcement of an established standard of conduct and employment of various academic means (e.g., class and course scheduling).

Problematic drinking by college students is not new. It has been around since the Middle Ages and the birth of universities. The notion of environmental management in not new either. But should the focus of these environmental strategies be on restricting use or on fostering responsible use? This is an ancient debate. While Sparta established laws in the seventh century BC to severely restrict wine drinking, Athens provided banquets and conversation with wine, and held festivals to honour the wine god. But is it either/or?

Is not the goal one of shifting the culture around alcohol’s place in public consciousness? Maybe it is time to question the dominant view of alcohol as indispensable for social pleasure, a commodity that delivers heightened hilarity with increased consumption. Without joining a temperance band, can we adopt a more balanced view of alcohol as a commodity useful in moderation for social engagement and celebration but meriting cautionary attention in view of its potential to impair? Achieving such a substantive shift in culture will require open dialogue for building consensus about benefits and detriments attending alcohol use and about constructive institutional responses. This means engaging students, administrators, faculty, staff and community members in processes of co-construction.

While it is unlikely that such a process will find a miracle cure for problems related to student drinking, maybe a compromise will do. A general commitment to responsible use, a feeling of connectedness to the community and a willingness to support one another in times of need all backed up with just enough regulation and enforcement to eliminate those behaviours that pose greatest risk to social wellbeing – would that do? How do we change a culture? Doesn’t it involve initiatives that supply students with alternative modes of entertaining and meaningful socialization (not just with their peers)? Shouldn’t it include providing them with opportunities for gratifying engagement in purposeful contributions to the well-being of others (e.g., through voluntary or curricular service involvements on and off campus)? Again, won’t it mean activating them as integral participants in the citizenship role of helping to determine appropriate policies so that, rather than being regarded as external impositions on personal practice, regulations become part of a shared commitment to collective health?