Winter 2006 -- Vol. 59, No. 1

President Jim Barker issued a statement in the fall of 2004 that no university president wants to make. He declared to the Clemson family an “immediate need” to address the problem of alcohol abuse at Clemson.

His statement was based on findings from the 2004 Core Alcohol and Drug Survey and other assessments that drinking among Clemson students had shown a disturbing trend. In other words, high-risk drinking had increased over the previous two years with results ranging from academic problems to physical injury.

Although the University has long promoted student health and welfare programs as part of the Clemson experience, the president’s words set in motion a high-energy collaborative effort throughout campus and the surrounding community. The Alcohol and Other Drugs Task Force combined with the Clemson Community Coalition to decrease high-risk drinking on and off campus by enlisting parent support, educating students and communicating better with off-campus law enforcement.

On campus, task force members led by Redfern Health Center and the offices of Health Education and Student Affairs took on a host of activities and projects to increase student awareness, to stress the impact of decision-making and to provide alternatives. In addition to the general student body, they engaged student athletes, fraternity and sorority members, and other student groups. They provided publications, presentations, fun events from tailgating to root beer bashes, and much more.

Last fall nearly 500 students took part in one of those projects — The Brick Wall. Students found red-colored pieces of paper, cut to the size of bricks, at different locations on campus. On each piece, they wrote an experience of how alcohol had affected them or someone they know or knew. The “bricks” were gathered and assembled into a bright red wall on display in the Union. The handwritten notes remind passersby that alcohol abuse has a stack of consequences.

An early result of these on- and off-campus efforts is that the 2005 Core Alcohol and Drug Survey shows Clemson students dropping below the reference group of students from across the nation in high-risk drinking. The University’s binge drinking decreased approximately 16 percent from the previous year.

George Clay, Clemson’s executive director of student health services, says the survey shows that Clemson students are more aware of the University’s concern about alcohol issues and of the existing alcohol policies.

“The data indicates that what we’re doing is working,” says Clay. “But one year’s results don’t make a trend. We need to continue to work very aggressively and use every resource available to us to foster change.”

Some of that collaborative work has already resulted in a three-year grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).

Clemson is one of only 15 schools nationwide to be selected for participation in the NIAAA’s Rapid Response to College Drinking Problems program. The research done at Clemson will help create intervention and prevention programs that are tailored specifically for Clemson students.

Public health sciences professor Hugh Spitler is principal investigator along with co-investigators Martie Thompson and Cheryl Dye. Clemson has received nearly $201,000 for the first year of the grant. Partners come from across campus and the city of Clemson.

The research “begins at the beginning” with freshmen. The first phase involves collecting data on alcohol problems among Clemson’s first-year students through surveys, focus groups and in-depth interviews.

Studies show that although common risk factors are shared across all campuses, students often respond better to interventions based on situations unique to their school rather than information based on generic situations and student behavior.

“We want to identify situations that tend to pose the greatest risk to our freshmen,” says Spitler. “The data will be used to develop context-based interventions that we can use to inform students of risk factors specific to Clemson University.”

Because contexts change from year to year, the data will be collected every year to keep current. Findings will be incorporated into alcohol awareness programs and information for freshmen so they will be more aware of risky situations they may find themselves in.

“We have made great improvements in reducing high-risk drinking among our students, but we aren’t there yet,” says Parvin Lewis, director of health education at Redfern. “In order to get there, we need the help and support of the entire Clemson community. We all own this problem and need to work on it together.”

While we can’t paint all students with the same brush, we can look at their common environment. By understanding the motivations, the nuances of why some students become alcohol abusers and others don’t, we can better help those in need now and prevent future problems for other students.

For more information about Clemson’s efforts against alcohol abuse, contact George Clay at (864) 656-3564 or gclay@clemson.edu.