Information on Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention, Intervention and Education at SMU

SMU is committed to helping its students pursue their education with good health and lifestyle habits.

As outlined below, SMU offers extensive programs and resources offered to new and continuing students. These include discussions, films, on-line resources, required wellness courses, counseling, assessments, peer intervention and special training for leaders in residence halls and Greek houses, as well as faculty and staff.

SMU enforces its Student Code of Conduct and residence hall guidelines through its judicial system, and those with drug policy violations are subject to drug testing.

The SMU Police Department enforces the laws regarding alcohol and drug use, as do police departments in nearby University Park, Highland Park and the city of Dallas if violations occur in those jurisdictions.

Programs of the SMU Center for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention:

The SMU Center for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention provides awareness and training programs, assessments, counseling, interventions and referrals. Its mission includes promoting activities and programs with student support to focus campus attention on alcohol and drug abuse.

The Center has hired a full-time health educator, who joins two full-time licensed counselors on staff.

Education and Campus Awareness

The Center offers education about alcohol and other drugs, chemical dependency and substance abuse, including:

• Orientation programs to incoming students and their parents during July and August. The programs include the award-winning film Tell Me Something I Don’t Know, which was produced after the alcohol-related death of an MIT freshman in 1997. A new DVD addressing substance abuse issues was created and shown during orientation. And parents receive a copy of “What Should Parents Know About Alcohol and Drugs on Campus” and are mailed a list of campus health resources from the parent liaison.
   
• AlcoholEdu, an online, science-based education course program, required for all new students.
   
• The “Social Norms Campaign,” in partnership with the SMU Temerlin Advertising Institute, focuses on correcting student misperceptions about alcohol and drugs.
   
• The Temerlin Advertising Student Group created an awareness campaign addressing substance abuse issues. Two additional advertising classes will work this fall on a campaign among students.
   
• Wellness Choices I courses, required for all first-year students, addressing alcohol and drug abuse prevention each semester.
   
• A program on Healthy Habits addressing the topics of nutrition and alcohol.
   
• Student Health 101, an online newsletter sent monthly to students.
   
• SMU will participate in the National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week in October.

Training and Peer Educators

The Center trains students, residential assistants, faculty and staff to help others who may have a substance abuse or dependency problem. Residential Assistant training hours on the topic of drug and alcohol education more than doubled for the 2007-2008 academic year. The programs include:

• Revamped Peer Education Program
   
• Hired a new health educator to work with students and organizations.
   
• TIPS Training (Training for Intervention Procedures, by Health Communications Inc.) All Campus Ministers, RAs and many Student Affairs staff were trained this summer. Training for Greek leadership began in the spring of 2007 and continues throughout this year.
   
• “Because I Care,” a drug-specific program the Center piloted last spring and launched this fall to teach students the information and skills they need to intervene with peers who are using drugs. All Campus Ministers, RAs and many Student Affairs staff were trained this summer. Training for Greek leadership was piloted during spring 2007 and will continue throughout this year.

Assessment and Intervention

By working with friends, family, faculty and staff, the Center assesses student problems with alcohol and other drugs and provides access to appropriate help, including online screening programs such as E-Chug and E-Toke and on-campus substance abuse prevention classes.

Counseling, Referrals and Support

The Center provides short-term counseling to students on substance-abuse issues and offers referrals for outside support and treatment when necessary. It supports self-help groups on campus and in the community, including Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step groups, and works with recovering students on relapse prevention and on re-entry to college after treatment.

The Center also is a member of the North Texas Consortium on Substance Abuse Prevention in Higher Education and the Alliance on Underage Drinking (ALOUD), The SMU Center was one of eight nationally to be recognized for excellence in alcohol education programming from Outside the Classroom, the developer of an online prevention program used on more than 450 college campuses around the country.

Learn more at smu.edu/healthcenter/alcoholeducation.

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