Center for College Health and Safety

Challenges

Heavy drinking, tobacco and other drug use, violence, hate crimes, and high-risk sexual practices among college students result in injury, property damage, unplanned pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, decreased academic performance, rape, and even death. Research demonstrates that a comprehensive approach to address these issues, emphasizing institutional, community, and policy change, plus evidence-based education and intervention approaches, is most effective.

Implementing such a comprehensive approach requires a fundamental shift in the way in which prevention and higher education professionals address these issues, moving beyond individual education strategies to broader environmental strategies for prevention and intervention. It also requires prevention professionals, educators, community leaders, law enforcement personnel and others to work together towards a common goal of broad-based change through coalitions.

Mission

The center’s primary focus is to develop and implement environmental approaches that link student behavior to the larger social and policy environment. We work with institutions of higher education and surrounding communities to implement, evaluate, and refine policies and programs to address heavy drinking, tobacco and other drug use, violence, hate crimes, and high-risk sexual practices among college students, with a focus on putting research-based programs and policies into practice.