Presidents Leadership Group
Recommendations for Effective Prevention from
Be Vocal, Be Visible, Be Visionary
- College presidents should work to ensure that school officials routinely
collect data on the extent of the alcohol and other drug problem on campus
and to make this information available.
- College presidents should frame discussions about alcohol and other drug
prevention in a context that other senior administrators, faculty, students,
alumni, and trustees care about—excellence in education.
- College presidents should define alcohol and other drug use not as a problem
of the campus alone, but of the entire community, which will require community-level
action to solve.
- College presidents should use every opportunity to speak out and write
about alcohol and other drug prevention to reinforce it as a priority concern
and to push for change.
- College presidents should work to ensure that all elements of the college
community avoid providing "mixed messages" that might encourage
alcohol and other drug abuse.
- College presidents should demonstrate their commitment to alcohol and
other drug prevention by budgeting sufficient resources to address the problem.
- College presidents should appoint a campuswide task force that (a) includes
other senior administrators, faculty, and students, (b) has community representation,
and (c) reports directly to the president.
- College presidents should appoint other senior administrators, faculty,
and students to participate in a campus-community coalition that is mandated
to address alcohol and other drug issues in the community as a whole.
- College presidents should lead a broad exploration of their institution's
infrastructure and the basic premises of its educational program to see
how they affect alcohol and other drug use.
- College presidents should offer new initiatives to help students become
better integrated into the intellectual life of the school, change student
norms away from alcohol and other drug use, and make it easier to identify
students in trouble with substance use.
- College presidents should take the lead in identifying ways to effect
alcohol and other drug prevention through economic development in the community.
- As private citizens, college presidents should be involved in policy change
at the state and local level, working for new laws and regulations that
will affect the community as a whole.
- Acknowledging that substance abuse is a problem that their schools have
in common, college presidents should participate in state, regional, and
national associations to build support for appropriate changes in public
policy.
From Be Vocal, Be Visible, Be Visionary: Recommendation for
College and University Presidents on Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention, By
Presidents Leadership Group, Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other
Drug Prevention. Newton, Mass.: Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other
Drug Prevention/EDC, 1997.
