In The News

January 30, 2003

NU hosts Vermont College Alcohol Network seminar

By Scott Craven
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

On January 21, 2003, Norwich University hosted a meeting for the Vermont College Alcohol Network (VCAN) in the multipurpose room in the library to discuss new ways to market their message across college campuses.

VCAN is a statewide coalition that works with Vermont Colleges and their surrounding communities to reduce the high risk and illegal use of alcohol and other drugs. According to their mission statement, their goal is to provide Vermont colleges and universities with a vehicle for collaboration concerning campus alcohol and other drug abuse, and to educate them with prevention techniques. Part of this education training is bringing together all the schools in Vermont to discuss and trade their different ideas and experiences.

Representing Norwich at the meeting was Martha Mathis, Dean of Students, and Chip Keinath, a Senior Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor and advisor for Norwich Alcohol Awareness Program (NAAP).

Mathis, who Co-Chairs the VCAN organization along with another representative from Champlain College, said the meeting held representatives from 32 schools across the state. A few of those schools included in the meeting were St. Michael's College, Green Mountain College, and Champlain College.

Mathis said the organization began in 1990 under a different name, but recently changed to VCAN. She said the group meets every other month at one of the 32 other schools in Vermont that are involved in the program.

The seminar held here at Norwich lasted about half the day, Mathis said. The purpose of the meeting was to discover new ways to promote "campus marketing around alcohol." By "marketing," she means getting the message across to students in ways that they will relate to it.

"It's also about sharing the message with the community as well, not just the students," Mathis said. "We talked about how to spread the word about alcohol and the concept of its consequences," Mathis said. "Not just drinking but particularly the misuse and abuse of alcohol.

According to Mathis, the immediate concern isn't so much with the casual drinkers as it is with the people that rely heavily on alcohol to get them through a normal day.

"VCAN is not a committee that says abstinence is the way to go, but it's a group that say's abuse and misuse has some serious consequences," Mathis said.

For a Norwich student, one of those consequences may be attending mandatory NAAP classes if caught violating the alcohol policy, which according to Mathis is one of the "severest" policies around.

In charge of the NAAP classes is Chip Keinath, a Senior Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor who resides at Norwich once a week to counsel students.

"Today's society is much different then when our parents went to school," said Keinath. "The students only see the laws that are preventing them from getting their hands on drugs and alcohol, but aren't seeing the reasons behind those initiatives."

To assist in their efforts of getting this message across to students, VCAN invited two guest trainers from the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention (HEC) to help collaborate some of their goals. Speaking on behalf of the HEC was Dr. Beth DeRicco, Associate Director, and Jerry Anderson, the Statewide Initiatives Coordinator for the HEC. According to DeRicco, representatives of VCAN participated in the half-day seminar to identify some of the issues they were concerned with and discuss some outcomes that they would like to see.

"We work with colleges and universities nationwide to help them develop programs and policies to reduce high risk and illegal alcohol use," DeRicco said. "One of the things we do is help college and university administrators and their community partners identify the consequences to high risk use of alcohol for the user and those around him or her, and help them plan to address those consequences."

"We hoped to do a little bit of strategic planning," Anderson said. "Specifically around strategies that the schools can implement on their campuses and within their communities to reduce the high risk and illegal use of alcohol by college students.

Anderson said one of the methods that the HEC promotes is called "environmental management." According to Anderson this strategy involves working with the various environments that the students are living in.

One step is taking a look at the "marketing of alcohol," Anderson said. "What is impacting the students? What are they seeing every day?"

Looking at the situation from an economic viewpoint, Anderson said that, statistically, alcohol is "less expensive" in college towns. So part of the solution here is working with local bars and taverns that "promote excessive use" of alcohol, and either trying to get rid of them or get them to increase their prices, Anderson said.

The other half of the issue is the legal environment. "Are the policies on campus and the state laws being enforced, and are they being enforced consistently?" Anderson said.

Lastly, according to Anderson, the students' social environment needs to be monitored. "What is out there for them to do," Anderson said. "We need to provide them with an outlet other than just going to the bar."

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