Support Prevention Efforts on Campus
What You Can Do To Help
Students often assume heavy and frequent drinking or drug use in college is normal and acceptable. These assumptions can lead to abuse and misuse. By adopting some of the suggestions listed below, you can become more informed and help create a healthier campus culture.
What You Say and How You Act
- Share accurate norms about NU students’ drinking behavior: about 1 in 4 choose not to drink; about half report consuming at low-risk levels or not at all; most drink on two or fewer occasions per week.
- Avoid joking about heavy drinking. This normalizes risky drinking behavior and may appear to condone it.
- Avoid enabling the behavior (e.g., accepting excuses, pushing back deadlines and ignoring problems caused by drinking or drug use). Shielding a person from consequences indirectly allows them to continue drinking or using drugs in problematic ways.
- Announce on- or off-campus events to promote school spirit, community engagement, and alternatives to the party/bar scene.
- Become familiar with the University’s alcohol policies.
- In situations where you are with students in the presence of alcohol, let university policy and state law be your guide.
Academic Expectations
- Schedule classes, quizzes and deadlines on Mondays through Fridays. This discourages students from drinking heavily on weekday nights.
- Make it clear that students’ participation in class is important, and that alcohol impairment in the classroom is unacceptable.
- Assign group projects. Working in groups is one way for students to build relationships outside the classroom without alcohol.
- Integrate the subject matter of alcohol and other drug abuse into your courses when possible.
Professional Development
Numerous opportunities exist to learn more about alcohol and drugs, how they work in the body, and the impact they have on student health, well-being, and success while in college and beyond.- The Illinois Higher Education Center for alcohol, other drugs & violence prevention, based out of Eastern Illinois University, offers numerous in-person and webinar based learning opportunities for free to members of Illinois institutions of higher education.
- NASPA offers a four-track conference on AOD, Well-Being, Mental Health and Violence Prevention called NASPA Strategies Conference.
- Vector Solutions Campus Prevention Network Connect events bring together those interested in exploring strategies for enhancing prevention and compliance efforts on college campuses nationwide.