Moving into campus housing for the first time usually involves meeting a host of new people and finding mutual interests. But residents of Grand Valley State University's new Passport House will share at least one commonality: a pledge to remain alcohol, tobacco, and drug free.
The student living center is an example of programs coordinated through the Alcohol, Education, Research, and Training (ALERT) Laboratories to heighten awareness of opportunities for a substance-free college experience. ALERT Labs serves as an umbrella for education, research, and training programs that focus on reducing occurrences of dangerous drinking among GVSU students.
Although all of GVSU's living centers (for underage students) have substance-free policies, the 175 freshmen who opted to live in Passport House will have signed contracts stating they will abstain from drugs and alcohol. Designating a living center as substance-free and wellness oriented, makes GVSU a trend-setter among colleges and universities.
To enhance its other programs, ALERT Labs received a U.S. Department of Education grant designed to reduce incidents of high-risk drinking on campus.
ALERT Labs Director Nancy Harper said the two-year, $290,570 grant will help reduce dangerous drinking incidents in two ways.
We want to reduce high-risk drinking by changing students' misperceptions that excessive drinking is the norm at GVSU, and by changing the culture that accepts high-risk drinking as inevitable, Harper said.
To accomplish that goal, ALERT Labs plans the following:
- Misperceptions Media Campaign;
- Peer counseling program;
- Community programs;
- Student outreach theater troupe;
- Recovery house for students living on campus;
- Special programs for parents and faculty/staff members.
Some of these programs will be implemented this fall. For example, the Misperceptions Campaign will address the exaggeration that most GVSU students drink a lot. (In fact, two-thirds of students drink moderately, if they consume alcohol at all.)
