KeepComingBack.com is pleased to attend an important discussion on the state of substance abuse on our college campuses, held in New York City. On October 23rd, the Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University organized “How to Stop Wasting the Best and the Brightest: Substance Abuse at America’s Colleges and Universities,” which featured notable speakers and diverse panelists that covered a variety of topics.

The keynote presentation was given by Dr. Nora Volkow, the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and a recently named to TIME Magazine’s “Top 100 People Who Shape our World.” Dr. Volkow reviewed startling statistics with conference attendees, including:

• 18-25 year olds now have the highest rate of substance abuse in the lifespan on an individual;
• 20% of 18-25 year olds report a high level of personal substance abuse;
• 30% of accident-related deaths for 15-24 year olds are alcohol-related;
• Prescription drug abuse among American youth is now on the rise, up to 6.5% of college student in the past month reported abusing prescription pills.

Dr. Volkow made a call to action for change on our college campuses.

First Panel
The first panel, entitled, “Getting the ‘High’ out of Higher Education: College Presidents, Trustees and Alumni” was moderated by Jeffrey Toobin, CNN’s Senior Legal Analyst and a Staff Writer for The New Yorker. Featured panelists included Dr. Robert Carothers, President of the University of Rhode Island; Douglas Fierberg, an attorney with Bode & Grenier, which represents the families of adolescent substance abuse victims; Stephen Guest, father of Kristine Guest (1984-2005), a student who lost her life in an alcohol-related event in college; Dr. Gail Gleason Milgram, a professor with the Center for Alcohol Studies at Rutgers University; and Ann Neal, President of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni in Washington, D.C..

Panelists broadly spoke about the need to change the basic academic culture in the United States. One panelist also spoke about the dynamics behind the “Amethyst Initiative,” which strives to build a dialogue on the minimum drinking age among the top administrators at our nation’s colleges and universities. Another noted that there is enormous financial pressure from the alcohol industry on college campuses, from billboard advertising to on-campus bars.

One panelist addressed what she felt was the real issue today at college campuses – that there is an outright abandonment of the academic mission. She was concerned that instead of a growing academic culture, there is a growing party culture. This makes it incumbent upon the trustees to explore how they can encourage a better environment for learning and discovery for students. Ms. Neal sees trustees as the “silent force” at schools which can step up and take a more active role besides fundraising, and foster a true learning environment for everyone.

Another panelist took aim at the Greek system, and said that simply leaving drinking as an issue of personal responsibility and individual decisions is not satisfactory. He believes allowing the national Greek system to step in and place sanctions on out-of-control college campuses doesn’t go far enough, and is meaningless. He suggests the real solution is to get schools to become dry campuses.

Also, one panelist touched upon the relevance of a little known federal law, the Drug Free Schools and Communities Act of 1989 (DFSCA). This law requires that as a condition of receiving financial assistance from the federal government, schools must certify that they have programs in place to prevent underage drinking and substance abuse by students and employees. Furthermore, these policies need to enforced, and there must be a biannual review of compliance. This panelist found Senator Dodd from Connecticut to be helpful on this issue, where the first on-site compliance review took place under his prodding in 2007.

Finally, a panelist spoke about the importance of leading by example, and setting a school mission that everyone can understand. Generally, panelists engaged each other on all of these topics, and also talked about whether parental notification of student infractions and behavior was effective.

Second Panel
The second panel, entitled “Parent Power: The Role of Parents,” was moderated by Cynthia McFadden, a well known television journalist and co-anchor of Nightline and Primetime Live. Featured panelists included Dr. Carol Boyd, Director of the Institute for Research on Women and Gender; Michael Lanahan, President of the Gordie Foundation and stepfather of Lynn “Gordie” Bailey who died in an alcohol related incident in college; Dr. Ralph Lopez, Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Cornell Medical College; Dr. Manuel Pacheco, President Emeritus of the University of Arizona and former President of both the University of Houston-Downtown and Lardeo University.

Panelists spoke about how substance abuse is changing among our nation’s youth. Today, many young adults who receive prescription medication are sharing or selling pills to their friends. They reflected upon the challenges of parenthood, and one panelist remarked parents don’t teach children how to say “no” to others, including their own friends. Young people need a nurturing environment even after they leave their parents, which is why living-learning communities work on campuses.

One panelist brought a frank analysis to the table. They see the problem first with physicians who overprescribe medication to young people, which allows for the sharing and selling of pills, which nationally is on the rise. It was suggested that oftentimes parents are people who want to be popular with their children, and refuse to set limits to control their behavior and set common-sense boundaries. Parents will “coddle their children” to strive for academic excellence, which allows the students to believe that they have carte blanche so long as they receive A’s and high test scores.

One panelist remarked that parents don’t want to acknowledge the short-comings of their children. They also don’t realize the incredible influence they have over them, which can help them form good judgment later in life. In addition to stronger parenting, students can help their peers with the problems of on-campus substance abuse. The use of student judicial courts can help in some situations.

Keynote Presentation
After a brief lunch, Dr. Califano, Chairman and President of CASA at Columbia University gave a compelling keynote presentation. Dr. Califano noted that our nation has made historic gains in the fight against adolescent substance abuse, but that there is much more work ahead of us. He stated that every day, five students die of alcohol poisoning and related injuries. He also noted that 22% of college students meet the medical criteria for alcoholics and drug abusers, which should be a serious wake-up call for parents, school administrators and the public at large. Throughout his presentation, Dr. Califano shared with the audience a series of photos from social networking sites that young people have published of their excessive drinking and brazen behavior, which underscores the entrenched nature of the culture of substance abuse on our nation’s college campuses.

Third Panel
The next guest panel, entitled “Student Disorientation: Substance Abuse among America’s College Students,” was moderated by Lesley Stahl, a correspondent with CBS News’s 60 Minutes program. Panelists featured included: Dr. Robert Dana, Vice President for Student Affairs and the Dean of Students at the University of Maine; Dr. Juan Gonzalez, Vice President of Student Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin; Dr. Kimberly Leonard, Technical Vice President and Director of the Center for Technical Assistance at the MayaTech Corporation; Anna Thomas, a 2008 graduate of Texas Tech University and a person in recovery; and Dr. Giao Tran, the Director of Anxiety and Alcohol Research Program at the University of Cincinnati.

The panelists spoke about the challenges of changing the adolescent alcohol culture on college campuses. Having huge classes where teachers are researchers first does little to help foster strong decision-making among students. Students and parents need to be held accountable for the behavior on campus, and that teachers and administrators have an important role in teaching what is appropriate and inappropriate student conduct. One panelist favored schools organizing and providing on-campus activities that students can participate in that do not have any alcohol at all, which is a strong deterrent and alternative to the substance abuse lifestyle.

One panelist believed that students speaking to students is the best way for school administrators to communicate about the dangers of alcohol, tobacco and drugs.

Another panelist touched upon how historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) differ largely from traditional American colleges and universities – they are typically dry campuses, and sororities and fraternities are centered around academic excellence first, and socializing second. They stated that students at HBCUs are oftentimes the first in their families to attend college, and that there is a stronger mission for excellence because of this. Many of the positive behavior the panelist saw among students at HBCUs can be replicated at other schools if college administrators can enforce and instill better policies regarding academic rigor and personal conduct.

Another panelist spoke about their personal challenge as a high-performing student and an early addict. Her parents gave her a series of tough love choices that helped turn her life around. She also credits Texas Tech University for their Center for the Study of Addiction and Recovery, which helped her in a time of need, as well as Texas Tech’s sober housing program, which is only available to a handful of colleges in the United States. Now as an employee of the Center, and a graduate student in recovery, she is now reaching out to other young people about the dangers of substance abuse and the importance of peer support.

A spoke about her experience with analyzing data and studies on adolescent alcoholism and substance abuse. She found that peer pressure continues to be a big problem, and that better role models and positive influences would help keep students away from bad decisions that will hurt their health.

Fourth Panel
The fourth panel, entitled, “A Public Affair: The Role of the Community,” covered the challenges of living in college towns and dealing with off-campus substance abuse by adolescents. The panel was moderated by Ms. Susan Foster, CASA’s Vice President and Director of Policy Research and Analysis. Seated for the roundtable discussion was: Joe Bell, owner and manager of The Peanut Barrel, a bar in the college town of East Lansing, Michigan; Thomas Hall, Director of Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Programming at the University of Central Florida; Thomas King, Chief of Police and State College; Katherine Plominksi; Alcohol Policy Coordinator at the City of Madison, Wisconsin; and Patty Spady, mother of Samantha “Sam” Spady, a student who died in an alcohol related incident in college, and President of the SAM Spady Foundation.

One panelist about his role in organizing bar owners in the community to restrict the advertising and special promotions that cultivated a dangerous drinking environment in the community. He stated that there was a lot of resistance at first, and it took months before he gained traction with other business owners, but that there was overall a good response to helping clean up the town.

Another panelist spoke about how school administrators, law enforcement and neighbors have to all step in to help create an environment where out of control behavior is not tolerated. He spoke about the efforts of a local university to work with business owners in a large tourist town that depends on alcohol sales and visitors for tax revenue and flowing business, to keep young people out of bars and away from dangerous situations.

Another panelist stated that numerous quality of life issues, such as littering, public urination, noise complaints, and other problems were rampant in their college town. One panelist discussed numerous new restrictions in their community to limit drinking at a notorious Halloween event, including new permit requirements for large gatherings, fencing, ticket sales and additional security guards. The panelist also introduced new legislation for an “alcohol density ordinance,” which would limit the number of new business establishments that can receive alcohol permits based on the size of the population.

One panelist stated that the problem in college towns is with the bartenders, who are often college students themselves, and many bars are owned by Greeks and alumni, all creating a situation where the enforcement of the law may be compromised. They noted that there is a problem with the age of bartenders in many states, which is often below 21 years. They encouraged all attendees to work hard to prevent unnecessary fatalities at the colleges and universities in the United States.

KCB found the CASA conference informative and inspiring, and thanks Dr. Califano and all the CASA staff for being so helpful and professional throughout our attendance.

By Vince Vasquez
Copyright 2009 KeepComingBack.com