Curbing Student Alcohol Abuse
Program gets results
By Kathryn Beaumont

While many universities require that students caught violating alcohol policies undergo counseling, MIT has taken a more active approach by reaching out to at-risk students before their drinking becomes a problem. This novel program has lowered campus drinking rates and received a national education grant that will allow it to accommodate more participants.

Initiated in 2001, the Screening and Brief Intervention program asks freshmen to voluntarily complete an online alcohol-use questionnaire. Based on their responses, students may be referred to counselors for two 50-minute sessions, with a follow-up survey six months later.

Students were invited to sign up for the intervention portion of the program if they reported drinking more than four or five drinks per occasion (commonly called binge drinking) or if they said their drinking had had certain specific consequences in the previous 30 days. These consequences included academic issues, such as missed classes; interpersonal problems; or experiences of blackouts. Students who did not complete the questionnaire can voluntarily sign up for the program or be referred by residence staff or academic counselors.

No student who has gone through the program has subsequently been cited for an alcohol and drug policy violation, says Danny Trujillo, associate dean for alcohol education and community development. And the six-month follow-up report on students who had been through the program showed a 40 percent decrease in binge drinking, compared with a 60 percent increase among students who didn't participate.

MIT received a grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Models on College Campuses office for the 2004-2005 academic year, which allowed the program to expand its evaluation by offering the questionnaires to varsity athletes as well as to freshmen.