Updates

The ACC started the semester by exploring the potential impact of student's academic schedules (i.e., classes on Friday) on their decisions around high-risk alcohol use. Data was provided by Enrollment Management & Student Success and the Provost Office. As the semester progressed, our focus shifted to supporting students as they engaged in remote learning for the first time. Messages related to substance use, loneliness, and stress management were communicated through several university resources and supported by the ACC.

With the return of students to campus, the ACC charged the Office of Student Wellness to develop an awareness campaign targeting off campus house parties. Once the campaign was developed the ACC vetted the content and helped promote through the members social media accounts and university communications. "Party with CHAD (Careful Healthy Appropriate Decisions)" helps students identify ways to gather socially while considering covid safety measures and safer alcohol consumption.

For the 2019-2020 academic year, the ACC is primarily focused on the third prong, “culture,” with the ultimate goal of developing environmental strategies to shift cultural norms. Regular meetings of the ACC, with revised membership, resumed in the Fall 2019 semester.

After examining cultural challenges, as well as recognizing the national landscape on this issue, the ACC spent fall semester analyzing factors that contribute to or encourage the overconsumption or under-age consumption of alcohol. Areas that warranted further investigation included pre-matriculation messaging, recruitment, and class scheduling.

The charge and framework of the ACC was reviewed during Fall 2018. This review resulted in a realignment of strategies to create a three-pronged approach to guide the ACC’s work to decrease high-risk alcohol use: Prevention, Response, and Culture. The third prong, “culture,” will be the primary focus of the ACC for the 2019-2020 academic year with the ultimate goal of developing environmental strategies to shift cultural norms.

In addition to continued prioritization of prevention and response efforts, the ACC will also examine the intersections of high-risk alcohol use with sexual and interpersonal violence and mental health challenges.

Regular meetings of the ACC, with revised membership, will resume in the Fall 2019 semester.

With the hiring of a new Dean of Students and a new Assistant Vice President for Health & Wellness in Student Life, the Fall 2018 semester was spent reviewing our strategic efforts from the past several years in addition to evaluating the current status of the Alcohol Coordinating Committee (ACC). The ACC will resume meeting regularly during the Spring 2019 semester with revised membership and priorities. Additionally, best practices around prevention, education, and response strategies were implemented throughout the Fall 2018 semester and will continue to be regularly assessed and employed.

• The Alcohol Coordinating Committee invited Ohio Representative LaTourette, Ohio Department of Commerce Director Jacqueline Williams, Deputy Superintendent and Chief of Licensing Cassandra Hicks, and Ohio Liquor Control Superintendent Jim Canepa to discuss additional plans to address high-risk alcohol consumption.
• The Education and Prevention workgroup continued the benchmarking process for social host programs and made recommendations to the Off-Campus Partnerships and Interventions workgroup and the Policy and Enforcement workgroup.
• The Off-Campus Partnerships and Intervention workgroup spent the semester benchmarking and drafting concepts for a social hosting education and party registration system for off-campus house parties. They also considered how party registration might impact the Good Neighbor Policy. 
• The Intervention and Treatment workgroup began evaluation of the Screening and Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) protocol adopted by Miami Student Health Services. The workgroup continued to examine other areas on campus where SBIRT could be implemented.
• The Policy and Enforcement workgroup successfully adopted two proposed modifications to the student handbook. The first modification elevates sanctions for alcohol violations that include the use or provision of hard alcohol (beverages above 40% alcohol content). The second modification eliminates mandated suspensions for alcohol and drug violation accumulations and instead makes available an option to serve the suspension in-residence while engaged in an approved rehabilitation or drug treatment program.

• The Alcohol Coordinating Committee was fortunate to be taken on as a Highwire client. Highwire is a capstone experience students to work together on innovative advertising and branding projects. In December, Highwire presented recommendations from three teams on how to reduce high-risk alcohol consumption at Miami University. While one of the three student groups was awarded first place by a panel of judges, the ACC intends to take pieces of all three proposals, and has scheduled follow up meetings with the students involved for the Spring 2018 semester.
• The Education and Prevention workgroup continued the benchmarking process for social host programs and researched best practices for education about Ohio social host laws.
• Off-Campus Partnerships and Interventions finished up work with the Responsible Retailers Forum with their final mystery shop round in mid-November with an 86% pass rate (18 of 21 randomly-selected retailers passed their ID checks). Through the program, a Self Assessment Tool for Alcohol Beverage Retailers was mailed to all Oxford permit holders.
  
  The group also received funding to provide free Sexual Assault/ Harrassment Intervention Training for bar staff through Safe Bars. Safe Bars is a national program that trains bar staff to recognize and respond to situations that could be linked to sexual and interpersonal violence. Our local partner, Women Helping Women (WHW), has already trained several Cincinnati bars, and continues to grow the network of service industry employees who are trained to prevent sexual violence. The training is comprehensive, and includes a policy analysis, training for staff and managers, and ongoing support for staff and patrons who may have experienced sexual violence for each participating establishment. This program ordinarily costs $500-$1,500 per establishment (depending on number of employees), per year. 
  
  They also were able to offer access to an identity-verification platform through Intellicheck to a small number of permit holders at no cost as a pilot for the spring (2018) semester.
• The Intervention and Treatment workgroup facilitated campus support for and welcomed the Haven Outpatient Center. Outpatient services began in fall semester and the Miami Student Counseling Services began making referrals. Ongoing communication between The Haven staff and the workgroup helps meet student needs.

  After the adoption of Screening and Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) protocol was adopted by Miami Student Health Services, the workgroup began examining other areas on campus where SBIRT could be implemented.

• The Policy and Enforcement workgroup proposed two modifications to the student handbook. The first proposal recommends an elevation of sanctions for alcohol violations that include the use or provision of hard alcohol (beverages above 40% alcohol content). The second proposal recommends the elimination of mandated suspensions for alcohol and drug violation accumulations and instead would make available an option to serve the suspension residence while engaged in an approved rehabilitation or drug treatment program.

• The Alcohol Coordinating Committee met with President Crawford in February and worked with external consultants on health and wellness and alcohol at Miami over the spring and summer (2017). The Division of Student Affairs and ACC engaged with multiple national experts/consultants in an effort to evaluate and refine our efforts to reduce high-risk alcohol consumption and build a safer, more productive community. Over the summer, a draft three-year strategic plan was developed using the input received from these experts (as well as other sources, such as the NIAAA College Aim Matrix). We continue to develop the overarching theoretical framework that will:

1. serve as a common point of reference for the work of the Alcohol Coordinating Committee;
2. help more precisely guide the tactics we adopt (or abandon) moving forward;
3. serve as the foundation for our empirical testing of the effectiveness of our adopted interventions; and
4. guide us in our efforts to identify gaps in our existing data collection.

• The Education and Prevention workgroup examined our current Good Samaritan Policy and ways to better communicate the policy to students. They also began assessments and benchmarking of social host education programs at other universities.
• The Academic Support group held Faculty/Staff Forum on high risk alcohol consumption in April.
• The Off-Campus Partnerships and Interventions workgroup rolled out the first semester of the full Good Neighbor Policy protocol in place, with the Office of Ethics and Student Conflict Resolution now employed for the third citation. The Alcohol Responsibility Program held two Mystery Shop weekends, over February 10-12, 2017 and April 28-30, 2017. The results were 95% compliance and 100% compliance, respectively. The workgroup collaborated with the Responsible Retailer's Forum to develop an "Alcohol Sales Practices" document for local retailers in Oxford.
• The Intervention and Treatment workgroup reviewed and assessed the effectiveness of mandated education and interventions at Miami, resulting in a report with recommendations on substance abuse assessment, sanctions, treatment, diversion programs and motivational interviewing. The group also prepared for the arrival of The Haven Outpatient Center in Fall 2017.
• The Policy and Enforcement workgroup finished a comprehensive review of Miami’s Code of Student Conduct and the Miami University Policy and Information Manual and started the ongoing conversation about whether and how to treat hard alcohol differently than beer and wine in our efforts. The group also made recommendations related to the possession of hard alcohol in the residence halls.

• The Education and Prevention workgroup researched potential new initiatives to expand alcohol education programming.
• The Academic Support group completed analysis on their campus-wide survey to faculty and staff about perceptions related to alcohol consumption. The Alcohol Perceptions Report (PDF; will open in a new window) is now available. 
• The Off-Campus Partnerships and Interventions workgroup of the ACC is serving as the steering committee working with representatives of the International Town Gown Association (ITGA) and the Responsible Retailing Forum (RRForum) on the Alcohol Responsibility Program (ARP). ARP consists of a series of visits by mystery shoppers to monitor compliance of ID checks in local establishments as a training opportunity for retailers. The Oxford-Miami partnership was one of six town-gown teams selected nationally to participate in this program. The program was launched on November 10 with a community meeting. There were about 40 interested stakeholders in attendance, including local representatives from the following stakeholder groups: permit holders, distributors; producers; the faith community; McCullough Hyde Memorial Hospital; the Chamber of Commerce; the City of Oxford; and Miami University. 
• In an effort to support local permit holders in their quest to more effectively undertake identification checks, the Policy and Enforcement workgroup introduced student birthdates to be printed on Miami student IDs.
• The Intervention and Treatment workgroup completed a community readiness assessment for a student recovery program. 
• The Policy and Enforcement workgroup continued their efforts to identify appropriate sanctions for "third strike" noise and litter citations through OESCR.

• The Education and Prevention workgroup reviewed alcohol education and personal assessment platforms and made the recommendation to continue with Everfi's AlcoholEdu. 
• The Academic Support group sent a campus-wide survey to all faculty and staff. With a 50% response rate, the group began analyzing the data. They also provided PowerPoint slides on alcohol to faculty members for use during the week of Green Beer Day. 
• The Off-Campus Interventions and Partnerships workgroup recommended a new process of handling noise and litter citations off campus with a three strike policy. Upon the first citation, students living at the cited address receive a letter from the City and the University. Upon the second citation (after receiving the letter), students living at the address meet with campus and city representatives. Upon the third citation (after the meeting), the group will be referred to the Office of Ethics and Student Conflict Resolution (OESCR). The first two steps were enacted Spring 2016; the third was sent to the Policy and Enforcement workgroup to determine logistics. 
• The Intervention and Treatment workgroup began work on examining Motivational Interviewing with Student Health by researching current interventions, evaluations and sanctions. 
• The Policy and Enforcement workgroup developed a clearer policy on conditions of when and where of-age students are permitted to consume alcohol on campus. They also took on the recommendation made by the Off-Campus Interventions and Partnerships workgroup to handle "third strike" noise and litter citations through OESCR.

• The Education and Prevention workgroup announced that the Late Night Miami calendar is now posted online. With one task under their belt, they began assembling new membership to take on a review of AlcoholEdu and Personal Assessment tools. 
• The Academic Support group assembled and began work on identifying current research to support ACC goals.
• The Off-Campus Interventions and Partnerships workgroup assembled and began work on the visibility and "openness" of front-yard house parties. 
• The Intervention and Treatment workgroup assembled and began to examine a campus recovery program. 
• The Policy and Enforcement workgroup began work on developing clearer policy on conditions of when and where of-age students are permitted to consume alcohol on campus.

• The first ACC meeting was held on March 30, 2015. The group spent the first few meetings assembling work-groups and decided to focus on launching the Policy and Enforcement Workgroup and the Education and Prevention Workgroup prior to summer. The other three workgroups (Off-Campus Interventions and Partnerships, Academic Support, and Intervention and Treatment) planned to kick-off regular meetings in August. 
• The committee reviewed and updated the Philosophy Statement and changed its name to Guiding Statement.
• The Policy and Enforcement group provided recommendations about beer sales in Yager Stadium and then moved on to examining alcohol-use policies for campus-wide facilities.
• The Education and Prevention workgroup submitted recommendations on late night programming structure, and aims to provide programming every Thursday, Friday and Saturday of the semester by year 3.