AlcoholEdu shows students excel national average for post-test results, but show high-risk behaviors.
Nearly half of Ohio University students who completed AlcoholEdu report drinking behaviors that are considered “high-risk” through EverFi, the organization that creates the AlcoholEdu and Haven, a sexual assault program.
EverFi turned over its report of OU’s programs with analyses and recommendations to improve the university in January 2015. The report showed that “pre-gaming” and “doing shots” were the two most common drinking behaviors associated with high-risk drinking, and 43 percent of those who participated in the program were in the high-risk category.
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The same report measured reasons why students chose not to drink, the most common being having to drive and spending money, as well as negative effects of drinking, the most frequent being blacking out and hangovers.
The percentage of OU students who engaged in “high-risk” drinking was 79 percent in 2002, said Terry Koons, the associate director for health promotion in the Campus Involvement Center.
Students who participate in AlcoholEdu are required to take a test before and after the program. Results show overall understanding of alcohol effects and the risks associated with drinking — knowledge of both improved over the course of the program as measured by the two tests, according to EverFi.
All incoming OU freshmen students are required to complete AlcoholEdu.
Koons said the university also pays EverFi for the findings as part of what is called the Prevention Coalition, which has only recently been offered to schools that use its service.
Koons said the university pays about $40,000 for EverFi’s services.
Overall, OU scored a B- for its programming and a C- for its alcohol policies, with the grade citing that while the policies are fair, there is room for the university to establish more consistent policies to address off-campus settings.
“I would say the grade is informative, it gives us a chance to step back,” Koons said. “When you’re here every day and you’re working on all of these issues, you kind of get immune to what’s happening.”
Ethan Forness, a senior studying psychology, said he thinks the university should readjust its priorities in terms of its policies.
“I think (the university puts) too much focus on our major fests,” Forness said. “That isn’t the issue, the issue is that people drink in their dorms and get away with it.”
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Dean of Students Jenny Hall-Jones said she and her colleagues have also been analyzing the data to bring change to OU.
“The grade assigned to us by external reviewers is just another way for us to examine our comprehensive approach and review our gaps,” Hall-Jones said. “Every time we see those reports, we are reminded that we could always be improving our approaches.”
Emily Wainscott, a freshman studying media, said she thinks the university’s alcohol policies are not strict at all.
“I could point to any of the dorm rooms in my hallway right now that have alcohol in them,” Wainscott said.
She said since she does not like to go to large parties, AlcoholEdu seemed pointless.
Another student, Clara Heimburger, a senior studying communications and media, said she does not drink alcohol but that AlcoholEdu was educational.
“The situations they presented were pretty believable,” Heimburger said. “It was informative just because I didn’t drink in high school and it didn’t apply to me.”
EverFi representatives visited OU’s campus in the spring of 2013 for a diagnostic inventory by interviewing university administrators, students and other staff.
The university also submitted what it does in terms of alcohol and sexual assault education programs to the company. Then the company compared what OU was doing to the best practices nationally.
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The university was then graded based on what it is currently doing and what it could do to improve the situation.
In addition to sending a report of their findings, EverFi also makes suggestions for what the university could improve on in the form of a Campus Alcohol Prevention Action Plan.
Some of the suggestions from EverFi included disbanding programs that were not working, such as speakers and Fatal Vision Goggles and to allocate more resources toward creating more alcohol-free programs, particularly during the Fall Semester.
Koons looked at the data and the recommendations to see what his office could do to improve the programming aspects of the university. Koons’ office is responsible for many sexual assault and alcohol campaigns across campus.
“There really wasn’t any funding changes for our change in programs, we just stopped doing things that were ineffective and we put all of our resources into the Choices program,” Koons said. “In terms of the other components, those are kind of bigger discussions that need to happen at the university that I just don’t think have happened.”
Koons said the focus of the program is on “sexual misconduct and power-based personal violence” and how to address those issues.
One of the major reforms developed after EverFi’s information came in was the implementation of the Choices program which is completed by every student in a learning community during October – Alcohol Awareness Month. The purpose of the program is to create a dialogue about bystander intervention, alcohol management and sexual assault.
In the fall, the university created a Presidential Advisory Council on Sexual Misconduct for the purpose of outreach and response efforts, Hall-Jones said.
The funding for these programs came from many different sources, she said. OU’s Survivor Advocacy Program and the Student Affairs General Fee funded some of it, Hall-Jones said. Halloween guest registration fees and judicial fines also contributed to the funding.
University officials only add programs that are paid for with student fees if it directly benefits students, Hall-Jones said.
Another outside entity measured the same data from OU at the same time frame as EverFi’s study but is no longer in existence. This organization, the National College Health Improvement Project, was run through Dartmouth College.
Koons said that those results reflected findings similar to EverFi’s.
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