Some students are indeed intoxicated by the newfound freedom that college provides and strive to reenact the image of slurred speech and sleep-where-you-fall parties depicted in the 1978 hit film National Lampoon’s Animal House. Others, however, favor a lifestyle that doesn’t put them at risk for things like sexual assault, drunk driving, incarceration, bad grades, injury, or even death.

“The perception is out there that all college students drink, but it’s just not true,” says Nanette Vega, assistant dean of students and assistant director of the University’s Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Education. “If you were to go to the University Center on a Friday night, you would see 100-plus students learning how to dance salsa, and they’ll stay there until they get kicked out. It’s Friday night, so you’d think they’d want to go to Coconut Grove or South Beach.”

But when students do choose to party, the University wants them armed with important resources—not just statistics and scare tactics, but advice on what to do in real-life situations and methods for requesting help.

“Alcohol abuse, especially binge drinking, continues to be a challenge for all college campuses,” says Patricia A. Whitely, Ed.D. ’94, vice president for student affairs. “But with the support of President Shalala and students, we are continuing to initiate programs in the Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Education to educate our students.”

Supplementing efforts of the Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Education are initiatives that have come out of the Presidential Commission on Alcohol and Other Drug Issues. President Donna E. Shalala, who links alcohol consumption with “every serious incident with a student” in her time in academia, created the commission following the tragic alcohol-related deaths of two students during the 2001-2002 academic year. Fortifying her efforts on a national level, President Shalala last year was appointed to the Presidents Leadership Group, part of the U.S. Department of Education’s Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention.

Funded by a $40,000 grant from the Kaiser Family Foundation, the University’s Presidential Commission on Alcohol and Other Drug Issues is a 19-member task force of faculty, students, staff, and parents. In April 2003 the commission, chaired by UM Trustee Reverend Marta Weeks, presented its initial recommendations to the University’s Board of Trustees. Among them: hire a highly specialized substance-abuse counselor, increase funding for student groups that promote responsible use of alcohol, and educate faculty about substance abuse issues their students face. As well, the University has expanded its Ibis Ride free shuttle program that transports students between campus and Coconut Grove to include Thursday nights along with the customary Friday and Saturday 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. service, and shuttle drivers are now trained to recognize signs of alcohol poisoning. Up to 800 students a night use the service, students who might otherwise be tempted to drive under the influence. The committee also recommended the ban of alcohol sales at the Orange Bowl for Hurricane football games, much like similar measures adopted by the University of Florida and Florida State University. With cooperation from the City of Miami, which owns the stadium facility, the sale of alcohol is cut off at the end of halftime.

Reducing college binge drinking has long been part of the agenda in government, academia, and the public sector, but some tactics have been ineffective. Last year a Harvard study reported that the alcohol industry and several government agencies have spent $8 million on “social norms” programs featuring slogans such as, “Most students at (name of the college) have five or fewer drinks when they party.” Henry Wechsler, director of the study, found these campaigns were overshadowed by peer pressure from roommates, Greek brothers or sisters, and friends.

AlcoholEDU for College is one contemporary approach, designed to resound with the point-and-click generation. In fall 2004, the University joined more than 350 schools nationwide that require all incoming freshmen to complete this two-and-a-half-hour online course about the effects of alcohol.

Recognizing the power of peer-to-peer education, the University’s substance-abuse referral program PIER 21 (Prevention, Intervention, Education, Referral) employs two students who answer questions and deliver presentations to other students. Some students reach out to PIER 21 on their own because they need advice on how to help a friend or family member who has a problem. Others are required by the University to hear what the organization has to say.

“All of the students who attend our peer-led workshops have violated a University substance policy, so automatically you would expect them to be on the defensive,” Vega says, noting that the feedback she gets from the students indicates they often gain a change of perspective. Instead of an hour-long lecture about alcohol, PIER 21 brings in student theatre groups to simulate real situations, such as an alcohol-induced car crash or an out-of-hand party.

Also through PIER 21, any member of the University community can anonymously refer someone for substance-abuse counseling. The organization contacts the person who has been referred, offers a private one-hour assessment session, and refers for professional intervention, either with an on-campus counselor or a professional in the community.

PIER 21 works closely with the University of Miami chapters of Bacchus and Gamma, two international student organizations named for their missions: Boosting Alcohol Conscious-ness Concerning the Health of University Students (Bacchus) and Greeks Advocating Mature Management of Alcohol (Gamma). Together, this triad brings National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week to the Coral Gables campus every fall semester.

A national annual event since the 1980s, the week traditionally kicks off at UM with a “mocktail” reception at the Wellness Center and features contests, lectures by motivational speakers, a film presentation, and a “healthy haunted house.” Contestants in this year’s “Beer Goggles Athletic Challenge” wore goggles that simulate the effects of alcohol impairment and competed in tasks against other students without these limitations. Vega noticed palpable student response to motivational speaker Michael Green, a former student and recovering alcoholic, as he discussed his path and personal struggle with this debilitating disease.

“Who’s going to come out at 7 o’clock at night to hear someone talk about alcohol and drugs?” Vega says, noting her pleasant surprise that attendance was high.

The two students employed by PIER 21 also serve as co-presidents of Bacchus on campus and as student representatives on the Presidential Commission on Alcohol and Other Drug Issues. Kaitlin Steiger-Meister, a junior marine science major in the College of Arts and Sciences who is in her second year as a PIER educator, admits that it’s difficult to create programs that appeal to students who are concerned about fitting in.

“We’re purely safety and health education,” says Steiger-Meister, who shares her duties with fellow PIER 21 educator and sophomore broadcast journalism major Kellie Jackson. “We don’t want to preach to the people; we’re taking the steps to help keep them safe.”

hile the toga-bearing, beer-guzzling Deltas of Animal House fame paint one picture of Greek life,organizations like Phi Delta Theta offer another. An international fraternity promoting an alcohol-free housing initiative, Phi Delta Theta has 37 brothers in the University of Miami’s Florida Delta chapter. A recent termination of the Indiana University chapter for “alcohol and hazing” violations indicates the seriousness of its edict.

The Phi Delta Theta house on San Amaro Drive is the University’s first “dry” house on fraternity row. Phi Delta brothers may consume alcohol off campus, but the housing policy helps “prevent accidents in the house, reduce insurance costs, and leave the house in the best possible condition,” explains Rishi Kapoor, a junior finance and business management major and president of the Florida Delta chapter of Phi Delta Theta. “I feel that Phi Delta is the only fraternity that has really made an attempt to return to the principal reasons that fraternities were founded—to help enrich your college experience, to make you a gentleman and a scholar, and really just to make you a better man.”

Phi Delta Theta is one of 28 Greek organizations on campus, all of which send at least one representative twice a month to Gamma meetings. Nanette Vega, who was a social worker before coming to the University six years ago, is there to listen and offer resources, but never to judge. It’s important for students to talk openly and freely, which helps administrators understand why they do what they do.

“The needs of the students are changing,” she says, “and our programs are changing to meet their needs.”