Pubdate: Thu, 13 Feb 2003
Source: Cornell Daily Sun, The (NY Edu)
Copyright: 2003 The Cornell Daily Sun, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.cornelldailysun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1758

AWARDING ABUSE RESEARCH

Grant Gives Needed Opportunity To Voice Opinions

The School of Industrial and Labor Relations' R. Brinkley Smithers 
Institute for Alcohol-Related Workplace Studies' will present the newly 
created Harrison M. Trice Award to the student authors of a research 
project focused on campus opinions about alcohol and drugs. The Institute 
seeks to highlight the important issue of substance abuse, a topic which 
students and faculty urgently need to discuss openly.

The Trice award will grant $1,000 to the undergraduate student or students 
who compose the year's best research project concerning the use and/or 
abuse of alcohol and drugs in a college environment.

Unlike some of the past programs Gannett: Cornell University Health 
Services has employed to call attention to the prevalence of drugs and 
drinking, most of which focus on the after-effects of usage, the Trice 
award may be able to look deeper and bring about a better understanding of 
how and why the Cornell environment promotes these behaviors.

On the surface, Cornell students seem to cherish their ability to consume 
alcohol (naturally, drug use is less obvious to those surveying the college 
climate).

Last semester, 21 people were arrested during an Ithaca Police crack-down 
on unruly behavior by college students. The reasons for arrest included 
possession of an open container of alcohol and possession of marijuana. At 
the time, both City officials and the University clearly announced that 
while they understood the motivations behind "party behavior," both 
institutions would seek to lower the degree of alcohol and drug consumption 
on campus through police presence and intervention procedures.

However, on a campus where students are currently working to keep drinking 
a part of Slope Day, the annual celebration of the last day of classes, 
more needs to be discovered about the connection between the use of alcohol 
and drugs and some students' conception that these behaviors are harmless.

Most of the interventions the University have utilized to combat this issue 
focus only on the situations surrounding drinking and drugs, or present 
impersonal facts about the rates of drinking on campus. The latest 
initiative, the University Medical Amnesty Protocol is another example of 
this type of program that responds to rather than prevents life-threatening 
situations. In an effort to facilitate prompt medical attention, the 
Protocol grants immunity from Judicial Administrator prosecution to both 
the victim of alcohol poisoning and the student who calls for medical 
assistance.

While these types of programs have the potential to save more lives, they 
do nothing to discourage students from entering these dangerous situations 
in the first place or uncover why students involve themselves in these 
risky behaviors.

The University needs to take the opportunity the Trice award represents to 
give students a chance to research these problems and voice possible 
solutions. Campus Life and Gannett posters often state that many students 
on campus drink only moderately. Perhaps hearing this message from a 
student voice rather than the administration will help convince those 
members of the community who do not ascribe to this principle.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens