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By Jennifer D. Jordan
September 5, 2006
Rhode Island College's 1,300 freshmen begin classes today. But they've already taken their first college course: a three-hour online alcohol prevention program that all first-year students were required to complete before starting the semester.
The goal of the program is to give students information about the risks of drinking, change their attitudes and behavior about alcohol and give tips on how to help roommates or friends who overindulge, said Jane Fusco, RIC's spokeswoman.
"Especially for freshmen, drinking is a great concern," Fusco said. This is the first time many students are away from home and are exposed to alcohol. "They have to balance this growing independence with the increased responsibility of college life," she said.
Concerned about national statistics gathered by the federal government -- that 1,700 college students die each year from alcohol-related injuries, including car accidents; that almost 600,000 college students are unintentionally injured each year while under the influence of alcohol; and that more than
97,000 college students are victims of alcohol-related sexual assault -- RIC administrators this year signed a three-year contract with Outside the Classroom, which runs AlcoholEdu for College, www.alcoholedu.com.
About 450 other colleges use the alcohol prevention program. RIC pays the Boston-based company $15,000 a year for the 3-hour survey and a 2 1/2-hour follow-up program that all freshmen must complete during the first six weeks of the semester.
"The first six weeks are statistically the most risky for indulgent behavior," Fusco said. "After they've experienced several weeks of college life, we want to see how their behavior may have changed as a result of the course."
According to AlcoholEdu for College, 44 percent of college students participate in binge drinking.
The fact that the course is online appealed to RIC administrators because incoming freshmen are so computer-savvy and because a high proportion of RIC's students -- about 80 percent -- live off campus, Fusco said. Resident assistants provide additional information about alcohol prevention to students who live in the dormitories.
"We're a dry campus, but a lot of our students do not live on campus, and we wanted to assist the commuter students and affect their behavior beyond campus," Fusco said.
Parents have also been invited to participate in the survey, Fusco said. Students were given information about the alcohol survey during orientation in July, and told they had until Sept. 4 to complete the course. As of late last week, most of the freshmen had already completed the program, Fusco said.
One freshman, David Murphy-Spiller, took the course at the beginning of August. He told RIC officials that he learned some new facts and corrected some misperceptions he held. Before taking the course, Murphy-Spiller said he thought drinking coffee after drinking alcohol would help a person become sober, but he learned that was not the case.
"I remember kids in high school who drank a lot and now what I would do is ask them to reconsider their lifestyle," he said in a press release from RIC.
For more information about preventing drinking at college, including tips for parents, visit: www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov
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