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August 20, 2002 - Storrs, CT - The University of Connecticut announced today that it would mandate alcohol education for its students starting this September. All first-year students will take a three-hour interactive course, AlcoholEduTM, developed by Outside The Classroom, Inc., the leading provider of online health education for colleges and universities. The university will also make AlcoholEdu available to other campus groups, including athletic teams, Greek-letter organizations, and disciplinary referrals.
"Binge drinking and other high-risk alcohol consumption can be a major problem for young men and women, especially early in their college careers," said John Saddlemire, Dean of Students of the University of Connecticut. "Research has shown that the strongest motivation for behavior change comes from relevant information delivered to students in effective and non-threatening ways. AlcoholEdu for the first time makes it easy and practical to provide this preemptive education to all our first-year students and other selected groups. We're happy to add this important tool to the many other things we are doing to educate our students about alcohol."
In their recent study, "A Call to Action: Changing the Culture of Drinking at U.S. Colleges," the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism notes the staggering toll alcohol takes on today's college students. The survey cites 1,400 alcohol-related deaths, 500,000 alcohol-related injuries, 70,000 alcohol-related sexual assaults, 2.1 million incidences of drunk driving, and 159,000 first-year student dropouts due to alcohol and drugs every year. Further, high-risk alcohol consumption has been linked to a host of other serious problems from poor academic performance to property damage in the communities around college campuses.
Implementing the AlcoholEdu course for all first-year students is the cornerstone of a broad educational program the University of Connecticut has developed to address such disparaging statistics. In addition to AlcoholEdu, the university also has implemented a widespread peer counseling network, an alcohol-screening day, motivational speakers, and an extensive alcohol resource library in the student health center.
Senator Joe Lieberman, who as Chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee held a hearing earlier this year on college alcohol abuse, praised the University of Connecticut for adopting the program.
"Six students died on college campuses in Connecticut last school year as a result of binge drinking. That's six too many," Lieberman said. "I'm pleased that UConn is taking strong steps to address the problem, including adopting the innovative course offered by Outside The Classroom, and I hope other schools follow their lead and take similar preemptive measures. Our students' futures depend on it."
AlcoholEdu is typically given to entire first-year classes of students within their initial semester on campus - the critical time during which future attitudes and behaviors toward alcohol are determined. By offering a powerful "educational intervention," AlcoholEdu not only engages each individual, but also works to create a critical mass of informed, knowledgeable students.
AlcoholEdu's online format offers institutions the most effective means of providing a powerful, one-on-one learning experience to all students. In addition to written material, AlcoholEdu includes multimedia video, personalized feedback, and interactive case studies that teach while helping students reflect upon their own life decisions. Independent analysis of survey data from AlcoholEdu's built-in assessment tools indicates that students who complete the course demonstrate healthier knowledge, attitudes and behaviors related to alcohol.
"The University of Connecticut is setting a new standard in the prevention field. Their decision to preemptively educate all first-year students demonstrates a strong commitment to preventing alcohol related problems," said Brandon Busteed, founder of Outside The Classroom. "Students are given years of preparation for the academic challenges they face in college, but most students haven't been given any real instruction to help them understand alcohol, the effects it has on the body, and the role it plays in college culture. Our proven technology and curriculum has made it possible to do something that was never practical before - educating entire classes of students with a program that offers documented, measurable results."
Outside The Classroom also serves schools as a critical resource for collecting data about student health issues using a dynamic web-based survey tool. TheHealthSurveyä is the first and only online survey to accurately measure students' health-related thoughts, attitudes and behaviors on a campus-specific basis. AlcoholEdu and TheHealthSurvey form the cornerstone upon which schools can build a comprehensive prevention strategy.
About The University of Connecticut
The University of Connecticut is ranked the top public university in New England by US News & World Report.
About Outside The Classroom, Inc.
Outside The Classroom (www.outsidetheclassroom.com), a Boston-based health education company, was founded to address critical behavioral health issues. The company's flagship product, AlcoholEdu, is a non-opinionated, online course about alcohol and its effects on the body. Universities nationwide are gaining insight about key campus health trends and environmental policy issues by using AlcoholEdu in conjunction with TheHealthSurvey, a comprehensive, online assessment tool. In addition to the college market, Outside The Classroom provides world-class online health education for individuals and institutions including high schools, corporations, and the armed forces.
Outside The Classroom is a partner to many prominent organizations including Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Drugs, the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA), and the American College Personnel Association (ACPA).
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