Campuses Selling Alcohol: Profit or Problem?
Start Date: 2004
Funder: NIAAA
Since its inception, Western State University (WSU) has been a dry campus. There is no alcohol served at any campus event, and there is no campus pub on-site at the university. Alcohol is not allowed in the campus dorms. Although, as at any campus, some students may successfully sneak some alcohol into the dorms, there is evidence that drinking on campus is limited and infrequent. This last year, however, the university administration decided to permit the sale of alcohol at events on campus in order to increase attendance and, thus, increase revenue to the university. The university administration does recognize that this policy will increase the availability of alcohol on campus and potentially increase consumption and alcohol-related problems among the students. However, they intend to establish policies and programs for the sale of alcohol on campus to minimize the potential danger and the negative effect on student life.
This action moves WSU in a direction contrary to mainstream university efforts in the United States, which are to reduce students’ access to alcohol and the problems related to excessive alcohol consumption. This plan to increase the availability of alcohol on the campus is also contrary to the program recommendations of the Center for Higher Education and the thrust of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) college environmental prevention research program. It is particularly striking that justification for the change is based on increasing WSU’s revenues, not on a public health argument such as a claim that serving alcohol may keep students on campus in a safer, better-controlled, environment. Currently, a significant number of dry campuses are also interested in increasing revenues at events on campus. If the experiment at WSU is perceived as a success, other universities will undoubtedly follow its example.
It may be possible to sell alcohol on the campus under highly controlled conditions without increasing student alcohol consumption and alcohol-elated problems. Therefore, it will be important to document the effect of the new policy on student drinking, verifying that the new policy did not increase student drinking problems. Further, it will be important to determine the nature of the controls applied so that other institutions will have sufficient information to make good judgments regarding the risks of increasing availability of alcohol on campus.
Specifically, an evaluation program is needed to answer the following questions, which are the aims of this proposed research:
- Aim 1: How well controlled are the on-campus sales? Are underage or obviously intoxicated students being served?
- Aim 2: Aside from increasing drinking at events on campus, does the sale of alcohol at events increase drinking before or after such events?
- Aim 3: Are student attitudes about alcohol policies changed by the sale of alcohol at events on campus?
- Aim 4: Do students report an increase in alcohol consumption, binge drinking, or alcohol problems following the implementation of alcohol sales at events on campus?
- Aim 5: Is there an increase in campus alcohol problem indicators such as DUI offenses or disciplinary actions following implementation of the new sales policies?
- Aim 6: Is there a liberalization of the alcohol policy on campus as a result of the initial decision to sell alcohol on campus at only a limited number and type of events?
Investigators
- Rob Turrisi
- Professor of Biobehavioral Health
- rjt13@psu.edu
- Robert Voas
- Public Services Research Institute
- Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation
- Mark Johnson
- Public Services Research Institute
- Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation
- Charles Honts
- Professor of Psychology
- Boise State University
- chonts@boisestate.edu