University of Wisconsin Stevens Point Biennial Review of the Drug Free Schools and Communities Act 2006 ‐ 2007 (Submitted May 2009) Introduction The Drug Free Schools and Communities Act requires educational institutions to conduct a biennial review of their program to determine its effectiveness and to ensure that disciplinary sanctions are consistently enforced. Compliance of Part 86 is mandatory to maintain the receipt of any federal funds or financial assistance. From the Drug Free Schools and campuses regulations it states, “The drug‐free schools and campuses regulations require an institution of higher education to certify it has adopted and implemented a program to prevent unlawful possession, use, or distribution of illicit drugs and alcohol by students and employees.” This past year, the Biennial Review committee was made of up housing professionals who researched and reached out to others in the University Community for clarification and assistance on the compliance checklist and how our university educated students, faculty and staff on AODA issues. The committee decided on creating a chart of the compliance checklist including recommendations from the committee based on the research completed. The group came upon the challenge of the materials being scattered in many different resources around campus. It was difficult to find answers to questions that seemed rather obvious, but in the end were challenging to locate. In the past, many steps have been taken in order to educate our students, faculty and staff about alcohol and other drug education. One main realization was that all of this information can be easily sent out in one email to all associated with the university. We agree that sending out an email through Message of the Day is efficient and a guaranteed way that each student, faculty and staff member will receive the information. We noted that most, if not, all of the questions on the compliance checklist could be met by this one email. Our concerns are that the Message of the Day will be overlooked, and we would like to offer more options to get this information out to students, faculty and staff. With that being said, our hope is that the following chart will give a good overview of the compliance checklist, as well as our recommendations on educating the UWSP community on AODA issues. ‐Page 2 of 9 ‐ A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.
I.
J.
K.
L.
Key The key is to demonstrate the recommendations that were made by the committee regarding question 1‐5. The recommendations listed for each question are offered as additional practices in cooperation with the current ones listed. The letter preceding each recommendation corresponds with the recommendations listed within each of the following questions. Make the Community Rights and Responsibilities book (currently available online) more interactive and organized to include links to specific policy areas for easy access to policies regarding specific topics. Place a screen that pops up when students register for classes, they must read and accept before being allowed to access their registration website. Create a document online that must be read by all and enter their user name at the end to confirm that they have read it. Send an email with the necessary information once per semester including the specific information within. Send an email with the necessary information once per year including the specific information within. Make information available at freshmen orientation. Make information available at transfer student orientation. Make information available at new staff/faculty orientation. Send a message to everyone via Message of the Day1. Place a link on myPoint where information can be access at. Include necessary information in paper format and include it in new employee paperwork. Require the information to be discussed during at least one department/area meeting per year. 1.
Message of the Day (MOD) is a structure in which a list of topics is emailed out daily. There is a specific MOD for Faculty/Staff, in which they receive one MOD via email each day with a list of specific topics relating to faculty and staff needs. Students receive two Messages of the Day each day, one focusing on business items (biz) and the other dealing with social activities (buz) occurring around campus. In the email a list of headings is viewed and can be clicked on for the details about the news/event. ‐Page 3 of 9 ‐ Question Answer Distribution Method/Location
Recommendation
1. Does the institution maintain a copy of its drug prevention program? Yes Pages 48 & 50 of the 2008‐2009 Community Rights and A Responsibilities 2. Does the institution provide annually to each employee and each student, who is taking one or more classes for any type of academic credit except for continuing education units, written materials that adequately describe and contain the following? a. Standards of conduct that prohibit unlawful possession, use, or distribution of illicit drugs and alcohol on its property or as a part of its activities. B, C, D, F, G, J Students Yes Message of the Day, once/semester On campus students: Residential Living Handbook, Half sheet of paper in each new student Orientation folder Staff and Faculty Yes Message of the Day, once/semester, Offered as an E, K, L optional session during orientation b. A description of health risks associated with the use of illicit drugs and the abuse of alcohol Students No ‐ B, C, D, G, I, J Staff and Faculty No ‐ E, H, I, K, L c. A description of applicable legal sanction under local, state or federal law A, B, C, D, I, J Students Yes Page 49 of the 2008‐2009 Community Rights and Responsibilities, Half sheet of paper in each new student Orientation folder Faculty and Staff Yes Page 49 of the 2008‐2009 Community Rights and A, D, I, J Responsibilities, and Message of the Day d. A description of applicable of counseling treatment or rehabilitation or re‐entry programs. A, B, C, D, I, J Students Yes Page 53 of the 2008‐2009 Community Rights and Responsibilities, and Message of the Day, Half sheet of paper in each new student Orientation folder Faculty and Staff Yes Page 53 of the 2008‐2009 Community Rights and A, D, I, J Responsibilities, and Message of the Day e. A clear statement of the disciplinary sanctions the institution will impose on students and employees, and a description of those sanctions A, B, C, D, I, J Students Yes Page 11 of the 2008‐2009 Community Rights and Responsibilities, and Message of the Day, Residential Living Handbook pages 24 and 25, Half sheet of paper in each new student Orientation folder Faculty and Staff No ‐ D, I, J, L 3. Are the above materials distributed to students in one of the following ways? a. Mailed to each student (separately or included in another mailing) No ‐ E – All materials would be included in the email, this is also time, money and environmentally friendly option to paper mailings. b. Through campus post office boxes No ‐ E – All materials would be included in the email, this is also time, money and environmentally friendly option to paper mailings. c. Class Schedules which are mailed to each student ‐Page 4 of 9 ‐ Question Answer Distribution Method/Location
No Schedules are not mailed out d. During freshmen orientation Yes A half‐sheet of paper is given to all students at orientation providing them where the information can be located e. During transfer student orientation Yes A half‐sheet of paper is given to all students at orientation providing them where the information can be located f.
Recommendation
B, C, E Too much information covered, will send out information using the above recommendations Too much information covered, will send out information using the above recommendations In another manner Yes Message of the Day B, C, E, J 4. Does the means of distribution provide reasonable assurance that each student receives the materials annually? Yes Every student receives Message of the Day through their E student email account 5. Does the institution’s distribution plan make provisions for providing these materials to students who enroll at some date after the initial distribution? Yes Message of the Day sent once per semester B, D 6. Are the above materials distributed to staff and faculty in one of the following ways? a. Mailed No ‐ b. Through Campus post office boxes No ‐ c. During new employee orientation Yes Distributed at an optional orientation d. In another manner Yes Message of the Day, New Faculty Orientation as an optional session 7. Does the means of distribution provide reasonable assurance that each staff and faculty member receives the materials annually Yes 8. Does the institution’s distribution plan make provisions for providing these materials to staff and faculty who are hired after the initial distribution? Yes 9. In what ways does the institution conduct biennial reviews of its drug prevention program to determine effectiveness, implement necessary changes, and ensure that disciplinary sanctions are enforced? a. Conduct student alcohol and drug use survey Yes b. Conduct opinion survey of its students, staff and faculty Students Yes Community Readiness Survey, Summer 2008 Staff and Faculty Yes Community Readiness Survey, Summer 2008 c. Evaluate comments obtained from a suggestion box Students No Staff and Faculty No d. Conduct focus groups Students No Staff and Faculty No ‐Page 5 of 9 ‐ Question Answer Distribution Method/Location
Recommendation
e. Conduct intercept interviews Students No Staff and Faculty No f. Assess effectiveness of documented mandatory drug treatment referrals for students and employees Students No Staff and Faculty No g. Assess effectiveness of documented cases of disciplinary sanctions imposed on students and employees Students Yes Rights and Responsibilities Staff and Faculty No h. Other 10. Who is responsible for conducting these biennial reviews? Typically, this report is completed by a committee convened by the Assistant Director for University Centers. This year, due to administrative moves, the report was completed by a committee from within Residential Living. 11. If requested, has the institution made available, to the Secretary and the public, a copy of each requested item in the drug prevention program and the results of the biennial review? Yes ‐Page 6 of 9 ‐ Conclusion This review provides the university with an excellent opportunity to examine its alcohol and other drug awareness programs and the procedures in which it follows. As the committee contacted other university members to seek their knowledge regarding specific questions, the responses were usually, “No, we don’t do that. We probably should though.” The committee had a similar thought throughout the process. As we concluded with the compliance checklist, we realized that the information that should be distributed to all members of UWSP is not all within one location, nor is it easily found because only a few people on campus know where each piece of information can be found and how (if) it is distributed. By no means does the committee think that the efforts of the university are lacking as is evident in the chart above with a substantial number of questions answered, “Yes.” The recommendations to each question are all very similar as the committee came up with a few, quick and easy solutions to get the information distributed. Being that the university already has a program that sends out daily messages (Message of the Day) to all students and employees, we found that this was the easiest method of distributing information. The thought being that all necessary information regarding AODA information be compiled into one document and included in the MOD once a semester. The downfall to this idea is getting the intended recipients to click on the necessary link within the MOD (there are generally several topics outlined within MOD to view) to view the AODA information. The document would also include information on where one could find assistance with AODA issues, as well as other resources regarding the topic. In addition to utilizing the MOD, a simple email sent to all students, faculty and staff members is also a feasible and easy to‐do option once all materials are collected and merged. The email could be sent at the beginning of each academic school year or even at the beginning of each semester to be sure that new students and employees have been provided with the information. Sending an email would be more reliable than utilizing MOD as it is guaranteed that all recipients will have received the information with the subject line specifically pertaining to the information within. Another means of getting information passed along to students would be to have a “pre‐registration” screen appear before students can apply for the next semester’s classes. With this idea, necessary information would pop up on a screen when students log in to register for classes. They would need to read and click “accept” before being allowed to advance to their actual registration screen. With regards to reviewing the effectiveness of programs, behaviors and thoughts, there is very little that UWSP does, according to the compliance checklist. Again, the committee felt that the questions within the checklist were not always tangible when considering the size of the university, the structure of various departments and resources immediately available to UWSP. In addition to the way that we distribute information, we also offer a variety of programs available to students and faculty and staff to aid in accomplishing the goal of providing information to students, faculty and staff. For example, the Student Health Promotion Office utilizes students majoring health and wellness courses to facilitate AODA informational programs for classes as well as in the residence halls. The Residential Living department also has expectations of the student staff members to program around similar ideas. These programs are done through active participation or passively through bulletin board postings. During the typically heavy alcohol consumption nights, the university offers alcohol free activities as promoted through Centertainment Productions on campus titled “Late Night”. The activities vary from movies, comedians, musicians and game nights. There are also programs in place for students who think that they, or someone they know, may have a problem with alcohol or drugs. The university offers a referral program in which students can be referred to the counseling center and administered an assessment for alcohol or other drugs. There is also a sanction based program, called PACE (Personal Alcohol‐Control through Exploration). Students can be assigned to attend PACE as a part of their sanction for irresponsibly consuming alcohol. PACE is an active program to make students aware of the effects of alcohol and how to be responsible, not as a tool to eliminate alcohol from students’ lives. There are more resources and programs offered across campus, these are just some of the highlights offered. On top of all of this, the university has also added an AODA counselor to its repertoire within the counseling center to work with training, counseling and screening specific to AOD. The hopes are with this review, the university community will become more aware of the importance and ease of distributing and gathering information regarding alcohol and other drug use, treatments, policies and sanctions. ‐Page 7 of 9 ‐ The following grid was added in May 2009 as an addendum to the biennial review reported above. 50 cases were chosen by the Rights and Responsibilities Office to be included in the grid. Below is a table featuring a basic analysis of the grid. Discussion follows. Spring 2006
Fall 2006
Spring 2007
Fall 2007
Number
of
50
50
50
50
cases
Type of violations
Calendar days
between violation
and judicial
meeting
1st time violations
Sanctions for 1st
time violations
All involved alcohol
or other drugs; five
included disorderly
conduct.
Ave. 13.26 days.
Shortest: 1 days
Longest: 43 days
Two cases over 30
days.
31
Warning
Probation (range
4 – 54 weeks);
16 PACE (51%)
Judicial Educator,
papers, community
service, posters;
meeting with campus
professional; access
limits
All involved alcohol;
six included
disorderly conduct.
All involved alcohol
or other drugs; six
involved marijuana.
Ave. 13.74 days
shortest: 2 day
Longest: 77 days
Five cases over 30
days.
34
Warning
Probation (range
4 – 21 weeks);
27 PACE (79%);
paper, restitution,
apology; community
service; interview;
hall program
Ave: 16.54 days
Shortest: 4
Longest: 51
Six cases over 30
days.
30
Warning
Probation (range
3 – 29 weeks);
11 PACE (36%);
Judicial Educator,
paper, bulletin board,
room decorating;
county alcohol class;
substance abuse
assessment; urine
screening; choices;
protective services
meeting; clean up
outside and/or res
hall spaces
14
Probation (range
5 – 27 weeks);
Judicial Educator,
papers; hall program;
bulletin board; hall
decorating; attend
events; interviews;
counseling; county
alcohol class;
consumption
evaluation.
5 (1-4th violation)
Probation (range
4 - 27wks);
alcohol screening,
Judicial Educator,
Protective Services
interview; paper; hall
move; alcohol
screening; substance
abuse assessment;
community service;
2nd time violations
Sanctions for 2nd
violations
12
Probation (range
5 – 39 weeks);
PACE ; reprimands,
papers, community
service, Judicial
Educator; meeting
with campus
professional; access
limits
12
Probation range:
7– 22 weeks
Judicial Educator,
community service,
warning, paper;
program; community
alcohol class; alcohol
screening; hall move;
garbage collection
3rd time violations
Sanctions for 3rd
violations
6 (1-4th violation)
Probation (range
5 – 34 weeks);
registration blocked,
alcohol screening,
paper; restitution;
community service
3 (1-4th violation)
Probation (range
10 – 15 weeks);
program, posters;
PACE; consumption
evaluation; career
and student org
interest; Judicial
Educator
‐Page 8 of 9 ‐ All involved alcohol
and/or other drugs;
three involved
marijuana.
Ave: 17.50 days
Shortest: 3 days
Longest: 122 days
Two cases over 30
days.
37
Warning, reprimand
Probation (range
4– 22 weeks);
6 PACE (16%);
papers, Judicial
Educator, restitution,
floor activity;
choices; follow-up
meeting; assessment
and treatment; cost
analysis; meeting
with campus
professional;
12
Warning
Probation range:
2 - 18 weeks
PACE, paper, alcohol
screening, restitution,
Judicial Educator;
1-4th violation
Probation:
18 weeks
Judicial Educator;
warning on hall move
The Student Rights and Responsibilities Office does not use a database or other computerized method
for tracking violations. As such, the process of identifying cases for the review was cumbersome, requiring a
file-by-file review. Also, the table previously presented was data-mined by hand.
Most cases were adjudicated relatively quickly. However, due to the length of some cases, the average
days appear to be longer. There is concern about the cases that took more than 30 days to adjudicate; however,
there were few cases long than 30 days. Longer processes may have had other parties involved (Protective
Services, St. Pt. Police). Such processes should be streamlined to assist students in resolving their case
expeditiously.
There appear to be no standards in sanctioning. Moreover, select sanctions appear to be ubiquitous—
Judicial Educator as a sanction is employed in first, second and third offenses. There are no apparent guidelines
(no minimums) for sanctions. The campus alcohol education (PACE) class is encouraged for first time
violations, yet, at best, during one semester only 79% of 1st time violators were sanctioned to attend. Further, a
3rd time violator was sanctioned to attend. While there is room for improvement in referrals to PACE, it is
unlikely that 100% of first-time violators should be referred. A warning or caution system would be beneficial
for first-time violators who are found not responsible for an AOD violation.
Probation periods appear to be highly subjective with the greatest disparity among the second and third
violations. There appears to be no elevation of severity when a second violation or a third violation is achieved.
In this sample, several case files with a 4th violation was drawn for review and the sanction appeared to be less
significant than first violations.
There appear to be few firm protocols established for the institution as a whole. Minimum standards are
not in existence and this includes conduct sanctioning. Ideally, as the institution adopts minimums and sets
standards, this will enhance the quality of sanctions for students thereby helping students control their behavior
more effectively.
‐Page 9 of 9 ‐