Ohio College Initiative to Reduce High Risk Drinking:

Environmental Strategies

• Environmental Strategies Intro
• Offering alcohol-free social, extracurricular, and public service options
• Creating a health-promoting normative environment
• Restricting the marketing and promotion of alcoholic beverages both on and off campus
• Limiting alcohol availability
• Increasing enforcement of laws and policies

Strategy #5 - Increasing enforcement of laws and policies

Alcohol-related laws and policies in campus communities are sometimes not sufficient to their environment. And not all laws and policies are necessarily enforced appropriately within some campus communities, whether it's a residence hall advisor who "looks the other way," a campus police officer who warns instead of ticketing for public intoxication, or a university that doesn't notify parents of their child's alcohol-related offense.

The first step in this strategy is often reviewing existing laws and policies related to alcohol to determine if they are appropriate and sufficient. From there, changing laws and policies to aid in the reduction of high risk drinking and improving enforcement among an array of entities are priorities.

Though a "get tough" approach regarding enforcement shouldn't be the only approach a campus community coalition takes to reduce high risk drinking, it is a key strategy to changing the campus community environment.

Examples of this strategy include:

Policy review:
Reviewing official campus policies about alcohol purchase, possession and consumption, from special events and alumni activities to residence and dining halls. Revising policies as appropriate to reduce high risk drinking.

Law review:
Reviewing legal statutes for the community (state, city, precinct) in which the campus is located. Lobbying legislators and/or voters to change or add laws to reduce high risk drinking.

Enforcement:
Advocating for law enforcement to enforce local laws in the campus community. Compliance checks at bars, campus parties, alcohol outlets and other venues are a common example of increased enforcement.

Parental notification:
Establishing and/or enforcing policy that includes parental notification if a student violates campus alcohol policies.

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