The President's Task Force on Alcohol Abuse Prevention (TFAAP) made 41 campuswide recommendations to Miami's university senate Monday night, adhering to former President James Garland's expectation to be bold, forceful and imaginative in dealing with alcohol abuse on Miami's campus.
These recommendations were initially made to President Garland in March of last semester and implementation was then directed to Richard Nault, vice president for student affairs. The recommendations presented to university senate outlined the current implementation of this task force - where actions to curtail alcohol abuse are now and what's on the horizon.
"(TFFAP) felt like the recommendations ... need to be taken completely and we need to do our best to try to implement them," said Jeff Potteiger, who chaired the task force and also serves as the interim dean of the graduate school and associate provost.
The recommendations, made according to a three-pronged approach, target education, sanctions and environmental changes at Miami.
Last year, Miami had 1,008 alcohol violations - suspending 16 students.
Of 567 students polled in a student health survey conducted at Miami in 2003, 46 percent said they'd had a hangover, 24 percent said they'd attended class with a hangover and 5 percent said they'd attended class drunk within the past 30 days.
"We're concerned about the consequences for the community; we're concerned about the individual students, but also how (alcohol) affects the student body as a whole," Potteiger said. "If you look at issues such as assault and student deaths, in a large number of situations, alcohol was a contributing factor."
The recommendations are progressing at different rates - while some have already been implemented, others are in the works, pending or being studied further.
University senate members expressed concern over the recommendation that would increase the percentage of undergraduate classes scheduled for early mornings and Fridays to at least 30 percent by fall 2008 for each academic division.
This recommendation's implementation is in progress, but according to Provost Jeffrey Herbst, a critical obstacle to having more classes on Friday is the course-scheduling matrix.
Concern over the recommendation for the construction of a new student union was also raised.
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"I'd like to encourage a recommendation for keeping the (RSC) open later and utilizing the new Goggin better, because students could still stay out late on weeknights, but it would be a safe and fun environment," said sophomore Anne Towne, a student senate member.
Other various recommendations on the horizon included possibly requiring all first and second year main campus undergraduates to live in on-campus housing by fall 2007, requiring a one-credit hour personal health course for all second year students by fall 2008, encouraging the formation of an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) chapter on campus, increasing the fees for violation of the Student Code of Conduct alcohol policy, and consulting and assisting student organizations with development of plans for approving or "certifying" local bar and club owners for hosting organizational events.
"There was not one recommendation that (TFAAP) felt would have an overwhelming significant impact, but what we definitely believed as a group was that we were going to pick up students here and there with each of these recommendations, so that all of a sudden you have a significant impact," Potteiger said.
According to Richard Nault, some of the next steps of interventions will include creating a holding facility for students who are dangerously intoxicated and providing advisers for student organizations.
TFAAP also plans to work with the Parents Council to develop special 21st birthday cards, to educate parents about high-risk consumption.
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