As the new academic year is well underway for many campuses the issues and challenges of irresponsible behavior among some of our students has returned. Having served as the senior student affairs officer on a campus for nearly eleven years and worked on residential campuses for nearly thirty years, we needed all the help we could secure to assist with student alcohol and drug abuse. This past summer the U.S. Department of Education eliminated the federal funding for the Higher Education Center that has made alcohol education possible for many campuses. I share a letter that was sent to the Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan on behalf of the ACPA membership and co-authored by the Commission for Alcohol and Other Drug Issues chair Taralyn Loewenguth of Hartwick College, past chair Jessica Greher-Traue of Bentley University, and directorate member David Anderson of George Mason University. Please join us in contacting elected officials on this matter.
Greg
July 11, 2012
Mr. Arne Duncan
Secretary of Education
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20202Dear Secretary Duncan,
It is troubling to receive the news that the Higher Education Center for Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Violence Prevention has lost its funding from the Department of Education. This is a significant blow to many in the field of prevention education (student affairs and education). It is particularly devastating to those working in fields in which student health, substance abuse and violence on college campuses are an ongoing focus of our educational efforts.
The Higher Education Center has served many of ACPA member institutions in prevention education as our primary source for knowledge, research, and emerging trends related to each of these areas. Its role in offering educational support through grants for prevention initiatives and intervention trainings has been critical, as these practices have changed the field of prevention as we know it.
Without this Center and the support it offers, those institutions lacking the funding to purchase resources from for-profit companies within the marketplace will no longer have the support they need to develop a comprehensive framework for prevention on their campuses. More importantly, this could have detrimental implications for institutions of higher education striving to remain in compliance with Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act, which stipulates “as a condition of receiving funds or any other form of financial assistance under any federal program, an institution of higher education must certify that it has adopted and implemented a program to prevent the unlawful possession, use, or distribution of illicit drugs and alcohol by students and employees.” (http://www.higheredcenter.org/mandates/dfsca/)
We urge reconsideration of this action as those of us in student affairs on college/university campuses need help to continue fighting the battle against alcohol, drugs and violence in our communities. ACPA is an association of 7,000 individual members and nearly 500 institutional members with members representing approximately 1,400 different campuses, primarily in the United States of America and 21 other countries.
Respectfully submitted,
Gregory Roberts
Executive Director