Research and Reports

The Higher Education Center's environmental management approach is supported by the research literature and three major national reports addressing youth alcohol use:

• In 2002, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) released A Call to Action: Changing the Culture of Drinking at U.S. Colleges, revealing the extent and nature of the college student alcohol problem, reviewing the research literature, and providing guidance to college administrators on effective prevention programs and policies.
• In 2003, the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine (IOM) released Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility, outlining recommendations to address underage drinking in the U.S.
• In 2007, the U.S. Surgeon General released Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking, compelling all Americans to recognize the problem of underage drinking, and providing action steps at the community, state, and national levels to tackle the issue.

Becoming conversant with and encouraging fellow collaborators to read these reports will prove invaluable in student alcohol prevention efforts. These reports underscore the need to tackle alcohol use in a comprehensive manner using evidence-based environmental approaches to address the range of factors that promote or deter high-risk and illegal alcohol use, and using evaluation to assess program progress and achievements.

While these reports address alcohol abuse explicitly, the principles involved apply also to other areas of campus prevention work and can be adapted to support related other drug abuse and violence prevention efforts.