College presidents should openly and publicly acknowledge that alcohol and other drug abuse problems exist and then reach out to campus, community, and state-level groups to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy for prevention. College presidents should take an active stand on alcohol and other drug issues, convey clear expectations and standards, and serve as a role model to other senior administrators, faculty and students. College presidents should make alcohol and other drug abuse prevention a priority in their strategic plan for the school. Some educators have assumed that most heavy drinkers, if left alone, will learn from their mistakes and then approach alcohol consumption with a greater sense of responsibility. This sanguine view not only overlooks the deaths and injuries that student drinkers experience each year, but also their negative impact on other students and campus life in general.
College presidents can make great strides in addressing student alcohol abuse.
The problem will never go away entirely, however, so programs and policies must be implemented and become a permanent part of the campus and university operations. The Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention formed the Presidents Leadership Group earlier this year in order to address the role that college and university presidents can and should play in addressing binge drinking on their campuses. College presidents should work to ensure that school officials routinely collect data on the extent of the alcohol and other drug problem on campus and to make this information available. College presidents should frame discussions about alcohol and other drug prevention in a context that other senior administrators, faculty, students, alumni, and trustees care about-excellence in education. College presidents should define alcohol and other drug use not as a problem of the campus alone, but of the entire community, which will require community-level action to solve.