Student Perceptions toward Changes in a University's Alcohol and other Drugs Policy

Alcohol and drug use among college students has been shown to increase risk for poor academic performance as well as personal injury or death (Cremeens, Usdan, Talbott-Forbes, & Martin, 2013; DeJong, Towvim, & Schneider, 2007; Lenk, Erickson, Nelson, Winters, & Toomey, 2012; Saltz, Paschall, McGaffigan, & Nygaard, 2010; Scribner et al., 2009; Walter & Kowalczyk, 2012). Universities across the United States have been exploring policy change as an environmental intervention strategy to help mitigate student participation in the use of alcohol or drugs. In 2010, a moderately sized Midwestern University revised its policy regarding alcohol and drug use to include a formal off-campus adjudication clause. While the surrounding community supported this updated policy, many students were vocally opposed to the reform. This investigation sought to explore the impact of the updated policy on student attitudes and behavior related to alcohol and drug use. The authors collected data over the course of four years from students via a web-survey. 996 students completed the survey. After controlling for age, years in attendance, and on or off-campus residency, Analysis of Co-Variance (ANCOVA) revealed a significant difference in student familiarity with the policy between each year of data collection, with familiarity increasing with each subsequent year. A subsequent ANCOVA using the same control variables showcased a significant difference in the number of reported off-campus citations between students who were more familiar with the policy and students who were less familiar with the policy. The results of this investigation have implications for alcohol and drug policy on college campuses, and illustrate the importance of student education regarding policy specifics.