Grant Will Help Colleges Combat Binge Drinking
Three Moorhead campuses are sharing a federal grant to educate students about the dangers of binge drinking.
A $160,000 U.S. Department of Education grant will expand Moorhead police patrols near the campuses, add campus alcohol counselors and increase alcohol education for students.
Moorhead police are collaborating with Minnesota State University Moorhead, Concordia College and Minnesota State Community and Technical College.
Paul Wraalstad, Concordia's director of student activities, said while the three campuses have different student populations, they all share the same problems with binge drinking."
All of the tools we'll be using have been effective and are based on prior research," he said.
The initiative will target students who surveys have shown are at higher risk for binge drinking: off-campus students and first-year students who live in the residence halls.
Many aspects of the project are modeled after strategies used by the University of Nebraska, where binge-drinking rates decreased from 62 percent to 47 percent in five years.
The grant will fund "bystander training" for student leaders so they can be ready to help their peers who are engaging in risky behavior.
It also will add a chemical health educator to Concordia and MSCTC, and provide additional counselor training at MSUM, which already has a chemical health educator.
Moorhead police, who currently patrol near MSUM on targeted weekends, will add two more officers on Thursday through Saturday nights.
For 27 weekends during the year, officers will target areas near all three campuses and neighborhoods with a high density of college students.
The campuses are eligible to receive another $160,000 next year if they can show progress.
Last year, one Moorhead college student died and several students were hospitalized as a result of binge drinking.
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Copyright © 2005 All Rights Reserved.
Concordia College, 901 8th St S, Moorhead, MN 56562; (218) 299-4000
eNews is a publication of Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota
Copyright © 2005 All Rights Reserved.
Concordia College, 901 8th St S, Moorhead, MN 56562; (218) 299-4000