December 12, 2007

A new $700,000 California State University alcohol and traffic grant by the California Office of Traffic Safety will help eight campuses reduce alcohol abuse, alcohol-related vehicle accidents and alcohol-related misconduct among college students.

The eight CSU campuses include Channel Islands, Fresno, Humboldt, Los Angeles, Maritime Academy, Northridge, San Jose, and San Francisco.

California State University Fresno’s University Health and Psychological Services will serve as headquarters for the CSU grant program and for training, announced Dr. Paul Oliaro, vice president for student affairs at Fresno State.

“Through a series of mini-grants, the new CSU alcohol and traffic safety funds will promote initiatives to reduce DUIs and other alcohol related-problems on these eight campuses,” Oliaro said.

This is the third CSU/OTS partnership grant in the past five years, making more than $2 million available to all 23 campuses as part of the CSU Board of Trustees’ Alcohol Policies and Prevention Programs, adopted in 2001. Fresno State has received and managed all three grants.

Fresno State President John D. Welty chairs the trustees’ Alcohol Policies and Prevention Programs Committee, which reported in July 2007 a documented trend toward less alcohol use among students, fewer alcohol-related incidents and increased education programs.

"The CSU's alcohol policy is visionary and ambitious, and it has been called one of the most comprehensive in the country," said CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed when the report was released. "For it to continue being a success, collaboration and cooperation among staff at the campus level, our public agency partners and CSU students must continue and grow."
Roxene Lee, named project director of the CSU Alcohol and Traffic Safety grant at Fresno State in November, said the new funding will help achieve two key goals: reducing the incidence of driving after consuming alcohol among 18- to 25-year-old CSU students and reducing alcohol-related misconduct by CSU students.

”We are aiming to cut incident rates by 5 percent by Sept. 30, 2009,” Lee said. The new grant’s objectives in that period are to:

• Develop partnerships with law enforcement and conduct at least two DUI checkpoints each fiscal year to enforce campus policy, and to continue to foster those partnerships throughout the grant period.

• Assist campuses in developing or improving online personal drinking assessment programs similar to eCHUG (CheckUp to Go), My StudentBody.com, Alcohol.edu, etc.\

• Implement minigrants in eight CSU campuses to identify strategies to reduce availability and accessibility of alcohol, particularly to minors.

• Provide support to campus peer educators (Health Centers, Bacchus & Gamma clubs, SADD, etc.) through training and information dissemination efforts.

• To sponsor at least two on-campus alcohol-free events each semester allowing students opportunities to exhibit responsible choices.

For more information about the program, contact Lee at 559.278.6757.