Drug-Free Schools and Campus Regulations
Biennial Review, 2020-2021
Introduction
Southern Utah University’s Health and Wellness Center is responsible for the drug, alcohol, and substance abuse prevention efforts on campus and does so through strategic programming and collaborative partnerships with campus departments to create a healthy, safe and resilient campus community. The efforts of the Health and Wellness Center actively focus on protective factors and reducing risk factors for DAAPP use.
The SUU Health & Wellness Program strives to promote holistic health and well-being of students through comprehensive programming, preventative education, peer education, the sharing of up-to-date accurate health information and resources, and providing support regarding their own or someone else’s health and well-being. The Center seeks to engage students by informing and connecting them to resources available on campus and in their community. Through prevention efforts that inform, increase awareness, and educate the student body, the Health & Wellness Center seeks to positively impact the university environment through evidence-based social norm approaches and environmental strategies.
The University's efforts are carried out by a Health and Wellness Coordinator, Graduate Assistant with a related degree, and interested student volunteers. The Center is supported by the Director of Recreation and Wellness, The Office of the President, Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students, Director of Housing, Director of the Center for Diversity and Inclusion (CDI), Director of Human Resources, Chief of SUU Police, Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), Student Health Educators, and Athletics. We share a common goal of student success, overall well-being and work to ensure compliance of DAAPP campus-wide.
The 2021-22 Biennial Review was carried out by the following:
- Report Coordinator:
- Jessie Mineer, Coordinator of Health and Wellness
- DAAPP Committee
- Brian Fullerton, Director of Recreation and Wellness
- Heather Ogden, Dean of Students
- Chris Ralphs, Director of Housing
- David McGuire, Director of Human Resources
- Donnielle Savoy, Director of Diversity and Inclusion
- Curt Hill, Director of Counseling and Psychological Services
- Rick Brown, Chief of Police
The Health and Wellness Center prevention and programmatic efforts include:
- Engaging with students (one on one) to explore harm reduction strategies, communication skills and/or intervention skills
- Providing wellness education training for campus partners, student groups, student leaders, and University classes on harm-reduction, low-risk drinking or substance use behaviors, recognizing and responding to alcohol poisoning, intervening in problematic situations, demonstrating healthy behaviors and more
- Supporting and collaborating with campus partners to unify messaging and increase outreach regarding tobacco-free policies, dry campus regulations, and DAAPP resources
- Supporting and implementing prevention and intervention programs that increase protective factors and reduces risk factors for substance misuse
University policy prohibits possession, consumption or distribution of hallucinatory narcotics or other illegal drugs & possession, consumption or distribution of alcoholic beverages on campus, including athletic events. Off-campus University functions are subject to state and local laws, and any student convicted of a crime committed on or off campus is in violation and may be subject to campus discipline. It is the duty of staff and students to report violations of campus regulations. Violations of the alcohol, tobacco & other drug policy will be coordinated through the Office of Vice President or Student Affairs. The sanctions taken may include but are not limited to: Referral for assessment to the Substance Misuse Program Administer, appearance before a University Student Conduct Office, probation, suspension, or expulsion. The purposes for disciplinary action are to educate students and inform students of the risks they are taking, maintaining the University’s integrity, protect the rights of individuals, and to ensure compliance with the law. The policy, along with other information concerning alcohol and other drugs can be found on the Health and Wellness website.
Distribution Plan
Student Distribution Plan
The Health and Wellness Center is responsible to send a campus-wide automated notification email sent through the university's secure IT department to all students to inform them about our University DAAPP program and policies. This email is distributed at the end of the 3rd week into the semester to ensure all students enrolled in classes at SUU will receive this important notification. Sending this notification out on the 3rd week of each semester will ensure that this information is received by all students, including those who have enrolled after the initial semester start date. University Policy and Biennial Review are also posted to the Health and Wellness website for anyone to access and review. To access full DAAPP report and Biennial Review please visit health/DAAPP/alcohol-tobacco-drugs-policy
Employee Distribution Plan
Southern Utah University's Human Resource office will be the campus entity to distribute University DAAPP policy and discipline to all Faculty and Staff upon hiring. An additional distribution of all provided DAAPP materials will go out as an important notification, once a year via email to ensure all employees receive accurate and updated disclosures.
Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention Program Elements
Southern Utah University is committed to providing a safe and caring campus community where students come to explore their interests and prepare for meaningful careers and life experiences. The DAAPP is a way for campus departments and partnerships on and off campus to work together to ensure safety for all students, faculty, and staff. The University recognizes that the most effective health promotion and prevention programs actively focus on the individuals and provide interpersonal, community, and social support to impact them in a healthy way. Many campus entities have observed limitations and areas of improvement with the current DAAPP plan and are making an active effort in those areas to continue building a robust program throughout our campus community.
The Drug Free Schools and Communities Act requires that an institution of higher education certify it has adopted and implemented a program to prevent the unlawful possession, use, or distribution of illicit drugs and alcohol for students and employees on school premises and as a part of its activities. Southern Utah University strives to provide a safe and healthy environment for students, faculty and staff and is a drug and alcohol-free workplace and campus. Alcohol, tobacco, and other drug prevention programs are set in place and are an effective way to ensure compliance with the federal Drug Free Schools, Community, and Workplace Acts. This biennial review is to show improvements and results of DAAPP programs and initiatives.
The Universities approach to DAAPP prevention programs include outreach to diverse and marginalized populations, building strategic partnerships on campus and in the community, and intentional programming that addresses the risk of alcohol and substance abuse. All programs and events are related and can lower the risk.
Campus Outreach
Southern Utah University’s main goal is to build awareness of the numerous resources available to students, faculty, and staff through strategic outreach and communication, helping individuals recognize inherent risks and providing preventative practices. This is achieved two ways: Faculty/Staff and Student trainings and programming.
While not every opportunity to share information was specifically focused on DAAPP concerns, these platforms allowed The Health and Wellness Center to network with other campus departments, create awareness in the campus community, distribute educational information and engage with students about these topics and trends. The Health and Wellness Center has developed or participated in the following trainings and events:
- Safe Spring Break
- Meditate before you medicate
- Substance Seminar
- Clearing the Vapor
- Outline
- Drug Take back Day
- Disabilities Week
- Offered Training to Greek Organizations
- Great American Smokeout
- Offered trainings to Greek Organizations
- One on one cessation support
- Sexual Health Campaign
- Physical Health Campaign
- Make it your 30
- Let’s Talk Counseling Mini Sessions
- E-Chug
- Mindful Mondays
- Intimate Partner & Dating Violence Prevention & Awareness Week
- Food & Faith
- Resource Scavenger Hunt offered through University 1010 Course
- Combat the Winter Blues
- Beat the Test Stress Week
- Take an L: Normalizing Failure & Imperfections
- Flu Shootout
- E-Toke
- QPR Suicide Prevention Trainings
- University Housing Presentations
- Don’t Cancel that Class
- Paint the Town Red
- Club Fairs
- Safety Fair
- Welcome Week
- Student Orientation
- Resource Scavenger Hunt offered through University 1010 Course
- Vaccination Clinics
- Suicide Prevention Week
- Why to quit
- 25 Feet Campaign
- Biofeedback
Education and Intervention
The Health and Wellness Center is an open resource to the campus population that partners and supports the community. The Center’s goal aligns with the core theme of the university which is to engage students in proactive learning that will transform their mentality and choices in a lifelong pursuit of a holistic view of health and well-being. One of the main priorities of the Center is to educate and provide support for diverse populations through strategic programming, and offering trainings to faculty/staff as well as personalized one on one student support. Topics include understanding the risk of DAAPP abuse, cultivating healthy mental/physical habits and behaviors, navigating Title IX, and supporting victims of sexual violence.
Presentation and Workshops
The Health and Wellness Center has partnered with the Care and Support Team (CAST) to offer a wide variety of educational trainings and discussions, each is customized to the needs of the request.
Weekly Health and Wellness Meetings
The Health and Wellness Center offers a weekly educational meeting for all the centers Lead Peer Educators/Mentors. The weekly meetings provide a safe place on campus for open discussion and is open to any individual that is seeking more knowledge and education in specific weekly topics.
University Housing
Each year, University Housing holds its annual Safety program. In the 2018-2019 academic year, over 132 students participated in this event. University Housing provided a climbing wall, DJ, invited the Cedar City Fire Department to provide a fire extinguisher demonstration and discuss fire safety, and had SUU Campus police set up a driving obstacle course with "beer goggles" to simulate driving under impairment while providing safety tips and BAC level information. University Housing served mocktails during the event.
The Dean of Students Office
The Dean of Students Office (DOS) works with various campus entities and organizations to provide an array of educational topics for student, staff, and faculty development. The office in the past two years, has provided the following programs that included some element of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse (or closely related topic) training and education.
- New Student and Transfer Student Orientation on Student Code of Conduct
- International Student Orientation on Student Code of Conduct
- Greek Life Presentations on Title IX, Student Code of Conduct, and Bystander Intervention
- Athlete Orientation on Student Code of Conduct and Title IX (all sports)
- Clubs and Organization President's Training
- Southern Utah University Student Association Training
- Assistant Coaches for Excellence student leader Training
- Center for Diversity and Inclusion Student Leader Training
- Bias and Intervention Response Training for University Colleges and Academic Departments
Human Resources
The Human Resource office provides all full time, benefited employees with a medical insurance plan that offers coverage that provides counseling benefits for individuals struggling with alcohol or drug abuse.
The Human Resource office continuing forward will be the campus entity to distribute University DAAPP policy and discipline to all Faculty and Staff upon hiring in the onboarding process and also distribute an important notification once a year via email to ensure all employees receive accurate disclosures.
Student Engagement
Southern Utah University recognizes that student engagement and involvement is critical to providing a successful DAAPP prevention program. Students engaged in positive and healthy extracurricular activities have a lower risk of DAAPP behaviors. The University continues to improve their DAAPP prevention programming to target certain DAAPP trends that are relevant to the campus environment and culture, and provide students with support and engagement opportunities.
Health and Wellness Center
The University’s Health and Wellness Centers main responsibility assisting in all student Wellness needs. The Center provides opportunities for students to become involved in wellness-related programming through volunteering, and peer education programs. The Health and Wellness Center promotes health awareness through one on one mentoring, and intentional programming. In the last 2 years, the Health and Wellness Center has conducted over 27 programs, 12 related directly to DAAPP prevention, and involved over 695 students in DAAPP programming. For future data collection, the Center will begin to collect all interactions with students and track DAAPP efforts both in programming and in one on one conversations and mentoring sessions. The Health and Wellness Center also offers a free Student Help Station where all students can stop and pick up supplies or items that they are in need of while they are on campus. The Student Help Station provides DAAPP educational pamphlets, cessation “Quit Kits” and support for students in recovery.
The Health and Wellness Center is responsible to send a campus-wide notification email to all students to inform them about our University DAAPP program and policies. This email is distributed at the end of the 3rd week into the semester to ensure all students enrolled in classes will receive this important notification. University Policy and Biennial Review are also posted to the Health and Wellness website for anyone to access and review. To access full DAAPP report and Biennial Review please visit health/DAAPP/alcohol-tobacco-drugs-policy
Peer Educators
The Health and Wellness Center provides certified Peer Health Educators to support, listen and refer students to professional help when needed. 6 Lead Peers receive extensive training before each fall semester and are contracted with the Health and Wellness Center for 8 months (Fall and Spring semesters) and are referral agents for CAPS and other resources on and off campus. While 6 volunteer peers offer their time and unique skills to also help students. These 6 volunteer peers benefit from training and increasing their knowledge of the Center and grow the awareness of specific topics. These Peers conduct presentations to disseminate health and wellness information to the student population and connect with them, thus building an environment of support and trust. Direct peer to peer conversations are being had about relationships, roommate issues, homesickness, academic and financial concerns, to provide healthy tips for combating unique struggles that a college population tend to face, and connect them to useful campus resources.
Recreation and Wellness
The Recreation and Wellness Department, where the Health and Wellness Center is housed, provides opportunities for students to get involved with wellness-related programs and engage in extracurricular activities as a healthy alternative to DAAPP use. Services available include; rock climbing, running track, swimming pool, racquetball, basketball, volleyball, walley ball, and pickleball. For additional fees, students also have access to activities such as intramural sports, fitness classes, and weight equipment. These activities create positive social relationships and wholesome environments and lower the risk for DAAPP use. Our SUU Outdoors program provides a range of adventures for current students throughout the school year to ignite a passion in the outdoors. They host 50 free local trips in the school year for students to go hiking, mountain biking, canyoneering, climbing, rafting, paddleboarding, xc skiing, and snowshoeing throughout the Southern Utah region. All trips offered through SUU Outdoors prohibit the use of drugs and alcohol, and focus on positive leadership and skill-building.
Strategic Partnerships
Partnerships are critical in building a cohesive DAAPP prevention program across campus. Intentional collaboration with other campus and community partners increase funding opportunities and are a useful way to share resources. Campus departments continue to actively seek out new opportunities to network in knowing that it will strengthen our outreach, programming, and campus-wide communication.
Campus Partnerships
Prevention programming is a campus-wide goal and we realize that one office alone cannot address all DAAPP related concerns. The Health and Wellness Center has coordinated with numerous campus departments and resources, and will continue to increase partnerships and programming to address DAAPP related concerns with the following campus entities: SUU Counseling and Psychological Service, Student Involvement and Leadership, Care and Support Team (CAST), SUU Police, Greek Organizations, Recreation and Wellness, University Housing, Athletics, Disability Services, Human Resources, Student Affairs Office, Allies on Campus, International Affairs, New Student and Transfer Student Orientation, First-Year Experience Office, ACES Peer Mentor Program, and the Center for Diversity and Inclusion. These partnerships have increased awareness, expanded our audience, addressed trends specific to SUU’s cultural environment, and reduced overscheduling of programming.
Community Partnerships
Southern Utah University works diligently to develop and maintain relationships with the community in their efforts for drug and alcohol prevention and protection. These partnerships include Canyon Creek Services, Intermountain Healthcare, Southwest Behavioral Health Center in conjunction with the Horizon House, and Four Points Community Health Center. (Their services are described below). Each of these resources are distributed to students and employees through our University policy notification.
Assessments/Evaluations
Southern Utah University utilizes data collection methods to assess the needs of our student population, establish priorities, and develop intentional programming. Through our data collection, we determine the effectiveness of our DAAPP efforts and reassess for the upcoming year, targeting trend we see in our data. The following assessment and evaluation sources used:
- Peer Educators- We utilize the Health and Wellness Centers peer educators to collect data on the needs of the students that come into the Health and Wellness Center.
- The National College Health Assessment (2021)- A self-evaluation web survey that is distributed to students to help the University target trends and vulnerable areas.
- Healthy Mind Study- An evaluation of students' holistic health that provided detailed data to aid in programming efforts.
- CAPS- Counsels with students and offers therapeutic support for those seeking help.
- Conduct Office- Aid in referring students to alcohol assessment and evaluation through online substance use/misuse programs.
- National Conferences- Attend national conferences to stay current with best practices and further the knowledge of correct and useful data collection.
Annual Security & Fire Safety Report
In compliance with the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Safety Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, SUU publishes this report annually and distributes it to current/potential students and employees of the university.
Evaluation of Drug and Alcohol Prevention Program
Program Strengths
- Use of ACHA-NCHA results to inform programming needs and track trends.
- Multiple partnerships across campus working on the same goal.
- Several programs and events focusing on or including drug and alcohol prevention initiatives.
- Group of dedicated students serving as mentors and educators in the Health and Wellness Center throughout the entire academic school year.
- Strong partnership with Counseling and Psychological Services.
- United efforts with The Healthy T-Birds Coalition.
- Easily accessible and available for all students.
- Work closely with community Addicts to Athletes program to give students options off campus to find support.
- Clear and consistent policies and regulations that deter alcohol and drug use/abuse (e.g., prohibiting alcohol use and sales on campus, standardized conduct matrix).
- Increased collaboration amongst the task force and other offices in regard to programming and policy review.
- Compliance with the annual distribution od DAAPP to all students, faculty, and staff.
- SUU’s conduct model focuses on educational sanctioning rather than punitive. This has been effective in decreasing the rate of repeat offenses by individuals.
Areas of Improvement
- Increase funding gin Health & Wellness Center to increase quality and quantity of programming offered.
- The task force needs to meet more regularly to review policy and programming and better coordinate DAAPP programming efforts.
- Training for the new Health & wellness Coordinator on best practiced in DAAPP programming and further involvement with national trends in DAAPP issues.
- Increase marketing and attendance at DAAPP events to increase awareness by increasing the audience.
- Increase community based partnerships for DAAPP treatment and awareness.
- Assure that the polices and programs that are implemented are evidence based.
- Continue revamp SUU Health & wellness website to ensure resourced and programs are easily accessible.
- We have identified several weaknesses through JED Campus. A plan is being further developed to address the needs of high-risk groups on campus.