Hoya Staff Writer Friday, September 15, 2006

In an effort to raise awareness about the risks of alcohol consumption, the Office of Student Affairs is now requiring all first-year students to complete an online alcohol education seminar that was previously used only as a punitive measure. The course, AlcoholEdu for College, is a different version of the program the Office of Residence Life uses for disciplinary sanctions against students who violate the university’s alcohol policy. “The reason we implemented this program is it really just encourages students to spend time thinking about their alcohol use and the impact it can have,” Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson said. Students are asked at the beginning of the program whether they drink alcohol, and the rest of the program is tailored specifically to their response. Olson said that university officials will not see students’ responses. “The results that we hear described from other campuses [are] that it encourages conversation between students,” Olson said. He said that many other universities have recently implemented the program. Village C West Hall Director Cory Peterson said that students who commit infractions can still expect to be assigned the disciplinary seminar, known as AlcoholEdu for Sanctions. Both online programs are products of https://www.outsidetheclassroom.com, a public health company. Failure to complete the required seminar will be taken into consideration when adjudicating alcohol offenses, Director of Student Conduct Judy Johnson said. Instances of noncompliance “would be considered an aggravating factor should [the student] be found . responsible for an alcohol-related violation” in the future, Johnson said. By yesterday afternoon, 91 percent of first-year students had begun the first of the program’s two parts, and 71 percent had completed it, according to James Welsh, assistant vice president for student health. The first part must be done by today, and the second by Oct. 28. Welsh said that he was encouraged with the number of students that had completed the survey. “Many of our students did it within the first week of school,” he said. -Hoya Staff Writer Max Sarinsky contributed to this report.