Rensselaer Awarded State Funding for Alcohol/Substance Abuse Education

Rensselaer has received $10,000 from the New York State Department of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) toward the university’s continuing efforts to prevent alcohol abuse on campus and in the surrounding community. The OASAS award is part of the state’s Healthy Campus Community Demonstration Project. Funds are provided through the Federal “Enforcing the Underage Drinking Laws” block grant.

“This award will enhance the neighborly cooperation we already have in Troy,” says Theresa Kersch, certified health education specialist at Rensselaer’s Gallagher Student Health Center. “We will use it to continue to target two different audiences with the same powerful message: Too much drinking hurts us all.”

Rensselaer’s active campus/community coalition addresses alcohol abuse in a number of ways. For example, as part of the First-Year Experience (FYE) orientation program, freshmen get involved in a frank discussion about the dangers of underage and high-risk drinking. Ongoing campus efforts include alcohol awareness training for Resident Assistants, and on-demand educational programs, which are popular with fraternities and sororities.

Area high school students get the message through billboards and flyers distributed during prom and commencement season. Local tavern owners can take part in free TIPS (Training for Intervention Procedures) sessions, which will help them reduce underage and high-risk drinking. In addition, Rensselaer has provided many area bartenders with free license verifiers, handheld devices that can detect ID forgery.