College fights alcohol abuse

Students in the College of Communications are getting a chance to put their education to practical use this semester.

A collaboration between the college and the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) has students creating advertising and public relations campaigns to help combat alcohol abuse. The campaigns will focus on underage drinking and binge drinking at college campuses.

"We have not really focused solely on this college population before," said Steve Schmidt, director of the PLCB's bureau of alcohol education. "A lot of our research and publicity has been focused just on underage drinking, which is anyone under the age of 21."

Students and faculty involved in the project met last week in Old Main with Schmidt and Darryl Stackhouse, director of administration for the PLCB. The students had an opportunity to discuss the projects and their personal feelings on alcohol abuse.

"We were able to fill them in on our ideas of binge drinking here, and what we thought was really going on," said Deslynn Steinfelt (senior-advertising). "It reiterated what we spoke about in class, and helped us to get their impressions and feelings on the topic."

Jennifer Lange (junior-advertising public relations), a University Scholar focusing her thesis work on topics relating to alcohol abuse, is involved in research for the project.

One of the biggest problems with trying to combat binge drinking, she said, is that there is no clear definition of the term.

"We have to have awareness and education of alcohol abuse. But, it's hard to find concrete ways to offer solutions when people have different definitions of what binge drinking is" she explained. "That is what we were discussing at the meeting."

The unique collaboration was arranged by the college's associate dean of undergraduate education, Jeremy Cohen. Stackhouse approached Cohen last summer after hearing Cohen speak to prospective students about the college's SOURCE program, which encourages extension of classroom work into the community, Cohen said.

"The purpose of this is not to lecture students about alcohol, but to allow them to deal with real problems in their own community," Cohen said. "They have a chance to use their education not only as a series of skills but as a community resource."

Stackhouse sent Cohen a list of possible ideas for student projects. There are now 11 or 12 classes involved in the alcohol education project, Cohen said.

"The faculty just jumped all over it," he said. "The students have been very receptive as well."

Each area of study in the college is focusing on a different part of the project. Some classes are involved in advertising, one class is designing a PLCB web page and two film students have been filming a ride-along with local and campus police.

Advertising students in Richard Baukus' Communications 424 (Advertising Campaigns) class are in the process of a semester-long advertising campaign. They are now discussing their advertising strategies, and next week will decide on which media they will use. They are considering television and radio public service announcements or printed ads in newspapers, said Steinfelt, a student in the class.

The college has asked the PLCB for a two-year grant to help cover the costs of software and materials to get the program off the ground, Cohen said.

Cohen immediately was told the PLCB was interested in providing the grant, and he is now waiting for confirmation. In return, he is hoping the PLCB will be able to use some of the student projects in future campaigns.

"Expect to see some of these projects on TV or in the media in the future as public service campaigns or advertisements," Cohen said. "Our students are performing a good service but at the same time there is a lot of learning going on."

Many of the students are hoping this project will continue to be a positive experience, even after the semester ends.

"I'm hoping to do a lot more research on this," Lange said. "I imagine I'll be working with people like them a lot. They were very open-minded and very interested in what the students had to say."