With the approach of Mardi Gras weekend, students across campus are looking forward to a few days of fun. If the fun includes alcohol, however, the weekend has the potential to be harmful without the proper education. Saint Louis University provides a variety of programs and procedures to ensure students are being smart about the choices they are making.

According to Dean of Students Scott Smith, alcohol education happens a lot of different ways on campus. Student Development works through programs like the First Year Experience, residence hall programs, U101, residence advisor programming, speakers, student groups and Student Health and Counseling.

“Our policies are also intended to be educational,” Smith said. “We try to educate on community living and standard.”

Other programs include an Alcoholics Anonymous, which started a year ago, and a less formal alcohol and drug support group, which according to Meredith Osborn, a staff counselor in Student Health and Counseling, quite a few students attend.

“I think students like it because it’s not like a 12-step program, [but] more like, ‘Hey, we’re in college; it’s a social setting. How do we find a happy medium,’” Osborn said.

The program promotes moderation and assists Student Health and Counseling with students who might acknowledge they have a problem or have been referred by friends.

One of the main programs at SLU that promote alcohol awareness is the Saint Louis University Harm and Alcohol Reduction Program. SHARP is a group run through Student Health and Counseling in an attempt to help students make informed decisions regarding drugs and alcohol through a peer education model. SHARP works closely with student conduct, providing an alcohol awareness course to students who have a first-time alcohol violation.

“SHARP provides a preventative approach,” Osborn said. “After the first offense, SHARP hopes to prevent other violations.”

The SHARP program is only part of the standard first-time offense procedure through Student Conduct. Within 24 hours of the violation, students are required to have an assessment with counseling. Recommendations are made based on the results of the assessment. From there, the case goes to Student Conduct.

“As Student Conduct, we get the report from DPSSS. We send them an email stating that they are in violation of alcohol policy, for underage drinking or other,” Katherine Weathers, director in the Office of Student Conduct, said.

“We tell them you are going to go through an alcohol awareness course through SHARP, which has a $50 fee, there’s parental notification, community service and a warning. That’s standard first time offense procedure.”

Additional violations require further assessment. If a counselor decides that the student needs individual counseling, they notify Student Conduct of the case. Second violations usually have a $150 fine attached, further parental notification and possible probation. While probation is likely, it is not applied to all cases.

“Probation does not occur automatically, but probation means that you are no longer in good standing with the University. You cannot be a leader of a Chartered Student Organization or participate in things like Student Government,” Weathers said.

Probation can either be total probation or only apply to specific activities, like study abroad or intramural sports. With every alcohol violation, however, sanctions increase.

To gauge how SLU is doing in terms of student awareness and education, the University conducts several assessments itself. According to Osborn, Student Health and Counseling annually conducts the Social Norms Marketing Campaign.

“Social Norms gives information about the percentages of drug and alcohol use on campus and the perception of it at SLU,” said Osborn.

The statistics gathered are put on posters and posted around campus.

Another survey, the Missouri College Health and Behavior Survey, also takes statistics on SLU students and assesses programming on campus.

“We do an annual report. The Federal government requires a 2-year assessment on alcohol education. We do it annually, so we’re over prepared. We look at data, surveys and do a review of programming,” Smith said.

According to the assessments, SLU’s stats are about 2-4 percent below the national average, but Smith believes there is still work to do.

“Whenever we have one student go to the hospital for alcohol poisoning, that’s a problem.”

Beyond education and awareness about alcohol, there are efforts to provide alcohol-free activities on campus. The group Billikens After Dark is at the forefront of this.

“BAD provides alternatives for students who don’t want to drink, but still want to have fun,” Janelle Densberger, program coordinator for the Student Involvement Center, said.

BAD was created two and a half years ago to provide late night activities during the times when drinking is most likely to occur, like during the first weekend of the school year and on holidays.

One of their main events is OkSober Fest, a program run during the month of October to educate students about drinking, while providing a change of pace from the usual Oktoberfest activities.

For the upcoming Mardi Gras weekend, BAD is hosting a Harry Potter movie marathon on Friday and Saturday, March 4 and 5. On Mardi Gras itself, the group is sponsoring a paint-your-own-pottery event.

“We try to do events that are unique, things that are creative and fun,” Densberger said. “We try to think outside the box for high-risk weekends.”

Densberger believes that the student group is successful, not because it decreases student drinking, but because the attendance at events is usually very strong and feedback is overwhelmingly positive.

“The programs are successful for those who come,” Smith said. “We get good feedback for BAD, but the challenge is getting more folks to participate and get involved.”