Our mission is to reduce negative consequences experienced due to the use and abuse of alcohol and other drugs in order to empower and retain successful, healthy, involved students.
In order for Western Carolina University to achieve its mission, the members of its community need to understand the risks and dangers associated with alcohol abuse and drug use. The alcohol and other drug education efforts at Western Carolina University are designed to benefit the entire academic community through comprehensive programming.
Programming is developed and implemented in order to proactively and reactively educate students on a population level, high-risk group level, and individual level. Resources are available to faculty and staff as well. These members of our commuity are given information and resources during their new employee orientation and supervisors are trained regarding the requirements of the University Illegal Drug policy.
Miles Komuves is the Coodinator of Alcohol and Other Drug Education. He works in the Department of Student Community Ethics and can be contacted at 828-227-2514 or mdkomuves@email.wcu.edu. Please use the program request form and help Miles facilitate educational programming for you!
On the population level, proactive education is done through an online interactive educational program called Alcohol-Wise.
Other campus wide educational efforts include:
- Campus wide advertisment and social norms marketing
- Alcohol Awareness Week Programming
- Campus Leaders Advocating Wellness (CLAW)
- Greeks Advocating the Mature Management of Alcohol (GAMMA)
- WCU Police Department
- The WCU Code of Student Conduct
- Required General Education Health Curriculum
- PartySmart.wcu.eduTargeted interventions are conducted through meetings with hearing officers in the Department of Student Community Ethics and the Department of Residetial Living. Other efforts to address high-risk groups and individuals include:
- Online educational sanctioning (Under the Influence and Marijuana 101)
- Sanctioned group based psychoeducatioanal programming (Catamounts Advocating Harm Reduction)
- Referrals to the Counseling and Psychological Services Center
- Parental notification following substance related conduct violations
These efforts are all supported by the Alcohol and Other Drug Committee - a group of staff, faculty, and students seeking ways to broaden the scope and effectiveness of alcohol and drug education on campus.
Alcohol and drug use are not a problem isolated to Western Carolina's campus; these problems effect us all and addressing them requires community collaboration. WCU staff members are engaged in the local community and cooperate with groups addressing drunk driving in Western North Carolina and supporting local initiatives related to alcohol and drug education.
For additional information related to the alcohol and other drug education efforts at WCU, please see the PDF document below. This document contains excerpts from the 2009-2010 DSCE annual report and offers further insight into the many different approaches to this topic.