Students are retaining beneficial knowledge about alcohol safety and sexual assault from AlcoholEdu and Haven, according to Lake Forest’s 2015-16 Impact Report from EverFi.
EverFi’s AlcoholEdu and Haven programs aim to educate students on alcohol, sexual assault, healthy relationships and stalking, among other subjects. Several of the surveys students are required to take before and after these programs showcase an increase in general knowledge about these topics.
Although all first-year and transfer students must take the first part of the course before they begin classes, the rest of the students will be asked to complete it in January.
Before completing the AlcoholEdu program, the Impact Report stated 48 percent of students said they had knowledge of alcohol, including an understanding of its effects. After completing the program, that figure jumped to 81 percent, Additionally, students’ understanding of the physiological effects increased from 66 percent to 80 percent, the report said. These are only some of the changes in knowledge students have experienced before and after completing AlcoholEdu.
By learning about sexual assault through EverFi’s Haven program, the report noted 79 percent of students reported “a good understanding of the definitions of sexual assault” before, which increased by 7 percent after the fact.
Comparing the surveys taken before and after students entered college gives Lake Forest College an idea of whether or not students’ drinking habits have changed or if they have experienced stalking or sexual assault, among other experiences.
Some trends, despite the education given by the College, have remained the same over the years.
“One trend remaining constant is binge drinking,” Assistant Dean of Students & Director of Health and Wellness Jennifer Fast said. “College students are more likely to binge drink.”
Binge drinking is classified for women as three or more drinks within a short amount of time. For men, it constitutes four or five drinks. Fast said that the first six weeks is the usual time for new students to report binge drinking.
“We see with first-year students who did not drink prior to coming to college, or only had a few drinks, that [once]they come to college, they’re more likely to report they were binge drinking within those first six weeks,” Fast said.
“Six weeks is that critical period for first-year students,” Fast said. “They’re adjusting to living in a new environment, they’re making new friends, they’re trying to understand this new culture that they’re in.”
In addition to collecting information about students’ habits with alcohol, AlcoholEdu included a sexual assault portion. However, Haven was then created to focus on sexual assault, healthy relationships, consent and bystander intervention in response to government laws and focus on the topic.
Haven has shown to increase Lake Forest students’ knowledge about the connection between alcohol and sexual assault. While the report stated 87 percent of Lake Forest students reported understanding “alcohol as most common rape drug” after the module, as opposed to the 65 percent before, there are still issues concerning the use of alcohol and sexual assault on college campuses.
“We’ve always seen the trend that once they came to college, there was an increase in sexual assault within that first six weeks,” Fast said. “When you think about the drinking culture and the risk factors that go with that, you’re going to see an increase in unwanted sexual contact.”
Additionally, Fast said more students entering college for the first time have already experienced stalking, dating violence, rape, sexual abuse or emotional abuse. Technology, she said, enables these actions to become easier.
“It makes it much more easy for students to be harassed via social media, via text message,” Fast said.
However, Fast said she hopes that students’ attitudes about reporting harassment or unwanted sexual contact are shifting because of education, media attention and students’ willingness to acknowledge issues are occurring.
“I’d like to think students are becoming more willing to report these things are happening to them,” Fast said.
The Health and Wellness Center provides information about counseling services, healthy relationships and other related topics on their website.
