Third-year Engineering student Alex Reber represented the University yesterday at a panel discussion in Richmond which discussed the impacts of drugs and alcohol on the safety of college campuses. The panel, which was hosted by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, also included five other student representatives from Radford University, Old Dominion, Virginia State, Virginia Highlands Community College and Blue Ridge Community College.
The panel was part of an annual series SCHEV has conducted for the last five years, in which student leaders discuss topics relevant to higher education. SCHEV spokesperson Kirsten Nelson said this year's decision to cover drug- and alcohol-related issues stemmed from consistent student reflections and concern about the day-to-day hazards associated with controlled substance abuse on college campuses.
Student representatives yesterday shared their perspectives on alcohol and drug use on their campuses, and how they felt substance use impacted safety at their schools.
Reber said the student representatives gather information and "pass it along to [SCHEV] to inform their policy decisions," to ensure "that [college students'] lives are made better by the policies that are implemented by these institutions."
Reber said each of the represented schools had a different drug and alcohol culture, but the representatives all agreed learning "cannot be compromised" by narcotics use.
"We emphasized that there are so many ways to view the problem from each individual school and that there isn't one solution to fit all schools," Reber said.
He said he saw the University as a leader in addressing alcohol and drug usage, particularly its implementation of school-wide surveys to acquire actual data about student substance use to help accurately evaluate the school's approach to drug policies.
-compiled by Anna Perina
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