Views From the Field

Leah Pylate, Ph.D., Assistant Professor and Certified Health Education Specialist, Mississippi State University

CAPT Jeffrey Coady, Psy.D., Acting Director of Center for Substance Abuse Prevention at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

Although hazing has existed for hundreds of years, hazing researcher Hank Nuwer documented that “There wasn't a single [hazing] death from alcohol before 1940. Now, it's one of the most major.” Since January 2000, 100 individuals have lost their lives due to hazing activities in the U.S. Of those, 59 were related to substance use, most frequently, alcohol.

This past year, we navigated unprecedented challenges. We shifted programming online. We were pushed to be more creative and flexible.

The COVID-19 pandemic is the public health crisis of this century. In a sense we are all riding the same storm, but in different boats.

Katrin Wesner-Harts, Ed.D., Interim Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs at the University of North Carolina Wilmington

One thing that remains consistent, not only in our statewide data but also in national research, is that Black students at HBCUs tend to use substances less, particularly alcohol.

I was barely old enough to order a beer when I found myself being deployed to Iraq. This was post-9/11 so to say tensions were high is an understatement at best. I was thrown right into the deep end.

As coalition leaders of Missouri Partners in Prevention, Missouri’s higher education substance misuse consortium dedicated to creating healthy and safe college campuses, we get asked a lot about what the most effective way is to create change on campus.

As a former campus police officer, I have seen firsthand how instrumental training in substance misuse and mental health is for all professionals working in postsecondary settings.