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Carleton has been chosen to receive a grant from the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) to cut underage drinking and drug use on campus.
The five-year grant, called the Strategic Prevention Framework Partnerships for Success, will be used to collect data on student substance abuse and come up with a prevention strategy, according to the DHS website.
Six other Minnesota colleges were chosen to receive funding: Rainy River Community College, Winona State University, St. Cloud Technical & Community College, Minnesota State University Mankato and Minnesota State Community and Technical College (Fergus Falls and Moorhead), according to the DHS website.
Patrick Gordon, project coordinator for alcohol and other drug prevention, will oversee the grant’s uses.
“How our prevention is defined will be a discussion in which our whole campus will play a part,” he said. He said students should expect more information soon about how to get involved.
Gordon said colleges were chosen to receive the grant based on data collected by the University of Minnesota, through a biannual state-wide survey on student health, which asks about substance abuse.
He said Carleton was also a good fit for the grant because it didn’t have any fill-time staff positions that focused specifically on alcohol and drug use. Prevention programs were conducted primarily by Student Wellness Advocates and student Residential Assistants.
Gordon’s position will become full-time at the end of the academic year, when he will stop being an area director with Residential Life.
