In the last year, the Dartmouth College Health Improvement Project has combatted high-risk drinking on campus by expanding the Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students program, working with undergraduate advisors and adding primary care screening, according to Special Assistant to the President for Student Health Aurora Matzkin '97, who is also a member of the DCHIP team. Many students, however, said they had not heard of DCHIP and noted that its various programs seem to have had little impact.
Former College President Jim Yong Kim launched DCHIP in May 2011 after conceiving idea for the project in 2010, Matzkin said. Kim's efforts were largely inspired by his earlier work in public health, including his work with Partners in Health in Peru.
"He realized that a major public health problem at Dartmouth was high-risk drinking," Matzkin said. "He wanted to utilize a method from his previous work, the learning collaborative method, that had been successful in the past, such as in the treatment of drug-resistance tuberculosis in Peru. He wanted to try it in higher education no one had tried it before."
Using the learning collaborative method, Dartmouth partnered with 32 other schools including Boston University, Duke University and Northwestern University to form the National College Health Improvement Project to address binge drinking on college campuses nationwide. Representatives from the consortium, formed in April 2011, have met three times to discuss the progress of their initiatives, and each member college has implemented its own Campus Improvement Team.
DCHIP, Dartmouth's iteration of the national program, has made the greatest impact through its expansion of the BASICS program, according to Matzkin. BASICS, which was first launched in September 2011 for students who violated alcohol policy, was implemented this term on a wider scale, increasing student participation and expanding the number of BASICS providers from one to six. Following the implementation of DCHIP, all first-year varsity athletes, students previously reported under the Good Samaritan policy and those involved in other incidents involving alcohol policy violations have had to complete the BASICS program.
Director of Residential Education Michael Wooten said that DCHIP has also been working with UGAs to ensure that freshmen know the dangers of high-risk drinking. First-year UGAs are now trained to recognize, interrupt and document cases of high-risk drinking, according to Wooten.
"We wanted to equip UGAs to handle different situations that might arise," said Wooten. "We wanted the UGAs to understand themselves as members in a larger network of caregivers."
Wooten also said that DCHIP works with first-year UGAs to identify available health and safety resources, given that many new students do not know about the "safety net" created by the College.
Among the features of this safety net are added screening opportunities by primary care providers at Dick's House for high-risk behaviors, according to Matzkin.
"Because they have recognized high-risk drinking as a major health issue, Health Services now has the tools to deal with it," she said.
DCHIP has also installed a hydration station in Chi Heorot fraternity as a way to deliver water to students at parties.
Carly Winn '15 said that while the initiative's name sounded familiar, she is unaware of the program's goals and "may have gotten emails from them and deleted them."
Similarly, Lorin Paley '15 said she was unsure about DCHIP's functions.
"I assume it's going to involve more going to Dick's House, and that's never good," Paley said.
Other students, like Therese Kienemund '15, said they appreciate the project's work and intentions.
"I can see that a lot of people here aren't responsible with alcohol," she said. "I hope [DCHIP] reaches the people it needs to reach."
The DCHIP team has received feedback that its initiatives are proving successful, according to Matzkin and Wooten. The project's leaders have not received any overwhelmingly negative responses to new initiatives, although they have seen a significant amount of feedback regarding the enhanced role of first-year UGAs, Wooten said.
The lack of student dissent in response to DCHIP's initiatives could be a product of the way they are implemented, Matzkin said.
"When we try something new, we test it in a small way," she said. "When we find positive changes, we let them grow."
DCHIP hopes to acquire and use student feedback to help shape future initiatives, as most members of the Dartmouth community agree that high-risk drinking creates problems that require attention.
"The disagreement comes from what we should do to change things," she said.
Wooten said that DCHIP's goals and policies have not changed since Kim left the College. Interim President Carol Folt attended the third NCHIP meeting in Washington, D.C., and has been as involved in DCHIP as Kim was, according to Wooten.
Wooten said he is optimistic about the project's future, noting that its success would enable the project to disband.
"We are empowering students to make healthy choices about real but normal concerns," Wooten said. "It may happen in a year or two, or it may take longer, but DCHIP is not meant to be a permanent solution."
