Campus/Community Engagement Through Informed Deliberation: The NU Directions Experience

Linda MajorNASPA Strategies Conference – Alcohol Abuse Prevention &

InterventionBoston, MA

January 23, 2009

“A Matter of Degree”• $700,000.00 five-year grant funded by the

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; $500,000.00 four-year extension

• Administered by the American Medical Association

• University of Nebraska-Lincoln one of 10 universities selected nationwide to pilot new strategies

• Evaluated by the Harvard School of Public Health

• Directed by a campus-community coalition• Environmental approach• Visible and vocal campus and community

leadership

Resources• Deep Change: Discovering the Leader

Within, Robert E Quinn (1996)• Building the Bridge As You Walk On It: A

Guide for Leading Change, Quinn (2004)• Change the World: How Ordinary People

Can Achieve Extraordinary Results, Quinn (2000)

• The Speed of Trust, Stephen Covey (2007)• The Art of Engagement: Bridging the Gap

Between People and Possibilities, Jim Haudan (2008)

Level 3:The Participating Strategy

Level 2:The Forcing Strategy

Level 1:The Telling Strategy

Level 4:The Transforming Strategy

Robert Quinn’s Model of Four Change Strategies (2000)

Rational persuasion; emphasis on facts

Leveraging behavior; emphasis on authority

Open dialogue; emphasis on relationship

Transcend self; emphasis on emergent reality

Strategies in Action: Traditional AOD Prevention

• Alcohol & other drug education programs• Peer education• Epidemiology-driven reports• Social norms marketing

Level 1:The Telling Strategy

Strategies in Action: Traditional AOD Prevention

• Substance prohibition/control• Zero tolerance policies• Hospitality beverage control• Increased enforcement efforts• Adjudicating AOD-related behaviors

Level 2:The Forcing Strategy

Emerging Strategies: AODV Prevention

• Campus-Community task forces and coalitions

• Public forums on AODV• Broad stakeholder involvement in

addressing issues

Level 3:The Participating Strategy

• A process where stakeholders are educated around a set of data and perspectives about a problem

• Perspective sharing broadens understanding for all stakeholders

• All stakeholders participate in collaborative problem-solving with new understanding of the issues

Informed Deliberation

• First step to transforming a community is transforming my own thinking as a leader

• Fundamental paradigm shift about the community and its issues– My understanding of the problem from

multiple stakeholder perspectives– My vision and beliefs about the outcome of

change– My collaboration with a broad range of

others by identifying the talents, skills and interests they bring to the table

– My comfort with chaos– A matter of integrity: clarifying my

motivations and my own perspectives

The Transformational Perspective

The Participating Strategy

The Forcing Strategy

The Telling Strategy

TRANSCENDING FRAME

Employing Quinn’s Perspectives to Create A Model of

Community Organizing for AODV Environmental Change

All threeStrategy choicesare viable when appropriate to the situation and objective

The transcending frame enables

coalition leaders and members to

think broadly about

collaborating between

interests, recognizing the

needs and concerns of others, and

operating from a vision of abundant

opportunity

Coalition Philosophy

• Focus efforts toward reducing high-risk alcohol consumption across undergraduate population, with a special emphasis on the first and second year

• View high-risk drinking as a shared responsibility

• Utilize an inclusive process, student participation essential

• Adopt a comprehensive approach incorporating both individual and environmental strategies

Using the Power of Data

• Police Reports/GIS Maps• Student Self-Report Data• Neighborhood Complaints• Focus Groups• Market Trends• Student Retention Data• Last Drink Data• Anecdotes and Stories

Self-Reported Location of Consumption

1999 2002 2004 20080

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Residence HallGreek HouseOff-Campus PartyBar or Restaurant

2007 Wild Party Density

2007 Wild Party Dispatches by Day of Week

2007 Wild Party Dispatches by Time of Day

2007 Wild Party Dispatches by Time of Day

Resident Roundtable Project• Based on “study circle” process• Organized meetings comprised of 5 – 10

neighborhood participants • Meetings facilitated by Leadership Lincoln

members• Critical questions used to guide discussion• Process moved participants from personal

experience to multiple perspectives to strategy development

• Themes emerged that were common across neighborhoods– Physical environment– Safety– Attitudes and perceptions

Great Neighbors Campaign

Great Neighbors Campaign• University sponsored

service projects• Revise lease policies• High profile

campaigns• Multiple enforcement

strategies• Share police reports

with landlords• Disorderly house

citations to noncompliant landlords

• UNL Code of Conduct applied to off-campus violations

Wild Party Patrol

• Identify Locations• GIS Mapping• Posted Advertisements• Coordination with

UNLPD• Dispatched Calls for

Service• Party House List-from

prior complaints• On view observations

by officers

Tactics

• Undercover and Uniform up to 8 officers

• Sergeant• Written Wild Party

Guidelines• Opportunity to

eliminate problem• If problem

persists, make all possible arrests

• Evidence

Changing Attitudes and Perceptions

• Capture the story of the North Bottoms neighborhood within one 24-hour period surrounding the home football game using student photographs

• Morning. Noon. Evening. Night. We want to tell the entire 24-hour story of a neighborhood, its residents, and the impact of having the state’s flagship university and largest sports arena right next door.

• UNL students can enter as many as 12 photographs. A total of 24 photographs depicting different hours of the day will be chosen. Selected photographs will be part of a travelling exhibit throughout the UNL campus and in the Lincoln Community. Cash prizes will be awarded to the top three selections.

Resident Roundtable Project• Student Code of Conduct

– Maintaining a disorderly house

– Selling alcohol without a license

– Procuring for minors• Increased

Fines/Consequences• Communication between

LPD and Landlords• Maintaining a disorderly

house citation• Contact with the city’s

Internal Liquor Committee and law enforcement

• Identified as problem oriented policing project

• Voluntary landlord intervention initiative

Disorderly House Citations2004 – 2005

Lincoln Police Department Dispatches to Party Complaints

1999 – 2000 Academic Year

2000 – 2001 Academic Year

2007 – 2008 Academic Year

City Wide 1085 1103 1026

North Bottoms Neighborhood

66 44 44

Clinton Neighborhood

77 51 53

Northwest Team Area

216 174 184

Center Team Area

196 186 145

Neighborhood residents report an improved quality of life, significant decrease in wild party complaints and a positive collaborative relationship with area colleges and universities

Drinking Trend for All Students

1997 2000 2002 2004 2006 20080

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Does not binge Binge

Binge Drinking Rate1997-2008

1997 2000 2002 2004 2006 20080

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Abstainers Drink, does not bingeOccasional binge drinker Frequent binge drinker

Primary Effects1997-2008

Hango

ver

Miss a

Class

Behi

nd in

Sch

ool W

ork

Unpla

nned

Sex

ual A

ctivity

Damag

e Pr

oper

ty

Trou

ble

with

Pol

ice

5 or

mor

e pr

oble

ms

0

20

40

60

80

1997 2000 2002 2006 2008

Secondary Effects1997-2008

1997 2000 2002 20080

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Insulted/Humiliated Babysit a Drunken StudentStudy/Sleep Interrupted Unwanted Sexual Advance

High School and College Drinking Behavior1997-2003

1997 1999 2000 2001 2002 200305

101520253035404550

Did not binge in high school or collegeDid not binge in high school/binged in collegeBinged in high school/did not binge in collegeBinged in high school and college

Suggested Reasons for NU Directions Success

• Coalition staff and members understood and appreciated community organizing and environmental management

• The focus remained on reaching consensus among stakeholders though meaningful dialogue

• Commitment to continuously scanning the environment for emerging trends and/or opportunities

• To accommodate the fluid environment, strategic plans remained flexible

• Coalition members took advantage of unanticipated opportunities to forward agenda

• Strategic use of communications critical to coalition success

• Full utilization of resources available on campus and in the community

• The coalition publicly celebrated positive change

Slide design © 2007, The Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska. All rights reserved.

Linda Majorlmajor1@unl.edu

402/472-2454NU Directions

www.nudirections.org