Substance abuse task force begins meeting on IVCC campus
By Ashlei Maltman
IV Leader Staff, Feb 15, 2007
Task Force Meeting In the spring semester of 2006, 20
instructors volunteered to have their classes participate in a substance abuse
survey.
Some of the classes included in this were English, Nursing,
Economics, and Auto Cad. Mary Miller, from North Central College and Jean
Batson-Turner were the ones to come up with the idea and set up the survey,
along with students from Batson-Turner’s classes. S
ome questions included in the survey were: Does you campus
have drug and alcohol policies? And many “how often have you…” questions.
The surveys were then sent to Eastern Illinois University to
be scored. The school got the “executive summary statistics” back in the summer
of 2006, but has yet to release the results. Students from Batson-Turner’s
classes came up with the Students Task force Advocating Recreational Safety, or
STARS.
This task force meets weekly to discuss new ideas and to
follow up on the survey held last year. The task force is now talking about what
they can do in IVCC to help students who are in trouble.
The group is discussing bringing counselors in for students
to talk to and Batson-Turner said, “a panel of survivors made a big impact to
help others” in her past.
The task force also wants to update the "Substance Abuse
Facts and Resources" guide by next semester.