Goal of Haven, Alcohol Edu is to Protect Students

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 16, 2014) — By now, all incoming freshmen and transfer students should have completed the first part of the University of Kentucky's confidential, web-based safety initiatives, AlcoholEdu Part 1, the alcohol and drug education program, and new this year, Haven Part 1, an introduction to understanding sexual assault and bystander intervention. Haven and AlcoholEdu are only two of a variety of safety and prevention initiatives UK offers its students. 

On or shortly after Sept. 24, students will receive an email asking them to complete Haven Part 2 and AlcoholEdu Part 2, both must be completed and submitted by Oct. 20 or there could be serious consequences to a student’s academic career — a hold could be placed on a student’s registration next term. The rationale for using these holds is compliance for data collection. The programs and holds have been approved by the provost, vice president

for Student Affairs and in partnership with the registrar.

“At the University of Kentucky, we care about the well-being of all students. We know that they will face many opportunities and challenges as they settle into campus life," said Violence Intervention and Prevention Center Director Rhonda Henry. "To help with this transition, UK offers a variety of prevention initiatives, including Haven and AlcoholEdu. We believe these programs will both provide useful information to students and help us shape a safer campus community.” 

Administered by the Office of Substance Education and Responsibility, AlcoholEdu is a substance education course using science-based research to educate students about alcohol and its effects. Whether the student drinks or not, the course will help them make informed decisions about alcohol and better deal with drinking behavior that may occur around them. AlcoholEdu is used by more than 500 college and university campuses nationwide.

Administered by the VIP Center, Haven is a compliance-based online prevention platform for sexual assault designed to help institutions address the growing state and federal mandates for sexual violence prevention programming. The platform relies on proven prevention theories and educational strategies to help students better understand the issue of sexual assault on campus.

Haven meets the federal mandate for sexual assault education as outlined by the Department of Education and also meets the requirements of a new bill introduced in 2013, the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act (Campus SaVE Act). Haven supports Title IX compliance by providing a vehicle to make polices and procedures available to all students, thus ensuring that the institution's policies and procedures are well publicized. Haven also ensures that adequate measures are in place to create a non-hostile environment and allows, from a data perspective, the institution to demonstrate exactly how they are reaching students.

The interactive exercises are designed to motivate behavior change by modeling positive behaviors, providing a “toolkit” of strategies, and building student self-efficacy. Real-life scenarios allow students to practice new skills, see results, receive feedback, and even make mistakes in a safe environment. It also addresses the topic of healthy relationships in-depth, first by asking students to identify what relationship characteristics are important to them, and then helping students to identify unhealthy behaviors using a diverse set of scenarios.

To take the courses, students will need a computer with Internet access and audio capabilities. Students without access to a computer can use any available computer with Internet access, such as those in campus libraries. On-campus computer labs are also available to students.

Both courses may include surveys to help personalize a student’s experience and measure their attitudes and behaviors. All survey responses are confidential; UK will only receive information about the student body as a whole and will never see any individual student's answers.

Students with an academic hold, questions about the programs or problems accessing the courses, may contact the VIPCenter@uky.edu or call 859-257-2884 regarding Haven or Drew.Smith02@uky.edu or call 859-257-9687 regarding .

MEDIA CONTACT: Gail Hairston, gail.hairston@uky.edu, 859-257-3302