Accountability Guiding Principles
The athletics department’s written policies offer a range of clearly specified responses to substance misuse policy violations by teams and individuals, including student-athletes, cheerleaders, student managers, and athletic training students/volunteers. Educational, punitive, and restorative sanctions are designed to reduce recidivism, are consistent for all sports, and are applied uniformly and equitably across teams and individuals. The athletics department annually tabulates policy violation and adjudication data for individuals and teams to assess equity and efficacy.
Evidence-Based Strategies to Enhance Accountability
The College Alcohol Intervention Matrix (CollegeAIM) was created by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) to help schools select evidence-based programs for substance misuse prevention. Interventions listed below are rated by higher, moderate or lower effectiveness or there is mixed evidence/too few studies to rate effectiveness. The NIAAA Task Force on College Drinking Report provides additional guidance on “promising strategies that need additional research.” As you develop your action plan, first consider the items below.
Mixed evidence/too few studies to rate effectiveness:
- Establish amnesty policies
Promising strategy that needs additional research:
- Consistently enforce disciplinary actions associated with policy violations
Programs developed by past APPLE attendees:
Division I
Student Athlete Handbook (p. 10-20) - Virginia Tech
- Provides a detailed, four-phase approach to a failed drug test and includes sanctions specific to marijuana use.
Student Athlete Handbook (p. 52-54) - Kent State University
- The policy details the responsibilities of the student-athlete that tested positive, the head coach and the Athletic Team Physician. Sanctions are described for positive chemical tests and missed (no show) tests.
Division II
Student-Athlete Handbook (p. 34) - Lincoln Memorial University
- The policy outlines the drug testing and notification process and has separate detailed sanctioning policies for alcohol and for other drugs.
Division III
Program information coming soon!