At a glance
Called the Red Watch Band, its mission is to provide campus community members with the knowledge, awareness, and skills to prevent student toxic drinking deaths and to promote a student culture of kindness, responsibility, compassion, and respect.
Alfred State College has joined the movement that is gaining momentum against toxic drinking (i.e., consuming so much alcohol the drinker passes out. But while "sleeping it off," the victim may be quietly dying). Called the Red Watch Band, its mission is to provide campus community members with the knowledge, awareness, and skills to prevent student toxic drinking deaths and to promote a student culture of kindness, responsibility, compassion, and respect. Started by Stony Brook University following the loss of a faculty member’s son to acute alcohol overdose, Stony Brook President Shirley Strum Kenny commissioned Milton Glaser to design an education awareness campaign on preventing drinking deaths on college campuses. The primary component of the program is a four-hour training session in which participants learn how to recognize alcohol emergencies and respond effectively. All participants who complete the RWB training receive CPR certification and are able to understand that alcohol emergencies are medical emergencies that require immediate, professional care. Alfred State’s first group of 57 students participated in the training and were recognized earlier this month at a ceremony presided over by Greeks, to name a few.