UW-Madison campus and community leaders held a final meeting Tuesday to honor the accomplishments of a 14-year initiative to reduce alcohol consumption.
Policy, Alternatives, Community and Education, based in University Health Services, is a project focused on reducing the consequences of high-risk drinking in Madison.
The project conducted alcohol-related research to improve the city and campus alcohol culture.
PACE created a chancellor's alcohol policy group and collected yearly data of campus drinking habits, according to Aaron Brower, UW-Madison Associate Vice Chancellor and PACE co-director Aaron Brower.
Other efforts included sending a letter to incoming students about issues on the transition to college, and the role of alcohol, in addition to creating parental involvement.
Carol Lobes, co-director of the Center for Democracy in Action, said the project generated significant changes in the community.
""The change in attitude, what we laugh at, what we ignore and what we just define as a Badger are actually very different [from what it used to be],"" she said.
Brower said ideas regarding alcoholism and recreational drinking have also changed radically.
""[Previously], alcohol abuse meant alcoholism. Now, we think of this phenomenon of college drinking as its own special case of normative activity,"" he said.
However, he said part of the problem is some students view the behavior as a recreational activity rather than an alcohol problem.
Brower said the involvement of the community played a major role in the project's accomplishments.
""I think it was successful because we have a strong campus and the community partnership,"" Brower said.
Lobes said PACE members knew the project needed strong student involvement to be successful.
""We knew they had to help us do this,"" she said.
According to Brower, the university's involvement within the project was a good indicator of its commitment in the issue.
However, he said the finger pointing and lack of cooperation from members of the community and campus made the efforts difficult when they started the project in 1996.
The campus and city alcohol policy groups will continue to meet and work on projects to move forward.
