College Setting
Recognizing that the college environment is a mix of underage students and 21+ students, we are careful to ensure that we reach the right audience with the appropriate information. Our underage drinking prevention resources for parents and educators, combined with our wholesalers’ training and ID initiatives with their local retailers, provide the foundation of our efforts to keep alcohol out of the hands of students under the legal drinking age. For college students who are 21 and older and choose to drink, we emphasize the importance of drinking responsibly, which include programs to prevent drunk driving and the purchase of alcohol for underage friends.
The following initiatives have been developed as part of Anheuser-Busch’s efforts to promote responsible behavior on college campuses:
Social Norms programs reduce harmful drinking and related behaviors on college campuses and reinforce the fact that the majority of college students are making responsible choices. Anheuser-Busch works with campuses and has invested more than $10 million to support social norms programs at universities across the country since 1999. This includes a $2.5 million gift to the University of Virginia in 2006 to help establish the National Social Norms Institute. Anheuser-Busch currently funds social norms grants at the following universities:
Anheuser-Busch is a leading supporter of the BACCHUS Network™, an association of college and university-based programs focusing on promoting positive peer pressure as a way to encourage alcohol responsibility, among other health and safety issues. Through the BACCHUS Network™ Anheuser-Busch supports National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week (NCAAW), a nationwide initiative held in October that promotes responsible attitudes among university and college students across the country.
The Anheuser-Busch Foundation is proud to support the BACCHUS Network’s newest initiative, First 90 Days, to prevent underage drinking and high-risk drinking, and promote responsible behavior on college campuses nationwide. The First 90 Days Tool Kit helps prevention professionals and their teams identify and address underage and high-risk drinking on campus.
The NCAA Choices grant program was initiated by a $2.5 million gift from Anheuser-Busch in 1991. In 2014, Anheuser-Busch committed an additional $3 million to support the next five years of awards and the NCAA Choices Grant Program. The program has provided grants to 279 universities nationwide since 1991 to support their campus-specific alcohol awareness programs.
TIPS for the University provides colleges, universities and student organizations information and intervention strategies for participants to address peers who may be misusing alcohol or consuming it illegally.