What is not so clear, however, is the extent to which it can safely be

concluded that  alcohol policy implementation represents a  whole college 

acceptance of this health promotional approach to the prevention of related

problems, or that colleges have accepted full corporate  ownership of these

policies. Academic staff members of third level colleges are  primarily

concerned with teaching and research, while senior management is so

caught up with a range of administrative matters   usually  including

financial difficulties   that it can readily be understood that college alcohol

policies are not seen as priorities on an ongoing basis. Over the past  three

years, therefore,  it has been the student service sector    consisting of

administrators, chaplains, doctors, nurses, counsellors and others involved

with student welfare    which has taken the main responsibility for creating

alcohol policies within Irish colleges. Despite the vigour and enthusiasm

which has characterised this process, it cannot be presumed that it will be

sustained;  the  fear is that with the passage of time, with changes in

student service personnel and  with the emergence of new  priorities for

student services,  momentum  on college alcohol policies may well  be lost.

The Health Promotion Unit (HPU) of the Department of Health and Children

has provided important external support for college staff involved in

drafting alcohol policies but, with a few exceptions, support from regional

health promotion workers has not been of the same order of importance to

this project.  

What has also emerged from this research is that the strategies which have

been pursued most commonly and with the greatest intensity have been

those which deal with controlling  the promotion and marketing of alcohol

on campus.  The findings from the focus groups clearly indicated the

strength of participants' feelings about the role of the drinks industry,

feelings which were entirely negative: it was generally believed that, until

challenged  recently by this college alcohol policy initiative, the industry had

been promoting its products on campus in a style which was socially

irresponsible and  solely driven by commercial motives.  This antipathy

towards the drinks industry, which is largely supported by the research and

policy literature summarised above, is functional insofar as the  identification

of an external foe creates a positive dynamic and a focal point for college

staff struggling to devise appropriate policy responses to this complex

social problem. It should be borne in mind, however, that public health

literature on the reduction of alcohol related harm conventionally suggests

that if it is to be successful, policy in this  sphere  should  consist  of

multiple strategies, known as a   policy mix : this point was made explicitly,

for instance, in the national framework document. Given the preponderance

of measures aimed at curbing marketing, promotions and sponsorship and

the relative dearth of other strategies, it  cannot be concluded that college

alcohol policies  have to date achieved this ideal of a policy mix.  While

restrictions on industry activities on campus may  be  necessary, they are not

78

  from  a health promotional perspective   sufficient.