MAAC Awarded NCAA Choices Grant
MAAC Sports
The misuse of alcohol by college students is of great concern to the NCAA. In an effort to educate students about the risks involved with the misuse of alcohol, the NCAA has, through the support of the NCAA Foundation and Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., developed NCAA CHOICES, a grant program for alcohol education.
The NCAA CHOICES program provides funding for NCAA member institutions and conferences to integrate athletics departments into campus wide efforts to reduce alcohol abuse. NCAA CHOICES projects must partner athletics with other campus departments in the development and implementation of effective alcohol education projects.
"It is an honor to receive the prestigious NCAA CHOICES grant," said Brian Merriam, Director of Compliance at the MAAC. "As a conference, we believe deeply in the importance of alcohol education for our member institution’s students and this funded program will provide them with the opportunity to become more well informed and enable them to make responsible decisions. Moreover, it is our privilege to represent athletic conferences across the nation in the effort to better the welfare of college students."
He added, "The goal of this student-led program is to help students learn about alcohol in an atmosphere where they can feel comfortable sharing their perspectives, learn practical skills to help them make responsible choices about alcohol use, to understand how alcohol can impact athletic ability, and to learn about their role as active bystanders.”
The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference is a NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference, consisting of 11 institutions coming from three states of the northeastern United States: Connecticut, New Jersey and New York. The conference headquarters is located in Edison, New Jersey. The MAAC sponsors 23 sports and has many associate member institutions. In 2015, the conference had a total of 5,249 student-athletes participate in college athletics. Furthermore, the combined undergraduate enrollment of member institutions is more than 55,000 students.
The objective of the BIG MAAC program is to alter the choices being made in the social landscape of higher education. In addition, the proposal encompasses a three-pronged action-oriented process: education, social campaigning and programming. The program focuses on campus awareness of alcohol issues, decreasing alcohol consumption and negative consequences and increasing student involvement in alcohol education and programming.
Our efforts will be funneled through the MAAC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. These student leaders will be trained on peer education, social norms and decision making. The athletes will take this information back to their campus SAAC, as well as other student-led organizations at their institution.
At this point, each campus SAAC will administer a survey addressing the social climate among undergraduate students at their university. Once the survey accumulation has commenced, the MAAC will send a guest speaker to each campus. The speaker will educate the student body at large and then meet with organizations, including SAAC, at a more intimate level. Afterward, each campus SAAC will launch social media campaigns and programming at sporting events center on the discussed topics. Finally, the MAAC will host “sober” tailgates during the MAAC basketball championships. The year will culminate with an assessment to evaluate the progress made throughout the initiatives.
This proposal is unique because it spans an entire conference membership, providing the opportunity to impact a greater percentage of students compared with a single-campus initiative. Furthermore, it enables student-athletes to take a leadership role in changing the behavior of peers. The MAAC aims to eliminate the misconceived social norms that are associated with collegiate alcohol consumption.
The program is consistent with the MAAC’s goal of aiding in the overall student development of its membership. Moreover, it goes hand-in-hand with the NCAA’s focus on health and wellness. The MAAC believes that conferences need to aid in the effort of educating our students on the perils of binge alcohol consumption. The BIG MAAC program encourages students to look at the larger meaning of their time on campus.