NIU is one of about 140 universities nationwide to receive a two-year $69,000 federal grant as part of the first project funded by the United States government for secondary education to assist in substance abuse programs.

Michael Haines, coordinator of Health Enhancement Services for the University Health Service, said NIU was one of the first 50 universities to receive the Funds for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education grant, which was given to NIU during the summer of 1987 to help control and teach students about substance abuse.

Haines said NIU already has used the grant to conduct two surveys to determine which controlled substance is most abused on campus.

The surveys concluded that street drug usage is declining at NIU and that alcohol is the most frequently used substance and is associated with many accidents.

Jon Dalton, NIU vice president for student affairs, said that after deciding to target the substance abuse programs towards alcohol, NIU administrators formed a task force to review university policies on alcohol abuse. The task force found the regulations in effect were not consistent or clear, so they decided to form a complete set of regulations in a revised alcohol policy, he said.

Haines said the grant money also was used to employ a trained substance abuse counselor, Selwyn Boyer. He said students can refer themselves to Boyer or be referred through friends, a resident assistant or the NIU judicial system.

Boyer, who can be contacted through the Counseling and Student Development Center, can assess the student’s situation and determine whether the student needs help and what kind of help would be involved.

Dalton said grant money will be used during the fall 1988 semester for sending fliers to students informing them of the dangers of “high dosage” drinking. “We plan to target the fliers towards freshman because freshmen tend to drink in high dosages the most,” he said.

The NIU judicial system will review cases of alcohol-related offenders and determine whether the student has a dependency and should be referred to Boyer or if the student is just a one-time offender and should be sent to an alcohol education class.