UCSU Legislative Council proposes cuts on substance abuse program
This eleven-part series is an in-depth look into the 2007 University of Colorado Student Union budgeting process. Every year, UCSU is charged with distributing more than $30 million in student fees, controlling more money than any other student body in the nation. This series, running over the two-week period that the budgets sit in the hands of the Legislative Council, will explore the process, the people and the effects of the decisions made by your student leaders.
STARS, Wardenburg’s paramount substance abuse program is looking at tough times — tougher than normal, that is.
Among the various programs proposed for cuts by the University of Colorado Student Union Legislative Council during budget hearings, the STARS program is in the forefront. For the past month, Wardenburg and the STARS program faced a constant barrage from student officers opposed to funding increases for Wardenburg.
UCSU Budgets 2007: CP’s 11-day Series
Part 1 | The budgeting process – How it works
Part 2 | Ups and downs – Tracking the past
Part 3 | A hardline approach – Determined council seeking 0 percent
Part 4 | Rec Center – Unscathed, but for how long?
Part 5 | UMC – Between a rock and a hard place
Part 6 | Wardenburg – Struggling to stay afloat
Part 7 | Ghosts of budgets past – Previous mistakes haunt Wardenburg today
Part 8 | A community responds – Students on their health center
Part 9 | Taking the brunt – Advocates in danger of losing their programs
Part 10 | Life changer or money waster? Controversial alcohol program on the block
Part 11 | In the public eye – Bracing for the $30 million dollar decisions
Matt Leroue, a senior MCDB major, defended the STARS program in the face of UCSU officers such as tri-executive Andy Aitchison and Legislative Council President Joe Martinez. Both expressed concerns over the use of student fees for STARS.
“Why should student fees go to help students recover from addiction? It seems like that was a huge issue with some students,” said Leroue, junior co-chairman for the Wardenburg Student Health Board. “Programs like STARS significantly enhance (students’) experience. It allows them to stay in school. It allows them to excel academically. It is taking an active role in helping students. This isn’t a waste of student fees, and this isn’t student fees going to the wrong place.”
The STARS program, which stands for Striving to Achieve Real Success, is a fifteen-week program dedicated to group therapy and individual evaluation of CU students with drug or alcohol addiction problems. Students are set up with advisers to work on deciding on a major and considering their future. They are scheduled for sessions with tutors to improve their academics and meet with therapists to establish goals for their health and control of addictions.
“The idea is really to reconnect students with their academic, emotional, and physical environments,” said STARS therapist Judy Taub. “Each week, in groups ,they set weekly goals. They set a substance abuse goal and then they set personal goals, the next week they check in and receive feedback.”
Each participant develops a specific plan based on personal needs to enhance treatment during the first key session.
STARS began in the fall semester of 2006 with an enrollment of only 30 students, most of whom had been referred to Wardenburg through the Office of Judicial Affairs.
“The initial plan for enrollment was 100 students per semester,” Leroue said. “Last semester we only saw 30, which obviously is lower than what we were expecting. This is partly due to the fact that the number of kids we have in the STARS program is based with the number that Judicial Affairs refers out to us.”
STARS enrollment rose to 42 members this semester. While still shy of its lofty goals, this increase is reportedly based upon generally positive feedback from student participants of the program.
“Before the STARS program was around, students were sent out to the Second Offender Program, which is run by Boulder County,” Leroue said. “Students really enjoyed the fact that they were going in and that it was treating their problem but also helping them with other aspects of their life. We actually had students come to health board asking for money to go to the program because another unique aspect of STARS is that students can just walk in. This can’t be done with the county.”
Leroue is concerned about the future of STARS if cuts are made on Wardenburg’s already slim budget. The impact on Wardenburg for a cut of the STARS program alone would amount to $27,000.
“The impact on students is far greater than that,” Leroue said. “There are not enough seats in the Second Offender Program for all the students who get referred out to it. Students who now have the opportunity to go to STARS and stay in school will be forced to drop out of school or be suspended.”
Second budget hearings for Wardenburg will come before the Legislative Council on Thursday. The Wardenburg community is concerned about potential cuts to the STARS program.
“I don’t think it would be a good move on the university’s part to cut a substance abuse program given that the school has struggled a lot with substance abuse issues,” Taub said.
Senior Student Health Board Co-Chairwomen Jade Sorget, a junior psychology major, said she feels similarly.
“I feel as though (the Legislative Council) need to be basically better educated as far as what the program is. If they could understand and sit down with the managers, meet with the students who are part of this program, maybe they will have a better grasp of what STARS is and how it is a benefit to have it on this campus.”
Thursday: Students sound off – The series concludes with students’ thoughts and arguments.
Stay tuned to thecampuspress.com for live blogs of the Thursday night meetings and breaking developments as they arise.
