Widespread use of alcohol among college students has earned much attention as one of the most serious health problems for U.S. colleges and universities. Programs to reduce heavy alcohol use among college students often seek to correct misperceptions of peer alcohol use. These misperceptions of the nature and extent of high risk drinking among college students are common among students, and university faculty, staff and administration. For example, although 88% of MSU freshmen believe that the average student on campus drinks alcohol at least once a week, only 50% of freshmen reported drinking every week.

The AFTER Hours program (Alcohol Free Thursday Evening Recreation) was developed to provide an accurate picture of alcohol use among MSU students. The overall goal of AFTER Hours is to plan, implement, and evaluate a campus-based social norm program to prevent high-risk drinking among first-year students at Mississippi State University. This program will consist of three main components: 1) peer education in the freshmen residence halls; 2) an interactive website, www.afterhours.msstate.edu, providing personalized feedback and high-risk drinking prevention messages; and 3) alcohol-free social activities for MSU students on Thursday evenings.

MSU is one of 14 campus- and community-based organizations awarded funds from the U.S. Department of Education's Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention, (http://wwww.edc.org/hec/). Through this collaborative effort from such departments as the Center for Alcohol and Drug Education, Division of Student Affairs, Department of HPERS, and Recreational Sports, the project hopes to successfully reduce high-risk drinking behaviors among students.