La Salle considers recovery housing

By Benjamin Circelli
Senior Staff Writer
September 27, 2006

Members of La Salle’s staff have recently been investigating the possibility of setting up recovery housing for students with addictions to drug and alcohol.

About one year ago, La Salle was contacted by Beth Fitzsimons, a board member for the Caron Foundation, a treatment and education facility for chemically dependent individuals. Since La Salle was looking into the need for special interest housing at the time, she inquired about the University’s interest in drug and alcohol abuse recovery housing.

Dr. Joseph Cicala, Dean of Students, Director of Health Services, Lane Neubauer and Robert Chapman, the former Coordinator of the Alcohol and Other Drug Program teamed up, and decided to meet with Fitzsimons about this possibility.

They learned that there are only four noteworthy colleges and universities with recovery housing in the entire nation, none of which are in Philadelphia.

Rutgers University in New Brunswick was the first university to ever offer recovery housing back in 1988. Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minn., Texas Tech and Case Western in Cleveland, Ohio soon followed in its footsteps.

Cicala joined Fitzsimons in attending a conference in Baltimore about recovery schools and came away with a better knowledge and understanding of their goals.

“A college campus can be very distracting, especially to those who are actively in recovery,” Cicala said.

“A college campus can be very distracting, especially to those who are actively in recovery,” Cicala said.

As of now, seven faculty members are working with Cicala to see if universities in Philadelphia are right to offer this. More importantly, they are trying to determine how necessary a program like this is La Salle.

“Very focused research is being conducted into what it would take for La Salle to do this,” Cicala said. “We need to determine if there is a need and interest, and is it possible and practical for the University.”

Dean Cicala, along with Dr. Neubauer and the current coordinator of the Alcohol and Other Drug Program, Kate Ward-Gaus, visited Rutgers in New Brunswick recently to check out their recovery housing program. They spoke to the program’s directors, staff and residents, and took a peek into their everyday lives.

Residents are not permitted to use any substances, legal or illegal, that can become addicting. Besides alcohol and drugs, cigarettes are also not allowed. They are required to be active in a 12-step program and attend on-going counseling, activities or programs that support this.

One student explained to Cicala that he was from the Philadelphia area, but because no universities offered recovery housing on campus, he decided on Rutgers. “We came away with a wealth of good information to further investigate if this is a need and if it’s practical and possible to do,” Cicala said.

He explained that La Salle is still “two to three steps away” from investigating the full level of potential need and interest in this type of housing. While participation in this program would be strictly voluntary for students, a certain level of anonymity needs to be maintained, which means a stand-alone facility must be used.

Both incoming freshmen and active students would be eligible to participate, and this would not serve as a disciplinary function to current students.

Senior Michael Frohbergh believes this would a good way to take action towards the safety of students who might have problems with drugs and alcohol.

“Health and safety should be the main priority of the school board, and this seems to be a progressive step towards a positive thing,” he said.

Junior Kristina Agbayani thinks the program would benefit the University’s image as well. “Since there are only four schools who have a program like this, La Salle would only strengthen its acceptance level by adding this housing option,” she said.

“La Salle is always looking for the opportunity to do more or better for our community,” Cicala said.

circellib1@lasalle.edu