Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify when the Traveller water bottle program began.

Washington and Lee University is embracing “harm reduction” this year to make students safer, Director of Health Promotion Jan Kaufman said. But that isn’t always easy.

Here’s a guidebook on how the university is trying to make parties safer: How do you fix dehydration caused by alcohol intake at parties? Have Traveller, a safe-ride service for students, hand out water bottles on party nights.

How to prevent overdose deaths due to fentanyl-laced street drugs? Provide Narcan training to any student who signs up for the course. And have resident advisors pass out fentanyl test strips to students on their halls.

How to promote safe sex? Offer RAs condoms, lube and dental dams to put in their halls.

Harm reduction means trying to minimize the damage caused by harmful activities, rather than trying to stop people from engaging in them, Kaufman said. She has been spearheading a number of new programs designed to promote students’ health.

Many of these programs were piloted last year. The Traveller water bottle distribution system started in spring term and was announced to all employees this semester.

Kaufman said she wanted to provide water to off-campus parties to combat dehydration caused by alcohol consumption. She partnered with Traveller, the Campus Community Coalition and Lauren Kozak, the Title IX coordinator, to distribute water bottles to fraternity houses. They are now in easily accessible buckets outside of their front doors.

Joe Condie, ’24, one of the heads of the Campus Community Coalition, said that the off-campus houses that were receiving the water had no idea about the program until cases of bottled water were being delivered on their doorsteps.

“There’s definitely been a couple of times where cases have been dropped off and not really been touched,” Condie said, “We don’t want to be wasting water on houses that aren’t even having parties.”

Condie also expressed concern that the distribution system may be overlooking sites where water is needed. Since the water only goes to places on Traveller’s normal route, other off-campus locations hosting parties may not be served by the existing infrastructure.

But Caitlyn Thompkins, ’25, the public relations chair for Traveller, said the program has seen success so far.

“I feel like people do appreciate it so far. I think that it’s good that people are drinking water after they probably have a lot of liquids that aren’t water,” Thompkins said.

However, Thompkins mentioned that since the water initiative is new, the roll out has been slow.

Kaufman said the water initiative is not the only harm reduction program being implemented this fall.

Narcan is a nasal spray version of the drug Naloxone, which can reverse opioid overdoses. The Narcan training on campus, called Revive!, originated as an optional program that new Greek Life members could participate in. But she said the training was so popular that they expanded it to the entire student body.

Taylor Vild, ’27, took the course in order to “learn how to save someone’s life,” and she said that the information provided was invaluable.

But Vild acknowledged that students may struggle to access the program. She said she thought that Revive! was not marketed enough and that more students would have shown up if the marketing had been better.

Last year, the university was able to get Narcan for free from the state government. But this year, the state government didn’t provide support.

Instead, Kaufman partnered with Central Shenandoah Health, a local health district, to continue to provide Narcan for free to the student body.

Kaufman explained that Washington and Lee students, who self-report on anonymous surveys, mostly use Adderall, cocaine and marijuana.

And since Kaufman said “six out of ten” street drugs are being found to contain fentanyl, she thinks that Narcan and fentanyl test strips are necessary to keep the student body safe.

Fentanyl overdose is the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18-45, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. The addictive drug is 50 times stronger than heroin and triggered nearly 70% of the United States’ 107,000-plus drug overdose deaths between 2021 and 2022, according to the DEA.

Fentanyl test strips are small strips of paper that can detect the presence of fentanyl in drugs such as cocaine. They are being offered to resident advisors to distribute to their halls.

Kaufman also ensures that RAs are able to provide condoms, dental dams and lube to residents.

“They fall under the category of harm reduction, and we want to keep students as safe as possible in all kinds of realms. Most other schools provide those,” Kaufman said.

Condie agreed that it’s important to offer students ways to make better choices, but said ultimately the students have responsibility over their own lives.

“The Campus Community Coalition is not supposed to be people’s parents [or] a figure to tell them to be more responsible. All we can do is provide the resources to help others make those decisions,” Condie said.