Harm Reduction Initiatives Come to Sarah Lawrence Campus
Layne Barr ‘27
Sarah Lawrence students receive Narcan upon finishing their Narcan training session earlier this year. – photo per Syd Walter
On Feb. 15, Sarah Lawrence students gathered in the Barbara Walters Campus Center for the second Narcan training session of the school year.
Naloxone, more commonly referred to as Narcan, is a nasal spray that can reverse an opioid overdose. Using Narcan is simple. You put the nozzle up the nostril of someone who appears to be overdosing, and you push the plunger once. Within a few minutes of injecting the nasal spray, that person can wake up from an overdose.
Narcan does not cause harm if administered to someone who is not experiencing an overdose. Though Narcan is not a substitute for medical care, it acts as a temporary solution, preventing an overdose from becoming immediately fatal.
Sophomore class president, Syd Walter ‘26, organizes many of the harm reduction initiatives taking place on campus. Walter said the combination of Roe v. Wade being overturned, watching close people in her own life overdose and wanting to have a place where she could turn to on campus prompted her to recognize that important harm reduction initiatives were lacking at Sarah Lawrence. "It's really crucial for us as a college to recognise that students are using drugs, and we can contribute to making campus safer by offering resources like Narcan training,” said Walter.
When it came time to propose ideas for campus resources, Walter prioritized bringing Narcan training to the larger student body. “All the Campus Safety officers are trained with and certified in administering Narcan, and they carry Narcan on them at all times, but students should have access to Narcan too. I always have mine in my backpack. That’s just how I roll with things,” said Walter.
She approached Sofia Lombardi, a Senior Resident Fellow of the Residential Life office with her idea. “Harm reduction is something I personally worked on in my undergrad experience, and I have been very supportive of such efforts while working at Sarah Lawrence, so I was super excited to hear about her idea,” said Lombardi.
Lombardi then helped Walter to coordinate with Campus Safety to organize the training session. “It all occurred at a very serendipitous moment because Campus Safety was going to hold a Narcan training for their officers and it just so happened that they were willing to open it up to the larger student body,” said Walter.
In collaboration with Campus Safety, Walter and Lomabrdi organized the first Narcan training session for students, which took place on Oct. 26 of this past semester. The training lasted an hour. Students watched a PowerPoint presentation about what Narcan is and how it works. Then, they learned how to recognize an overdose and how to administer Narcan. The Narcan trainer took questions, and upon completion, each student was given free Narcan to carry with them.
The next in-person Narcan training session is set to happen during the first week of April after Spring Break (date TBD). Walter encourages students to make use of the virtual Zoom Narcan training sessions offered on the third Thursday of every month. “The information is the same as in-person sessions, and each student who attends will still receive free Narcan upon completing the certification; it will just be mailed instead,” said Walter.
Walter and Lombardi are also moving forward with other harm reduction projects on campus. At the beginning of this spring semester, they launched harm reduction bins. Walter was inspired by her friend, Ellen, a student at Bard College. “Ellen told me how she was making a harm reduction vending machine for the Bard campus and I thought it was a fantastic idea. I wanted to get involved,” said Walter.
The harm reduction bins are a first step towards creating harm reduction vending machines. Lombardi and Walter looked to provide an immediate resource for students while they continued to brainstorm the logistics of a larger project.
“As you can imagine, a vending machine is a bit difficult to produce out of thin air. Together, we thought that these resources needed to be made available as quickly as possible for students. We dreamed up the bins as really just a pilot idea – a way to see how students react to and engage with them. It's a helpful resource on campus to see how a vending machine may serve those needs better or in a different way,” said Lombardi.
Each bin contains everything from Fentanyl and Xylazine test strips to Plan B, condoms and lube. “The bins are there for when you really need it,” said Walter. She explains the importance of thinking consciously when you are taking from a bin in order to ensure that resources remain available for emergency situations. There are seven bins in total on campus.
In partnership with Campus Safety, the Esther Raushenbush Library, and Health and Wellness, Lombardi and her colleague, Alexa Lyons, resident fellow for Hill House, also initiated what they are calling “Safe SLC,” a series of harm reduction programming for the spring semester. They hope to reach more students through different avenues.“It is super important for harm reduction resources to be made available to students. We are in the midst of a mental health crisis nationally, and college students are some of the highest population really struggling,” said Lombardi. “I think what we are really trying to do here is make sure that people know that alcohol and drug education is not just about discouraging, but it's about equipping our students with whatever knowledge and tools they need to make responsible informed decisions.”
Since the 1990s, the death toll caused by opioids has been steadily increasing with no end in sight. According to a 2021 survey by the National Institutes of Health, 106,669 lives were lost in the United States due to a drug overdose. As opioid overdoses continue to rise, the importance of Narcan is more relevant than ever. Walter and Lombardi are eager to get more students involved in the initiatives on campus. Currently, they are working with Campus Safety to get the harm reduction vending machines up and running. “We already have 237 signatures from students, but further support is needed to expand the initiatives on campus,” said Walter. The harm reduction vending machines act as a longer-term solution in providing emergency supplies and reaching people who are unaware of the harm reduction services on campus.
“I think that [harm reduction] has just become more of a conversation that people are having. At home, I am engaging in a lot of those conversations about Narcan, and in high school, I was engaged in those conversations, too. So, for some people, this is not new. But, others do not even know what Narcan is or how important harm reduction measures are. I think that is the reason why it is so essential to bring awareness to students on campus,” said Walter.
Resources:
You can find a map with the location of each harm reduction bin, as well as other important information, using this link that Walter has created to make access easier.
Join the list of signatures here to help reduce barriers to emergency resources and support the harm reduction vending machine project.
Use this link on my.slc to see the Safe SLC weekly alcohol and drug education schedule for the spring semester.
Register for an online Zoom Narcan training session by emailing ssal@drugerisisinourbackyard.com for a Zoom ID invitation.
To learn more and get involved with harm reduction projects on campus, email Syd Walter at swalter@gm.slc.edu.