Cardinal Nights participants enjoy a treat during a Disneyland trip in November 2014. Stanford’s program of alcohol-free social events for students has become a model for other campuses. (Image credit: Courtesy Cardinal Nights)

Every once in a while, when Trista Shideler wants to remind herself why she does what she does – produce social events under the Cardinal Nights banner – she opens her “gratitude folder” and reads an email she received from a Stanford student.

It makes me so happy to see that there are lots of ways to have fun on campus that don’t involve partying. The events you manage to put on are so entertaining and enjoyable, I would feel like I was missing out on “the Stanford experience” if I did drink.

It’s a message that inspires Shideler, who produces two to three alcohol-free events for Stanford students every weekend in her role as assistant director and student engagement coordinator in the Office of Alcohol Policy and Education (OAPE).

“We’re not just putting on an event, we’re also producing a ‘Stanford experience,'” she said. “That was such a huge statement to me about the importance of what we do. When students look back on their time at Stanford they’re going to think about the time they went to that Broadway show, or the time they went to that concert, or saw that comedian. It’s something I think about when I’m planning events.”

Stanford launched Cardinal Nights 3½ years ago to increase the number and variety of social events for students, including concerts, novelty acts and crafts nights on campus, and trips off campus – including free transportation – to see movies, touring Broadway shows, and Major League Baseball games.

Last week, Campus Activities Magazine gave Cardinal Nights the 2015 Campus Program of the Year Award, one of 14 awards announced in its April issue. The magazine said Stanford was well-known for its research and its undergraduate education program.

“Perhaps less well known about this institution is its programming schedule, which is not only active, but very uniquely structured for the campus market,” the magazine said. “Combine this with an almost captive audience that is highly involved and you get a perfect choice for 2015’s Best Campus Program.”

Cardinal Nights on and off campus

Some Cardinal Nights events are small, such as painting night, when two-dozen students create paintings under the guidance of an artist. Events devoted to crafts – tie-dying T-shirts, decorating mugs – regularly attract 200 to 300 students. Comedian Aziz Ansari filled every one of the 710 seats in Dinkelspiel Auditorium.

On May 9, Cardinal Nights is hosting “Stanford’s Got Talent,” a 2½-hour variety show featuring talented student performers, including a comedian, singers, a jump rope crew and flamenco-style guitarist. Stand-up comedian and alumna Olivia Harewood will emcee the free event, which will be held in Dinkelspiel Auditorium.

Stanford students learn square dancing and line dancing earlier this month at the Arrillaga Outdoor Education and Recreation Center. Sixty students danced to a live band. (Image credit: Ari Echt-Wilson)

Cardinal Nights also co-sponsors large events, such as the annual Frost Music and Arts Festival, and helps fund student-run events with mini-grants.

One of its popular events is “Pick Your Own Movie Night.” Students receive free or discounted movie tickets good for one of the 20 movies showing at a multiplex in Redwood City. Free buses provide round-trip transportation.

“There are lots of restaurants nearby, so some students will take the 7 p.m. bus, have dinner and then see a 10 o’clock movie,” Shideler said. “They make a night of it. That’s awesome to see. It gives them the opportunity to make their own experiences. We are just the train taking them to their destination.”

Shideler oversees a staff of nine students. Each one plans one event per quarter.

“Students are excited to get paid for planning events,” she said. “They also learn a lot by doing it. It’s really awesome to see how working on Cardinal Nights has helped them figure out their skill set and develop their leadership abilities.”

In coming weeks, Cardinal Nights will take students to a special screening of the new movie, Avengers: Age of Ultron, in Redwood City and to a performance of The Book of Mormon in San Francisco.

“We provide free transportation and keep ticket prices low – $3, $5, $7 or $10,” Shideler said. “If students want to go to an event but can’t afford it, all they have to do is email me, and we’ll give them comp tickets – no questions asked.”

Cardinal Nights rewards students for attending multiple events with its Very Important Cardinal (VIC) Loyalty program, which offers advance notice of ticket sales, T-shirts, gift certificates for snacks at movie theaters, and meet-and-greet opportunities with performers. Last year, Cardinal Nights took students who had attended seven or more events on a whirlwind 24-hour trip to Disneyland.

If you build it, they will come

Ralph Castro, director of OAPE, which is part of Student Affairs, said Cardinal Nights has become a model for other small residential colleges and universities. It is one of several programs offered by OAPE, whose mission is to reduce high-risk drinking among students and to increase social outlets for non-drinkers and light drinkers.

Castro said drinking had become the “default” social choice for some Stanford students, because it was easier to go to a party or stay in the dorm and drink than to get off campus to see a concert, performance or movie. He knew Cardinal Nights would have to offer premium programming to attract students.

“We knew that if we brought in the right musical acts, or we brought in the right comedians or we brought in the right movies, that students would come to our events,” he said. “We knew from our surveys that deep down, there was a high desire for social events among students – drinkers and non-drinkers alike.”

Castro said students don’t bring alcohol to Cardinal Nights, or show up drunk.

“All of our events are either destinations or physical activities and each one has a social script, which reduces the social anxiety and ambiguity that breed student drinking,” he said.

“If you are going to see a movie, you’re following a social script that doesn’t include alcohol. If you’re going to make a stuffed animal at ‘Build a Critter,’ you don’t show up drunk. You know what you’re going to do, you’re surrounded by people engaged in the same event or activity, and you click into the social script for the evening.”

Castro said Stanford has made great strides challenging the mistaken notion that alcohol is required to have fun.

After each event, Cardinal Nights sends its audience a short survey asking for feedback on the evening’s event and information about drinking habits.

In 2011, 80 percent of student respondents said they needed alcohol to have fun at Stanford. By 2014, the situation was completely reversed: 95 percent of respondents said they did not need alcohol to have fun.

“We’re seeing the culture change,” Castro said.

He said the surveys also have shown that 25 percent of students would likely have been drinking if they had not attended that evening’s Cardinal Nights event.

“That represents a huge reduction in risk for students,” Castro said. “If students are not drinking, their risk of making poor judgments or getting sick is zero. We built this program to support non-drinkers in a way that we hadn’t before, but we’re actually pulling drinkers out of the drinking milieu as well.”