Newly released campus crime statistics for last year chart dramatic leaps in liquor and drug offenses, continuing a trend of yearly spikes in the number of students caught drinking underage and smoking marijuana.
Department of Public Safety director Tom Hicks said the statistics partly reflect the campus police force’s increased power to issue citations.
Last year, 392 more students received liquor citations for violating both the University alcohol code and Eugene ordinances than in 2004. These include violations such as a minor in possession of alcohol (MIP), displaying an open container and distributing alcohol to minors.
Hicks said the 344-percent increase in booze busts is partially a sign of the first year DPS has had full authority to issue MIPs, which were previously issued by the Eugene Police Department.
Hicks also attributed the jump in alcohol busts to an “increasing trend” among students.
“More students are coming into college with the knowledge of alcohol and drugs,” Hicks said. “It used to be that some people saw it as a rite of passage.”
More than 280 of the liquor violations occurred inside University residence halls, while 142 students were caught drinking illegally elsewhere on campus.
DPS officials knock on the doors of about 70 residence hall rooms a weekend because of noise, alcohol and marijuana odor complaints, Hicks said.
The number of reported drug violations, including possession of small amounts of marijuana or drug paraphernalia, also increased dramatically, jumping from fewer than 50 citations in previous years to 229 citations in 2005.
Hicks said two factors contributed to this spike: DPS officials’ ability to issue tickets and the rise in marijuana use on campus.
DPS Lt. Herb Horner said University residence hall assistants contribute significantly to the fluctuation of citations issued because they decide whether or not to contact DPS or send students to Student Judicial Affairs.
Student Judicial Affairs has continually seen more students for drugs and alcohol over the past three years, with the number of cases referred to University disciplinarians climbing from 1,124 students in 2003 to 1,519 in 2005. These numbers represent students who violated University drug and alcohol policies and only received “write-ups” from RAs.
The rise may stagnate this year, however, because RAs have started to contact DPS more often when they suspect violations of University policy, Horner said.
“There are more and more people getting tired of the behavior,” Hicks said.
Car theft on campus last year paralleled rising auto theft in Eugene, increasing from three to 26 stolen vehicles during the 2004-05 school years.
“We see the same thing in the whole community,” said Hicks, who added that he doubted car theft would continue to rise because it is cyclical.
He pointed to students who park cars overnight on the east side of campus as typical victims.
Reported campus burglaries more than tripled in 2004, totaling 145, but dropped to 70 burglaries in 2005.
Six of the burglaries occurred in residence halls, which Hicks attributed to student thieves.
Ninety percent of the burglaries happen when prowlers enter University buildings and classrooms to steal computers and school equipment, Hicks said.
Last fall, DPS started limiting the number of unlocked doors in University buildings, such as Lawrence Hall, where students work around the clock in architecture studios, Hicks said.
“It forces people who have no reason to be there to use an entrance where people can see them,” Hicks said, noting how people can walk into some campus buildings as late as 11 p.m.
“There’s this perception that the University is just wide open,” Hicks said.
Forcible sex offenses on campus jumped to 10 in 2005, seven more than in 2004.
Hicks said sexual assault is always under-reported.
“The victim and survivor choose not to report it,” Hicks said. “People are concerned. They don’t want the information to become public.”
DPS provided the report as required by the federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, which mandates that college campuses provide annual statistics. It was passed to commemorate Lehigh University freshman Jeanne Clery, who was raped and murdered in her residence hall room in April 1986.
Clery and her parents had not been informed about violent crimes on campus during the years before she enrolled.
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