COLLEGES REPORT INCREASES IN ARRESTS FOR DRUG AND ALCOHOL VIOLATIONS

Experts Differ On Whether Trends Reflect Tougher Enforcement Or More
Substance Abuse

Arrests for violations of drug or alcohol laws at the nation's
colleges and universities increased 7.2 per cent and 3.6 per cent,
respectively, from 1996 to 1997.

The increases mark the sixth consecutive year that arrests for such
violations have gone up, according to an annual campus crime survey by
The Chronicle.

As in past years, many campus police officers and safety experts
attribute the increases not to increased alcohol or drug use by
students, but to more-aggressive enforcement efforts and toughened
policies restricting drinking on campus. They also say many of the
arrests involve outsiders who were visiting campus.

However, some health researchers point out that more and more college
students who are drinking alcoholic beverages are doing so in order to
get drunk, and as a result are behaving in ways that result in arrest.
A new study suggests that illegal drug use on the campuses is also
rising.

The Chronicle's survey of nearly 500 of the nation's largest colleges
and universities also showed that arrests for weapons-law violations
grew significantly from 1996 to 1997. The number of reports of
forcible sex offenses, such as rape and fondling, increased slightly.

However, the number of non-forcible sex offenses (incest and statutory
rape), along with murders, robberies, aggravated assaults, burglaries,
and motor-vehicle thefts,institutions categorize them, & also the
order they appear in story. jln) decreased, reflecting reduced rates
of such crimes in urban areas around the country.

The Chronicle's annual survey, which has been conducted for the past
seven years, is based on the crime reports that colleges are required
by federal law to disclose annually. The most recent survey is based
on the reports of 483 four-year colleges and universities with more
than 5,000 students.

Experts on campus safety warn against using the data to make
comparisons among campuses, or to conclude that a campus with a
relatively low number of reported crimes is safe, while one with a
high number is dangerous.

The survey showed that in 1997, arrests for liquor-law violations --
including illegal possession or transportation of alcoholic beverages
- -- totaled 17,624, up from 17,019 in 1996. The 3.6-per-cent increase,
however, was smaller than the 12.2-per-cent increase recorded from
1995 to 1996.

Five institutions -- the State University of West Georgia, followed by
the Universities of Minnesota (Twin Cities) and Oregon; Clemson
University; and the University of Georgia, reported increases in
alcohol-related arrests of 120 or more.

For the second year in a row, Michigan State University reported the
highest number of alcohol arrests -- 633. That figure, however, is
down 10.2 per cent from 1996's total of 705. Michigan State's figures
for both years also include liquor-infraction tickets, which officials
consider arrests.

Tony Kleibecker, a spokesman for Michigan State's Department of Police
and Public Safety, says the decline from 1996 to 1997 suggests that
students are responding to the university's efforts to curb drinking,
at a time when the state has tightened its alcohol laws. "Students are
definitely being more careful about where they drink," he says.
"They're saying, 'I don't need the infraction, so I'm going to stay
inside and not cause trouble.'"

Michigan State officials, he adds, are not concerned that the
institution has twice topped the list of alcohol arrests. The
university enrolls more than 40,000 students, he points out.

What's more, Michigan State plays host to five or six football games
every fall, each one bringing in 75,000 people -- many of them
underage -- who attend tailgate parties before, during, and after the
games. University officials could not determine how many of the 633
arrests in 1997 were of non-students, but they say that traditionally,
the proportion has been about half. "Football Saturdays alone can
really spike our numbers," says Mr. Kleibecker.

In the past year, alcohol has helped to fuel two riots involving
Michigan State students. Seventeen students were arrested in May 1998
during a riot prompted by the university's decision to ban alcohol at
a popular campus tailgating spot. This past March, about 5,000
Michigan State students and others set fires, overturned cars, and
smashed windows near the campus after the university's team lost to
Duke University in a semifinal game of the National Collegiate
Athletic Association's basketball championship.

The greatest increase in alcohol arrests from 1996 to 1997 occurred at
the State University of West Georgia, where the number rose from 62 to
265.

Thomas J. Mackel, director of public safety, says the university
"beefed up" its patrols of residence halls to cut down on students'
parties and carousing. Three "really aggressive" officers on bicycles
patrol areas near residence halls and parking lots from 7 p.m. to 3
a.m. daily, he adds. "We actually have more people looking for the
violations. It wasn't like all of a sudden our students started drinking."

Clemson reported the fourth-largest increase in liquor arrests, to 200
in 1997 from 68 in 1996. Heather Burkett, a records clerk in the
public-safety division, explains that the number grew because
officials began counting arrests of "minors in possession" of alcohol,
a statistic that the federal law calls for reporting. Previously,
officials had counted only arrests for public intoxication, disorderly
conduct, and violations of open-container laws.

Campus-safety experts say the total of 7,897 arrests in 1997 for
violations of drug laws, a 7.2-per-cent increase over 1996, also can
be largely explained by tougher enforcement. The increase exceeded the
5-per-cent rise from 1995 to 1996.

The University of Oregon reported the largest increase in drug
arrests, from 21 to 106. Thomas R. Hicks, associate director of the
Office of Public Safety, says the increase resulted largely from a
decision in 1997 to broaden the types of drug violations reported.

Under federal law, institutions are required to report only the number
of actual arrests for such violations, which is what the university
had been doing. Under Oregon law, possession of less than one ounce of
marijuana is considered a "violation," subject to a fine. But
possession of the same amount in some other states would result in
arrest. Accordingly, the university decided to include such violations
in its annual crime report, Mr. Hicks says. "We felt we needed to be
consistent with what other campuses might be reporting."

Four other institutions -- the Universities of Akron, Arizona, and
California at Riverside, and Washington State University -- also
reported increases of more than 45 drug arrests from 1996 to 1997.

In 1997, the University of California at Berkeley reported 179 arrests
- -- more than any other institution -- for drug-law violations. That
figure, a campus police official says, includes citations, which
technically are "arrests," even though no one is taken into custody.
The university also ranked No. 1 in the category in 1996, with 193
drug arrests and citations.

In recent years, says Lieut. Adan Tejada, of the university's police
department, officers have stepped up their patrols on the south side
of campus, including People's Park, where drug dealing, panhandling,
and drinking had become more common. In 1997, campus police officers
made about 40 narcotics arrests in the park, few of them involving
Berkeley students, he says. Most of the arrests were for the
possession or sale of cocaine, heroine, LSD, or marijuana, he says.

While police officials say tougher law enforcement may be driving up
the number of drug and alcohol arrests, some health researchers say
worrisome trends among college students may also be to blame.

Henry Wechsler, director of college alcohol studies at Harvard
University's School of Public Health, points out that even though
research shows a drop in the number of college students who are
consuming alcohol, those who do drink are consuming more than ever
before.

A 1997 study of drinking at 116 colleges by Mr. Wechsler and other
researchers found that the proportion of students surveyed who
reported drinking alcohol to "get drunk" increased from 39.4 per cent
in 1993 to 52.3 per cent in 1997. "There is more drunkenness, and
along with that are more problems," he says.

What's more, a forthcoming report, based on a survey by Mr. Wechsler
and others, concludes that there has been an increase in drug use by
college students from 1993 to 1997. The survey, he says, shows that a
large cohort of college students began using drugs in middle school
and have continued doing so. He declined to divulge further details
until the study's release this year. "Unless things change," he says,
"the increase in drug use should last for a few more years."

In 1997, institutions reported a total of 951 arrests for weapons-law
violations, up 4.4 per cent from 1996. The total had declined by 14.2
per cent from 1995 to 1996.

Some campus police officials and safety experts say the statistic
fluctuates so much each year that it doesn't necessarily reveal any
trend. Others, however, say the increase reflects the fact that
growing numbers of children, teenagers, and adults are carrying
weapons -- either to protect themselves or to feel powerful.

Arizona State University reported 32 arrests for weapons-law
violations in 1997, more than any other institution.

Stewart F. Adams, crime-prevention coordinator for the university's
Department of Public Safety, says the majority of those arrested were
not Arizona State students. Thirteen of the arrests were of students
attending an alternative high school for troubled teenagers near the
university's East Campus. Most of the remaining 19 arrests were of
local gang members who "cruise" through the main campus at night, he
says. Most of the weapons confiscated were semiautomatic handguns that
were found during routine traffic stops.

"We still feel the campus is fairly safe, because we don't have a
whole lot of violations occurring during class hours," Mr. Adams says.
Campus and local police officers are working together to curb the
presence of gang members on and around the campus.

S. Daniel Carter, vice-president of Security on Campus, a non-profit,
campus-watchdog organization in King of Prussia, Pa., says that even
if crimes are committed by outsiders, "it is ultimately the
responsibility" of campus officials to provide a safe
environment.

While some campus crimes increased substantially from 1996 to 1997,
the number of reports of forcible sex offenses grew at a much slower
rate, 0.4 per cent. From 1995 to 1996, the number of forcible sex
offenses had risen 14.6 per cent. Experts say sex offenses continue to
be the crimes least likely to be reported by victims.

Mr. Carter says the 1996 figures might have been inflated because in
May of that year, the U.S. Department of Education sent a letter to
institutions reiterating which crimes needed to be reported. After
that, he says, many institutions became more diligent about reporting
crimes.

Saginaw Valley State University in 1997 saw the number of forcible sex
offenses reported on its campus rise to six, from one in the previous
year.

Craig T. Maxwell, Saginaw Valley's director of public safety, says the
university has tried to help students overcome fears that they might
have about reporting sex crimes. The department's staff includes a
female officer who is a rape specialist, and students have been made
aware, through campus programs, that she can help victims of sex crimes.

Many safety experts and police officers believe that the sharp
29.5-per-cent drop in non-forcible sex offenses on the nation's
campuses from 1996 to 1997 results from more and more institutions'
finally reporting such crimes correctly.

Based on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's definition, which
institutions are supposed to use in reporting their crime statistics,
the category should include only incest and statutory rape. However,
many colleges also have included sex crimes such as indecent exposure,
lewd behavior, and others that do not involve force.

At Oregon, for example, reports of non-forcible sex offenses fell from
seven in 1996 to zero in 1997, because officials stopped including
instances of public indecency.

The total number of murders on the nation's campuses also fell, from
19 in 1996 to 13 in 1997, following an increase of four from 1995 to
1996. Aggravated assaults were down 0.8 per cent in 1997, burglaries
dropped 8.1 per cent, and robberies and motor-vehicle thefts each fell
by 9.2 per cent. In cities and rural areas nationally, the F.B.I.
reported an overall 2.4-per-cent drop from 1996 to 1997 in violent or
property crimes, including aggravated assault, burglary, and
motor-vehicle theft.

In October 1998, a number of federal legislative changes were made to
push institutions to be more diligent -- and open -- in reporting
those and other crimes.

Under the Student Right-to-Know and Campus Security Act of 1990, and a
1992 amendment to the act, colleges and universities are required
annually to report crimes in 10 categories: murder; forcible and
non-forcible sex offenses; robbery; aggravated assault; burglary;
motor-vehicle theft; and arrests for liquor-, drug-, and weapons-law
violations.

Under a provision passed during the 1998 reauthorization of the Higher
Education Act, colleges are now also required to include in their
reports arson and manslaughter, and to record the number of people
referred for campus disciplinary action for liquor-, drug-, and
weapons-law violations.

In addition, colleges must report the number of hate crimes that
result in "bodily injury." Previously, institutions had to report only
the number that involved aggravated assault, murder, or rape.

About 40 per cent of the 483 institutions in The Chronicle's survey
noted, in some way, whether hate crimes had occurred on their
campuses. Only about a third had done so in the previous survey.

About 330 institutions responded to The Chronicle's written request
for copies of their crime reports. The remaining reports came in after
subsequent telephone calls. Many institutions also are making their
reports available on World-Wide Web sites.

"For years, there were a whole lot of people who didn't believe -- or
chose not to believe -- that these crimes occur on the nation's
campuses," says Max L. Bromley, an associate professor of criminology
at the University of South Florida, and a former official of the
university's police department. "The reports raise the whole dialogue.
People can no longer bury their heads in the sand."

Michelle Carroll Provided Research Assistance For This
Article.