DRUG AND ALCOHOL-RELATED ARRESTS INCREASE AT COLLEGES

WASHINGTON -- Drug arrests rose by 7 percent and alcohol-related arrests by
more than 3 percent on college campuses in 1997, the sixth consecutive year
of increases, according to a survey being released Monday by The Chronicle
of Higher Education, a national newspaper that covers education and academic
life. In 1996, alcohol-related arrests increased by 10 percent and drug
arrests by 5 percent.

As in past years, college law enforcement officials and administrators
attributed the rise to aggressive enforcement policies rather than to more
use of drugs and alcohol.

"There is greater attention to security concerns at colleges because the
consumers -- parents -- forced schools to make campuses safer," said S.
Daniel Carter, the vice president of Security on Campus Inc., a nonprofit
organization based in King of Prussia, Pa., that works with colleges and
universities to prevent campus crime and to deal with violators and victims.
"With the statistics available now, you must face the issues." Carter said
that schools are reacting to campus violence and other criminal behavior
more thoroughly now than a decade ago, focusing on the community's specific
needs with better resources.

According to the annual study, which tracked crime reports at the nation's
major colleges and universities, there were 7,897 drug arrests in 1997, up
from 7,370 in 1996, and 17,624 alcohol-related arrests, up from 17,019 in
1996. Colleges are required by federal law to compile the number of crimes
reported on campus each year. The Chronicle's survey, covering 483 four-year
colleges and universities with more than 5,000 students each, is scheduled
to appear on its Web site and in the May 28 issue.

Keeping pace with national trends, the number of robberies and burglaries
fell 9 percent in 1996 and 8 percent in 1997, for a total of 14,837 in 1997.
Motor vehicle thefts were down by 9 percent.

Reports of aggravated assaults were down, and the number of murders on
campus fell after increases the previous two years, from 15 in 1995 and 19
in 1996 to 13 in 1997. The number of reported sex assaults grew from 1,049
to 1,053. Other sex offenses -- including statutory rape, incest, indecent
exposure and lewd behavior -- were down 29.5 percent to 93. But safety
experts noted that sex offenses are the crimes least likely to be reported
by victims. About 40 percent of the schools surveyed indicated that hate
crimes had occurred on their campuses in 1997; only about a third reported
this in the previous survey.

The University of California at Berkeley (with an enrollment of 29,797), the
top institution in drug arrests in 1996, topped the list in 1997 with 179.
It was followed again by San Jose State University, with 162. There were 142
arrests at the University of Arizona, 127 at Arizona State University and
126 at the University of Utah.

For the second year in a row, Michigan State University (with an enrollment
of 41,545) reported the highest number of alcohol-related arrests, 633. Next
came the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, with 555. They were followed
by the University of California at Berkeley, with 460; Western Michigan
University, with 401, and the University of Wisconsin at Madison, with 342.