UVM LEADS NATION'S SCHOOLS IN DRUG REFERRALS

The University of Vermont has achieved a new and dubious distinction: The
school is ranked No. 1 in the nation for drug referrals and No. 2 for
alcohol referrals to its campus judicial system.

Nonetheless, the number of arrests remains small.

The rankings of four-year colleges and universities were done by The
Chronicle of Higher Education, based on comprehensive campus crime
statistics recently released by the U.S. Department of Education.

No other Vermont college or university made either Top 5 list.

UVM and other college officials say the numbers show the school is
aggressively enforcing drug and alcohol violations and is making a
concerted effort to handle problems internally, rather than foisting its
youthful offenders on to the community and clogging up local courts.

Others, including the heads of a national campus crime watchdog group and a
local detox center, say the ratings underscore a "hard-core problem" at the
state's 10,000-student flagship university - with one expert suggesting
that school leaders have not cracked down hard enough.

"We have a problem with alcohol and substance abuse. No institution
doesn't," said UVM Police Chief Gary J. Margolis. "We're at the top of the
list because we're diligent with referrals - not because we have more of a
problem than any other university."

Most of the violations referred for campus disciplinary action are for
underage drinking and possession of a small amount of marijuana - the
student caught with a beer or single joint, for instance.

UVM's No. 1 and No. 2 designations are based on trend data compiled for the
Education Department's "2001 Campus Crime and Security at Postsecondary
Institutions Survey" (which lists crimes for calendar year 2000) from 6,269
of the nation's colleges and universities. The Chronicle's ranking,
however, was limited to the 2,343 four-year public and private schools that
participated.

Federal law requires educational institutions whose students receive
federal financial aid - which includes the vast majority in the country -
to collect and make public the data on crimes occurring on their campuses.

Known as the "Clery Act" after Lehigh University student Jeanne Clery, who
was raped and murdered in a residence hall on that campus in 1986, the
Education Department was ordered by Congress in 1998 to annually compile
data on campus crime, which it did for the first time in the fall of 2000,
said spokesman David Bergeron.

According to the recent survey, UVM's police services reported 377 drug
referrals and 998 alcohol referrals last year - with the latter number
putting Vermont second in the nation only to the University of
Minnesota-Twin Cities.

UVM made 33 drug arrests, and only 10 liquor arrests.

'It's A Party School'

"I'd expect those kind of numbers at a Penn State or Michigan State with
30,000 to 40,000 students," said Howard Clery III, Jeanne's brother and
executive director of Security on Campus, a campus-crime watchdog group in
King of Prussia, Pa. "So, yeah, it's a party school - big time."

The news of UVM's newest notoriety was greeted unenthusiastically by
officials of the school, which just six months ago landed the No. 18 spot
on The Princeton Review's list of the nation's Top 20 party schools. (The
review is a division of New York-based Random House publishers; it is not
affiliated with Princeton University.)

Colleges and universities often feel that such lists damage their
enrollments and endowments.

UVM's incoming president, Daniel Mark Fogel, said that when he comes in
July he'll set a tone "absolutely dedicated to promoting the highest level
of personal and academic advancement."

Fogel is currently executive vice chancellor and provost at Louisiana State
University, which ranked No. 1 on last year's party school list, dropping
this year to the No. 2 spot behind the University of Tennessee.

The undisputed good news out of the just-released campus crime statistics
is that there is very little violent crime on or near UVM's Burlington campus.

The report cited no murders or manslaughters, one robbery, one non-
forcible sex offense, two forcible sex offenses, four motor vehicle thefts,
seven aggravated assaults and 10 cases of arson. The number of burglaries
stood at 144.

"We are in one of the safest states," Margolis said, "and our crime data
reflects that."

Crimes are reported for four geographical areas: on-campus property,
non-campus property primarily used by students (such as Greek houses),
public property (including sidewalks and streets adjacent to campus), and
on-campus residence halls.

"We, basically, draw a bubble around UVM to report crime," Margolis said.

High Vigilance

As for the drug and alcohol referrals, UVM officials insist the reason they
are so high is that vigilance is high.

But usage is also high, noted the head of the so-called local Public
Inebriate Program.

"There is a really excessive drinking problem at that school," said Tim
Moran, coordinator of the ACT I (Alcohol Crisis Team) program, an alcohol
crisis and detox center located a few blocks from UVM where drunken college
students are often taken to sleep off a binge.

For perspective, consider this: About 5,600 UVM students are younger than
the legal drinking age of 21. Which makes the nearly 1,000 referrals seem
alarming.

The problem is hardly new.

UVM has been the recipient of two grants totaling about $1.25 million from
the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, N.J., since September
1997, with the money earmarked for efforts both on-campus and in the
community aimed at reducing students' high-risk alcohol consumption.

"What we see is they are not blowing low numbers; they are blowing high
numbers," Moran said, referring to the students' blood-alcohol levels. He
said he has seen a lot of UVM students hit a .20; the legal limit for
driving is .08.

"That indicates that this is not just a few drinks on a Friday night, but
this is an on-going problem that stems back from when they were in high
school, or even younger," Moran said. "What I'm seeing here is definitely a
hard-core problem."

'We Don't Arrest'

Margolis said there is an "understanding" between UVM and the local state's
attorney's office that relatively minor drug and alcohol violations can be
handled through the campus judicial process - the aforementioned student
with a beer or a joint.

"We have a high referral because, in general, we refer everything,"
Margolis said. "We don't arrest."

"If we sent every drug and alcohol violation to the state's attorney's
office," he added, "the wheels of justice in Chittenden County would come
to a grinding halt."

The local prosecutor agrees.

"I'm comfortable with the process they've set up," said Chittenden County
State's Attorney Bob Simpson. "It provides good rehabilitation. It does
what (court) diversion does, and it gives us an opportunity to focus on
more serious crimes."

But Clery, for one, would like to see stricter adherence to the letter of
the law. He points to the overwhelming correlation between drugs and
violent crime to back up his argument.

"Just about everybody on a college campus is underage and shouldn't drink,"
Clery said, "so the schools should have tons of arrests and referrals.

"They are referring them ... so they are taking some action," he said of
UVM's police. "They are not going the whole way, but they are at least
going some of the way."

If a UVM police officer comes across an underage student in possession of
alcohol, the officer can write the student a ticket or refer him or her to
the campus judicial system. "Typically, we do one or the other," Margolis said.

In July 2000, Vermont de-criminalized liquor law violations, making them
civil offenses subject to tickets, much like speeding tickets.

On the other hand, a student caught with a joint, or small amount of
marijuana, could be cited into criminal court or, again, referred to the
campus judiciary.

Parents are notified whenever a student either cops to his or her illegal
behavior, or is found guilty at a hearing - even the very first time.

Unwelcome Distinction

"I wish we weren't at the top of the list," admitted Vice President of
Student Affairs David Nestor, "but the problems at UVM are not any worse
than on other campuses."

"We're asking that any of our staff and any of the police officers report
everything."

A UVM student who receives a so-called "charge letter," which alleges the
charges against him or her, is required to go to the university's Drug and
Alcohol Services for an assessment. Several counseling programs are
available for treatment.

Punishment ranges from a fine or community restitution to probation,
suspension, or even expulsion from the university.

During the past academic year, UVM's campus judiciary system handled about
1,400 cases, at least 75 percent of which related to drug or alcohol
violations. The outcome? Thirty-five students were suspended from anywhere
between one semester and a year, and one student was expelled, Nestor said.

Despite a more lenient attitude toward relatively minor violations, UVM
officials say any student caught with a large amount of drugs or alcohol
will most definitely end up in criminal court.

"If someone is furnishing alcohol, they get arrested," Margolis said. "If
someone has a large quantity, they get arrested. ... There isn't a 'small'
amount of cocaine or a 'small' amount of heroin."

Under the Clery Act, the Education Department collected three years' worth
of data, Bergeron said. That was possible because campuses have been
required to keep crime stats since 1990 - though they did not, at first,
have to report them to the U.S. Department of Education.

The figures show that drug referrals are up 58 percent in 2000, but that
otherwise UVM's drug and alcohol referrals remained relatively flat during
the past three calendar years.

In 1999, the school reported 238 drug referrals and 925 alcohol referrals,
along with 19 drug arrests and 11 alcohol arrests. The year before, 271
drug referrals and 962 alcohol referrals were reported, as well as 33 drug
arrests and 11 alcohol arrests.

"We are diligent in addressing this issue. We are very concerned with
making sure that our students have a risk-free, substance-free life ahead
of them," Margolis said. "As long as we do that, we are going to uncover data.

"We never ignored the fact that we had a problem," he added. "We care
enough to address the problem."