The number of alcohol arrests recorded in the Ohio University Police Department's crime statistics from 2005 has decreased from last year, but the number of students sent to judiciaries for alcohol violations is on the rise.
For 2005, OUPD made 181 alcohol arrests, a 30.6 percent decrease from 2004. Those arrestees were also referred to University Judiciaries. However, OUPD reported an additional 1,257 disciplinary referrals for alcohol violations, marking an 18 percent increase from the previous year. The statistics are reported each fall as mandated by the Clery Act, which requires every university or college that participates in federal financial aid programs to release crime statistics from the previous year.
OU had fewer alcohol arrests per 100 students than Kent State University, Ohio State University and Bowling Green State University, but led those schools and Miami University in disciplinary referrals for alcohol. According to the statistics, non-police authorities, such as resident assistants, in on-campus residential areas initiated the vast majority of disciplinary referrals.
OUPD Lt. Rich Russell said comparing the statistics from different campuses can be difficult because every college has different circumstances.
It's tough to compare every campus G? Depending on the location
the crimes could be completely different Russell said.
For instance, the OSU Police Department deals only with on-campus crime because it is located in a larger city. OSU also has only 24 percent of its students living on campus, while 45 percent of OU students live on campus.
The odds of a Residence Life employee referring a student to judiciaries for an alcohol violation increase when more students live on campus, said J. Malcolm Smith, interim director of University Judiciaries at OU.
Alcohol arrests at OU dropped from 507 in 2003 to 261 in 2004, partly because the U.S. Department of Education changed its definition of crimes that occurred adjacent to campus in the statistics to include only public property directly adjacent to a campus, OUPD's Russell said. Taking this into account, Russell said, there is usually not much fluctuation in the number of alcohol-related arrests from year to year.
The number of judiciary referrals for alcohol was at a three-year high in 2005. The larger-than-before freshman class in 2005 could have contributed to the high number of judicial referrals for alcohol, Smith said, but there is no way to draw a line of causality.
Kent Smith, OU vice president for student affairs, said the university is looking to make a long-term change in alcohol use at OU. The increase in 2005, he said, could have occurred because the emphasis placed on the issue might have resulted in stronger enforcement.
J. Malcolm Smith said that so far, the numbers for 2006 show a reduction from the previous year.
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Erin Barker
[B]More alcohol-related disciplinary actions reported at OU than other compared schools[/B]
