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The420Guy
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The University of Washington earned the dubious distinction of being among
the top schools in drug arrests in 1999, a year that saw drug and liquor
arrests continue to rise on campuses across the country, according to two
new reports.
Drug arrests at 6,300 colleges and universities grew 6 percent from the
previous year and 12 percent since 1997, but overall, campuses proved safer
than the communities around them, according to an Education Department
report submitted to Congress this month.
Arrests for liquor violations grew 20 percent since 1997 but showed only a
0.4 percent increase between 1998 and 1999.
The department's report did not look at crime on individual campuses, but
an analysis of the underlying data, published in the journal Chronicle of
Higher Education, showed the UW to be fourth in the nation in 1999 drug
arrests, with 127.
The UW's Pac-10 counterpart, the University of California at Berkeley,
topped the list with 265.
Federal law requires colleges and universities to keep track of crimes,
including violent offenses, thefts and drug and alcohol arrests.
But the national data, collected for the first time last year by the U.S.
Department of Education, does not distinguish between student and
nonstudent arrests and makes no per-capita adjustments, meaning bigger
schools will usually show higher total arrests.
The data collection has also drawn criticism from campus police and safety
experts for inconsistent and sometimes vague reporting requirements.
Berkeley officials, for instance, say they erroneously combined on- and
off-campus drug arrests, according to Chronicle's upcoming Feb. 2 issue.
The University of Maine, which also ranked above the UW, said it could not
separate drug arrests from disciplinary referrals, the Chronicle reported.
That means the University of Washington - which did not report any
discrepancies in its numbers - could rank as high as No. 2 nationally in
drug violations.
Of the 127 drug arrests on the UW campus in 1999, nearly all involved
marijuana violations, according to campus police; only a handful involved
harder drugs such as LSD or cocaine.
Still, the arrests marked a significant increase over the 72 reported in
1998 and the 29 the previous year.
Campus police say they are unsure whether the increase resulted from a rise
in drug use or a shift in enforcement.
"I think there is a general feeling that usage has increased some, but I
also think part of the increase has been officers citing more often than
they maybe did in the past," said UW police Capt. Randy Stegmeier.
Stegmeier said he doesn't believe drug use is higher at the UW than at
other campuses. But he said he isn't surprised by the high ranking, saying
the arrests sometimes involve street kids and others who wander onto campus
from University Way. The university is also rare, he said, in placing
officers in regular beats inside residence halls, though less than 20
percent of the on-campus arrests were in student housing.
Most arrests occurred in campus park areas, Stegmeier said.
Both the UW and Washington State University, which has received much
unwanted notoriety for its students' drinking, were well below the
liquor-arrest leaders. Michigan State University topped that list with 856.
The report, which is receiving criticism for depicting a soft portrait of
campus crime, examined only on-campus offenses, leaving out areas that
often include fraternity and sorority houses, though schools are required
by law to report crimes in those areas as well.
The UW, for instance, reported two aggravated assaults on campus in 1999
but 73 on public property surrounding the campus - an area that includes
Greek Row and University Way, where students regularly gather and shop.
That number, however, reflected a 17 percent decrease from 1998.
The Education Department compared on-campus crime to national crime
statistics to determine that students were generally safer at their schools
than in the general population.
On campus, for instance, the national rate of aggravated assaults was 22.6
per 100,000 students in 1999, the report said. In the general population,
the national rate that year was 336.1 per 100,000 people.
Newshawk: Sledhead
Pubdate: Tue, 30 Jan 2001
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2001 The Seattle Times Company
Contact: opinion@seatimes.com
Address: P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111
Fax: (206) 382-6760
Website: The Seattle Times | Local news, sports, business, politics, entertainment, travel, restaurants and opinion for Seattle and the Pacific Northwest.
Author: Ray Rivera
the top schools in drug arrests in 1999, a year that saw drug and liquor
arrests continue to rise on campuses across the country, according to two
new reports.
Drug arrests at 6,300 colleges and universities grew 6 percent from the
previous year and 12 percent since 1997, but overall, campuses proved safer
than the communities around them, according to an Education Department
report submitted to Congress this month.
Arrests for liquor violations grew 20 percent since 1997 but showed only a
0.4 percent increase between 1998 and 1999.
The department's report did not look at crime on individual campuses, but
an analysis of the underlying data, published in the journal Chronicle of
Higher Education, showed the UW to be fourth in the nation in 1999 drug
arrests, with 127.
The UW's Pac-10 counterpart, the University of California at Berkeley,
topped the list with 265.
Federal law requires colleges and universities to keep track of crimes,
including violent offenses, thefts and drug and alcohol arrests.
But the national data, collected for the first time last year by the U.S.
Department of Education, does not distinguish between student and
nonstudent arrests and makes no per-capita adjustments, meaning bigger
schools will usually show higher total arrests.
The data collection has also drawn criticism from campus police and safety
experts for inconsistent and sometimes vague reporting requirements.
Berkeley officials, for instance, say they erroneously combined on- and
off-campus drug arrests, according to Chronicle's upcoming Feb. 2 issue.
The University of Maine, which also ranked above the UW, said it could not
separate drug arrests from disciplinary referrals, the Chronicle reported.
That means the University of Washington - which did not report any
discrepancies in its numbers - could rank as high as No. 2 nationally in
drug violations.
Of the 127 drug arrests on the UW campus in 1999, nearly all involved
marijuana violations, according to campus police; only a handful involved
harder drugs such as LSD or cocaine.
Still, the arrests marked a significant increase over the 72 reported in
1998 and the 29 the previous year.
Campus police say they are unsure whether the increase resulted from a rise
in drug use or a shift in enforcement.
"I think there is a general feeling that usage has increased some, but I
also think part of the increase has been officers citing more often than
they maybe did in the past," said UW police Capt. Randy Stegmeier.
Stegmeier said he doesn't believe drug use is higher at the UW than at
other campuses. But he said he isn't surprised by the high ranking, saying
the arrests sometimes involve street kids and others who wander onto campus
from University Way. The university is also rare, he said, in placing
officers in regular beats inside residence halls, though less than 20
percent of the on-campus arrests were in student housing.
Most arrests occurred in campus park areas, Stegmeier said.
Both the UW and Washington State University, which has received much
unwanted notoriety for its students' drinking, were well below the
liquor-arrest leaders. Michigan State University topped that list with 856.
The report, which is receiving criticism for depicting a soft portrait of
campus crime, examined only on-campus offenses, leaving out areas that
often include fraternity and sorority houses, though schools are required
by law to report crimes in those areas as well.
The UW, for instance, reported two aggravated assaults on campus in 1999
but 73 on public property surrounding the campus - an area that includes
Greek Row and University Way, where students regularly gather and shop.
That number, however, reflected a 17 percent decrease from 1998.
The Education Department compared on-campus crime to national crime
statistics to determine that students were generally safer at their schools
than in the general population.
On campus, for instance, the national rate of aggravated assaults was 22.6
per 100,000 students in 1999, the report said. In the general population,
the national rate that year was 336.1 per 100,000 people.
Newshawk: Sledhead
Pubdate: Tue, 30 Jan 2001
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2001 The Seattle Times Company
Contact: opinion@seatimes.com
Address: P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111
Fax: (206) 382-6760
Website: The Seattle Times | Local news, sports, business, politics, entertainment, travel, restaurants and opinion for Seattle and the Pacific Northwest.
Author: Ray Rivera
