ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 16, 1997 TAG: 9703170117
SECTION: A-3 NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: THE NEW YORK TIMES
While the survey highlights the rise in drug arrests, college health specialists said alcohol posed a far greater problem.
Drug arrests on major college campuses rose almost 18 percent in 1995, according to the annual survey of campus crime by The Chronicle of Higher Education. Some college officials attributed the rise to stricter enforcement of drug laws rather than to increased drug use.
The survey, appearing in the March 21 issue, reported reductions in other crimes, in line with national trends. The number of murders was down to 15 from 16; robberies were down to 1,038 from 1,157; and burglaries were down to 16,011 from 16,789.
But forcible sex offenses were up to 973 from 955 in 1994.
There were 6,797 arrests for drug violations in 1995, up from 5,764 the previous year. The largest increase was reported at Northern Arizona University, with 133 drug arrests in the 1995-96 academic year, up from 78 the previous year.
Ten other institutions reported more than 100 drug arrests in 1995: Arizona State University; Michigan State University; Rutgers University; San Jose State University in California; the University of Arizona; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Maryland; the University of Michigan; the University of North Carolina at Greensboro; and the University of Wisconsin.
The Chronicle survey covered all 490 four-year colleges and universities enrolling 5,000 students or more. Only Yeshiva University declined to supply data to the newspaper.
While the survey highlights the rise in drug arrests, college health specialists said alcohol abuse posed a far greater problem. The survey found 15,208 arrests for liquor-law violations, up from 15,027. And, added Steve Lustig, executive director of University Health Services at the UC Berkeley, ``Almost all of the sexual assaults here last year were alcohol-related.''
At Rutgers, Dr. Robert Bierman, director of the Student Health Service, said he was unaware of any increase in drug use on campus and thought the increase in arrests resulted from aggressive enforcement. He said Rutgers' alcohol and drug programs have been regarded as models.
``Our Adaps housing program - it stands for Alcohol and Other Drug Assistance Program for Students - has become nationally recognized,'' Bierman said. ``It places recovering students together in a part of a dormitory where they can support each other. People from around the country come here to study this program.''
But, Bierman noted, ``Rutgers has 48,000 students. ... This is a city, and a city composed of people mostly 17- to 26-years-old. You have to expect some things.''
The Chronicle cautioned that the crime reports are not necessarily complete. Crimes involving students at an urban campus, for example, might be handled by local police, not campus agencies, and thus not included in the data. Further, colleges with a professional police force, not a campus judicial system, may show higher crime rates because of more aggressive enforcement.
And not all the crimes involve students. At Berkeley, for example, Patrick Carroll, a captain in the campus police department, said that 90 percent to 95 percent of those arrested on drug charges by his officers were people not affiliated with the university.
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