DWI rates have decreased this year, but it may be too soon to tell whether overall drinking infractions are up from past years.
During the last academic year, 42 students were charged with DWIs, and five have been charged this year, Capt. Jon Barnwell of Campus Police said.
“It actually seems a little lower than it was last year,” Barnwell said.
Thirty-one students have obtained alcohol infractions so far this year, compared to 400 overall last year, and Barnwell said he expected the numbers to rise after Saturday’s football game.
Campus Police processed about 20 students at the football game and most of the issues were alcohol-related, Barnwell said.
Police will follow up with some of those students.
Considering the number of days there are in an academic year, and the number of infractions so far, Barnwell said this year is likely to be higher than last.
Paul Cousins, director of the Office of Student Conduct, said a dry rush period for Greek organizations can account for less student charges.
But the beginning of the year also brings reunions and parties, he said.
“Returning students come back and don’t have a whole lot of academic responsibility right now, and they’re all fired up about connecting with their friends,” Cousins said.
Some new students also come to school with less restriction than at home and use alcohol, he said.
Not all alcohol infractions come through Campus Police or the Office of Student Conduct.
“A big chunk of those incidents that occur in the halls are actually resolved in the halls,” Cousins said.
The infractions that have come to Student Conduct, Cousins said, have not been alarmingly high in frequency.
“It sure doesn’t feel to me like [the number is] problematic,” he said.
Student Conduct is in the process of moving to a new electronic database, according to Cousins, as its former system could not accomodate for the Office’s needs.
Lock Whiteside, student chief justice and a graduate student in political science, said the Judicial Board had been thinking of ways to make students aware of the dangers of drinking and driving.
“We’re trying now to come up with a non-academic presentation that coincides with the academic integrity presentation,” he said.
The board has T-shirts and pins to remind students of rules, but Whiteside said the group has to focus on DWIs.
Cousins said DWI rates are of concern because of the risks associated with drunken driving.
“That’s probably the most dangerous behavior that our students might engage in in any frequency,” he said.
But so far, the rates have not been higher than normal.
“It’s been a pretty good opening, all things considered,” he said.
Barnwell also said amid reports of illegal drinking behaviors, many students are doing the right thing.
“In some of our after-hours checkpoints, we’ve seen a lot of students that are being designated drivers for students who are of age,” Barnwell said. “We’re proud of our community for doing that.”
