Drug, alcohol incidents rise

***Editors note: After publication it was brought to our attention by Executive Assistant to the Vice President for Student Affairs Gina Peavy that the figures used in this article relate to student arrests that lead to student judicial referrals. We apologize for this confusion.***

Thirty-three GCSU students have been sent to the student judicial board for drug-related arrests from Jan. 1 to Nov. 21, an increase from the two cases seen in 2009.

Twenty-six of the drug cases concerned on-campus residence facilities, either rooms in residence halls or apartments at The Village. Both of the 2009 cases also came from the same area.

“If we are notified that drugs are being used we call Public Safety and they come do their stuff, and that case goes to student judicial,” said Housing Area Coordinator Jessica Rehling. “We have seen no drugs other than marijuana this year.”According to Rehling, the rates of drugs on GCSU’s campus are much lower compared to other schools.

Director of Public Safety Dave Groseclose said most of the cases dealt with marijuana and were usually results of other circumstances.

“Very few of (the charges) are specifically related to drugs-related calls; a significant number of drug-related charges are a result of something else, usually alcohol,” Groseclose said. “I feel like the number of drugs are up because the alcohol numbers are up.”

Similar to the drug-related referrals, the number of liquor law violation arrests sent to the student judicial board increased over 1000 percent from two referrals in 2009 to 36 this year.

“I am way more concerned about the use of alcohol; We are very well aware of the fact students are going to drink regardless of their age; what we’re concerned about is the way and the amount they drink,” Groseclose said. “I would say every officer here would agree that they see more highly intoxicated people than we use to.”

According to Groseclose, there has been an increase in the amount of alcohol that students drink before going downtown or out to socialize. Urbandictionary.com defines having drinks before an event as
pre-gaming.

“I do want to drink a decent amount before going downtown so I spend less money, that’s a given, but it’s more than that,” said junior business major Cain Cantrell. “It’s a period of time to sit back and relax, play some beer pong with friends and simply communicate with them to see how everyone’s day or week is going, and to just have some plain old fashioned fun with a group of friends that I know and love.”

When students are caught drinking by Public Safety, the department tries to abide by their motto of “protect, serve, educate.”

“If you’re caught by the Milledgeville Police Department, you’re probably going to jail…because they don’t care about the educational aspect. Instead of getting a record we try to put you in student judicial,” Groseclose said. “We’re trying to do an educational component; we like to think that’s part of our mission.”

University Housing follows a similar structure for residents caught with alcohol.

“Anyone who was in a room with alcohol or had alcohol goes through our conduct system; if it’s a first time offense it goes through our hall directors,” Rehling said. “It’s an educational process. We try really hard to help them learn from it.”

According to Groseclose, Public Safety has a 10:1 ratio of students going to the student judicial board instead of jail. For students who are repeat offenders, Public Safety will be “the bad cop” and forgo the student judicial board option.

In an effort to curb the amount of drinking, Public Safety holds informational ses
sion about the dangers and effects of alcohol. The department also hosted Alcohol Awareness week this past October. Public Safety wants students to be informed about drinking and be responsible for themselves and those they’re with.

“I know every now and then you’ve got to cut loose and have fun, but I would encourage students to seek out programs to do other than drinking,” Groseclose said. “I’d like to think… students will look out for each other, but unfortunately it almost seems like a game. Like ‘let’s see how drunk we can get him.’”

Posted by Matt Chambers on Dec 2 2010. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.