According to the 2008 Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics, the number of drug violation arrests on Fairfield’s campus rose from two to fifteen over the past three years.
An explanation for this rise could be that in 2006, the Department of Public Safety changed its procedures in dealing with drug abuse violations so that the Fairfield Police Department is now notified for any and all narcotic violations that Public Safety encounters.
Susan Birge, director and assistant vice president of student resources of Fairfield counseling and psychological said that the reason the number of arrests has increased is because of the new University protocol, not because of a growing drug problem.
Birge noted that while the number of drug violation arrests has increased, the number of drug related violations disciplinary referrals was actually lower in 2007 than in the three preceding years. In 2007 the number of violations was down from 84 to 77, which included the 15 arrests.
‘Fairfield’s Substance Abuse Program is very comprehensive’ said Birge. ‘Students who have alcohol and/or drug violations participate in CHOICES or BASICS, which are educational interventions.’
Birge also added that ‘depending on the outcome of the substance abuse evaluation, students participate in individual or group treatment to address these issues.’
The Jeanne Clery Report is published every October, meaning that the 2008 report only included 2007 statistics and the three years prior. ‘Though I have not reviewed all 2008 statistics, it’s fair to assume that our numbers will remain generally consistent’ said Frank Ficko, associate director of the Public Safety Department, of the predicted 2008 crime statistics. The crime statistics for 2008 will be published in October 2009.
Each year, Fairfield, along with many other Universities around the country is required to publish all crime statistics on campus in the Jeanne Clery Report. Besides drug and alcohol violations of campus, the report includes the number of sexual offenses, burglary, motor vehicle theft, and much more. The Clery Report’s official website has the statistics for all the school that conduct this report, and Fairfield’s stats are available to everyone on StagWeb and in the Public Safety office.
In comparing Fairfield University to its neighbor, Sacred Heart University, the results seem dramatically different. The drug arrests at Sacred Heart were one arrest in 2005 which rose to five arrests in 2007.
Also rising was the number of disciplinary referrals for liquor law violations on campus. The number of ‘write-up’ incidences rose from 756 in 2006 to 900 in 2007.
Ficko did not feel that this was a particularly significant jump and said to keep in mind that if Public Safety finds a dorm room with five students violating liquor laws, that one room becomes five violations.
‘It depends on the year,’ said Ficko.
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