The number of students facing University disciplinary action after being cited for liquor-law violations increased sixfold during 2007, a sign of Princeton’s increasing concern about high-risk drinking.
Judicial referrals increased from 21 in 2005 and 20 in 2006 to 120 last year, evidence that patrols by Public Safety officers were “stepped up significantly” in the dorms, said Public Safety Director Steven J. Healy.
“All our efforts are geared toward changing behavior,” Healy said. “We wanted to send a strong message that the University would not tolerate actions that are a potential danger to students.”
The most common offenses cited were providing alcohol to someone under 21 and possessing a fake ID, he said.
Healy said that tougher enforcement is one part of the University’s overall strategy to reduce dangerous behavior by students; it also includes education and counseling. A student-faculty-alumni group called the Alcohol Coalition Committee was created last year and will continue to meet to discuss ways to change the culture of drinking among students.
Public Safety officers typically are called to enter a dorm room because of a noise complaint or because drinking games are taking place, Healy said. “This isn’t about a kid having a Budweiser — it’s about kids lining up shots,” he said.
He said an increase in judicial referrals for drug-related violations — from 12 in 2005 to 22 in 2006 to 32 last year — also stemmed from the increased patrols. The cases generally involved “trace amounts” of marijuana, he said.
The cases referred for disciplinary action involved a very small percentage of the University’s 4,800 undergraduates and 2,300 graduate students, Healy said.
While information was not available from the Office of the Dean of Students for alcohol-related cases during 2007–08, in prior years disciplinary probation ranging from three months to two years was given to students who served or made alcohol available to students who were under the legal drinking age. In some cases an alcohol evaluation and/or campus service also was required.
The University’s annual campus-security report also listed 14 forcible sex offenses, up from 12 the previous year; six aggravated assaults, up from none the previous two years; and 57 burglaries, up from 37 the previous year; but Healy said that “the numbers show that we are a reasonably safe campus.”