Most College Alcohol Arrests at VT

November 16, 2009 • By The Breeze,
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HARRISONBURG, Va. — Police charged Virginia Tech students with nearly three times as many on-campus alcohol-related crimes compared to other universities in 2008, according to crime statistics released under the Clery Act in October.

Virginia Tech reported 219 liquor law arrests, while JMU reported 87 and the University of Virginia reported 80. In addition, 598 alcohol violations were referred for disciplinary action at Tech, 573 at JMU and 16 at U.Va.

The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, first passed in 1990, mandates all state universities receiving federal aid maintain a crime log, provide timely notices of on-campus crimes threatening student saftey and provide annual statistics of all crimes committed on campuses.

However, because these statistics cover only on-campus incidents at universities, it may be difficult to judge which universities have larger drinking populations. Since Virginia Tech has a larger population living on campus, the number of violations is inflated. JMU has an on-campus arrest rate of 1.4 percent for its 6,000 students living on campus, compared to Tech’s rate of 2.4 percent for its 9,100 students living on campus.

— staff reports

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