The number of “liquor law violations” on campus from 2011 had a major reduction after a revision from the UPD.
A few months ago, ULM had the dishonor of being named the campus with the ninth most drug and alcohol arrests in the nation.
Rehabs.com’s study reported that ULM had the 37th most alcohol arrests per 1000 students in 2011.
But the statistics on the UPD’s website show that the numbers for that year are no longer true.
Their website now shows there were only 29 liquor law violations on campus in 2011 instead of 100, a 68 percent decrease. This decrease would remove them the 2011 list of colleges with most alcohol arrests on campus.
The revision of 71 less arrests is due to “a misclassification of the offense.” The reported alcohol related arrests have declined each of the following years: 29 arrests in 2011 and 24 arrests in 2012. Data for 2013 isn’t available yet.
Despite the revision, ULM’s alcohol arrest numbers from 2010-2012 still dwarf the arrest numbers for other four-year public universities in Louisiana. Over that span 93 such arrests; McNeese had 36, Northwestern had 17, ULL and Grambling had five and Tech had one.
Donna Bernard, media relations director, believes the higher numbers come from the school counting nearby arrests not technically on-campus as on campus arrests. She also added that the reported arrests include people who may not go to school here.
Ashley Sanders, a pharmacy school student, agrees that non-students, specifically kids from other schools, inflate ULM’s alcohol arrest rate. She also believes boredom is a factor.
“I think it’s just because there’s not a lot to do around here,” said Sanders. “Also, a lot of kids from like Tech come down here to drink because there’s so many more bars here. And a lot of them don’t even check IDs. There’s nothing else to do but drink for a lot people.”
Sanders said she likes to just stay in her room and watch Netflix.
Jerry Orange, a senior computer information science major, believes the higher alcohol related arrests are due to poor decision-making.
“I think it’s just a judgment thing. Choosing to drink is one thing, choosing to drink at the wrong time is something different,” Orange said.
The Office of Postsecondary Education defines a liquor law violation as “the violation of state or local laws or ordinances prohibiting the manufacture, sale, purchase, transportation, possession or use of alcoholic beverages, not including driving under the influence and drunkenness.”
While the alcohol-related arrests are no longer higher, ULM’s reported arrests for drug abuse violations still remain high. There were 292 reported arrests from 2010 to 2012.
Over that same stretch ULL ,Grambling, Tech, Northwestern and McNeese combined only had 168 reported drug abuse violation arrests.
Even LSU, which has 21,767 more students than ULM only had 212 reported drug abuse violations.
