The number of disciplinary referrals for liquor law violations at Syracuse University went down about 30 percent from 2013 to 2014, according to the university’s recently released annual security report.

The decrease comes after there was a 25 percent increase in referrals in 2013. There were 1,303 liquor law violation referrals in 2013, but in the 2014 calendar year, there were 918. The number of disciplinary referrals for drug law violations is also down from last year — 87 compared to 273, or 68 percent. Nationally, the amount of drinking in the college demographic is down, but intensity is up. On campus, SU administrators say university-sponsored programs are helping combat alcohol abuse.

 

The annual report, released Wednesday, is mandated by the Jeanne Clery Disclosure Act, which requires U.S. colleges and universities that receive federal money to publish a security report by Oct. 1 every year. The act requires three years of statistics and other security information.

The report, most of which is text that describes security policies, includes data on the number of crimes committed on campus and properties owned by the university. It also includes numbers on crimes that occur on nearby streets and sidewalks.

 

Pam Peter, the director of the Office for Student Rights and Responsibilities at SU, said Thursday she had “not had time to read the report or compare the numbers from this report to last year’s report in order to answer any questions about the numbers.”

George Koob, the director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, said percentage-wise, young people are using less alcohol.

“It’s a small drop but still down,” Koob said. “Bad news is, there’s an increase in the intensity of those who do choose to binge drink.”

Koob added that students want to “get as (drunk) possible, as fast as possible” and don’t entirely understand the effects of alcohol.

That line of thinking is reflected at SU.

 

“We unfortunately continue to see a lot of students drink to the point of alcohol poisoning and/or have other alcohol related problems,” said Cory Wallack, director of the Counseling Center, in an email.

He added that programs like BeWise and Orange After Dark have helped the university combat alcohol abuse. BeWise, he said, has helped students get a better understanding of the warning signs of alcohol poisoning and how to be safer about drinking in general.

Wallack added that the Counseling Center’s available data shows SU students drink more than students nationally.

“I think our students need to step back and ask themselves why they chose to drink and why they chose to drink in the quantities that they do,” Wallack said. “Hopefully in doing so, we can see some behavioral shifts and insights gained.”

 

SU was ranked as the No. 5 party school in the U.S. in August by The Princeton Review, down from its No. 1 ranking in 2014.

The average number of referrals for liquor law violations at SU peer institutions is about 530. Tulane University, one of SU’s 16 peer institutions, did not have 2014 numbers in its most recent report, as of Saturday night. Tulane and Lehigh University were the only two peer institutions to be named to The Princeton Review’s list of the top 20 party schools.

Nikki Cooter, the manager of administration and Clery compliance for DPS, said when she submitted the numbers last year, the U.S. Department of Education contacted her to ask if something was wrong with the data because the numbers were so high. The numbers are cyclical, she said, and now the numbers are more consistent with what they had been in the past.

“The aberration actually isn’t this year; it was last year,” Cooter said. She added that targeted programming, such as Orange After Dark, helps students do something other than drink.

 

The programs can’t completely be tied to the drop in numbers, Cooter said, as “correlation does not always equal causation,” but they play into the equation. Generational and cultural changes play more of a role, she said, as societal and cultural changes can impact the way students “see themselves in the world and the way they behave in it.”

“I think every couple of years you just get a bunch of party animals. For lack of a better way to put it, I think every few years there’s just a lot of them that want to have a lot of fun,” Cooter said. “I don’t know if they spend a lot of time watching ‘Animal House.’ I don’t know.”

—Asst. Copy Editor Ali Linan, avlinan@syr.edu, contributed reporting to this article.

Published on October 5, 2015 at 12:26 am

Contact Justin: jmatting@syr.edu | @jmattingly306