NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665
September 23, 1999
Administrators at many U.S. colleges and universities are concerned about student binge drinking, but few researchers have looked beyond students' actions to their infractions--namely, alcohol-related arrests. Using arrest records on file in North Dakota's Cass County, a sociologist at North Dakota State University has discovered that nearly 1,300 NDSU students were arrested for reasons related to alcohol consumption from 1996 through 1998.
"These were students who were arrested at the time they were enrolled at this institution," says Kevin Thompson, an associate professor in NDSU's sociology-anthropology department. "Those 1,300 arrests represent 19 percent of all alcohol-related arrests in the city of Fargo during the three-year period. NDSU students are certainly overrepresented with respect to this particular statistic because they don't constitute 19 percent of the city's population."
The offenses measured in Thompson's study were driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI), minor in possession/consumption, open container, delivery of alcohol to a minor and noisy party/refusal to disperse. The leading offenses were minor in possession/consumption, totaling 799 for the three-year period, and DUI, totaling 259.
Based on the number of cases referred to district court, the arrests of NDSU students represented 7.5 percent of all alcohol-related arrests during the three-year period. In other words, most NDSU students arrested for alcohol-related offenses were dealt with at the municipal (city) court level. Thompson says, "Those students used up a lot of Fargo's police resources."
Thompson used the 1996-1998 arrest rates and student population to determine probabilities that an NDSU student would be arrested for an alcohol-related offense. In the spring of 1996, 1.3 percent of NDSU students were arrested for such an offense. That percentage jumped more than 61 percent for the fall 1996 semester, to 2.1 percent. Since then, the probabilities have remained relatively constant. For the 1999-2000 school year, he estimates that 2.5 percent of NDSU students will be arrested for alcohol-related offenses.
"If we could study this issue going back over the past 20 years, I think we would find that the current numbers are somewhat an artifact of reporting, given the attention student drinking is receiving now," Thompson says. "But it's good that society is beginning to focus more attention on student drinking because the problem is an expensive one, with both tangible and intangible costs."
As part of his study, Thompson tallied the fines and fees the 1,300 NDSU students had to pay as a result of being arrested. The total estimate for the three-year period was $470,000, an amount that doesn't include the increased cost of auto insurance, attorneys' fees or lost work time.
"I'd bet quite a few of these students end up not finishing school because the fines, fees and related expenses make it cost prohibitive," Thompson says.
But in some cases, it may be taxpayers who indirectly are picking up the tab for students' alcohol-related misadventures. Thompson speculates that money earmarked for student loans is moving into the legal system. He says, "There's currently no way to determine how much of the taxpayer's money is being used to offset this behavior."
According to municipal and Cass County records, most of the 1,300 NDSU students were arrested on weekends, Friday through Sunday. During rush week and homecoming week at NDSU, student arrests increased an average of 30 percent and 50 percent, respectively, when compared to other weeks of the year. Throughout the three-year period, arrests were 10 percent higher on weekends with home football games.
To curb binge drinking and similar activities, some colleges and universities have instituted policies whereby parents are notified of student arrests. Thompson opposes that strategy. He concludes, "These are young adults we're talking about. We need to establish intervention programs that do a better job of keeping our traditional students out of trouble and enrolled in school."
###
Source: Kevin Thompson (701) 231-8938
Editor: Dean Hulse (701) 231-6136