Early numbers show Ohio University’s new alcohol response policy might be working better than expected, an OU official said.

Although 202 cases are still pending, University Judiciaries identified 590 alcohol-related cases Fall Quarter — down 41 percent from 996 cases during Fall Quarter 2005.

“Even if all those cases were all alcohol, it would take us to about 800 alcohol violations, whereas last Fall Quarter was 996,” said J. Malcolm Smith, interim director of University Judiciaries. “We’d still be down considerably. I can practically guarantee they aren’t all alcohol, too.”

Of the 903 case referrals Judiciaries received Fall Quarter, 752 involve alcohol and other drugs, about 83 percent. Last year, 88 percent of the 1,247 Fall Quarter case referrals entailed alcohol and other drugs.

“The biggest twist, quite honestly, I didn’t expect the decline in the alcohol violations,” Smith said. “I expected there to be an effect, but if this is cause and effect, I didn’t expect it to be this drastic.”

Smith attributed the decrease to the communication strategy employed at Pre-College and open forums involving students.

“They’re aware of the expectations, and they’re aware of the consequences,” he said. “To me, that was the goal of the whole project.”

Students Defending Students, though, feel the communication was too focused on younger students.

“The freshmen and sophomores had tons of time to adjust and become acquainted with the new policy,” said Stephanie Pleli, director of SDS. “There was much less communication to the older students, and that’s been the biggest problem we’ve encountered so far.”

Though the decrease in alcohol violations bodes well for the university, drug-related charges rose from 102 to 162, a 58 percent increase.

“We spent a lot of time in the media and forming all sorts of taskforces and committees on alcohol,” Smith said. “We haven’t done that for drugs … yet. I do believe it is coming, that the response is coming.”

Student Senate passed a resolution Nov. 8 recommending establishing sanctioning guidelines for drug-related offenses, something Smith said the university will look into.

“There are still 200 open cases, so we really don’t know how those fall,” said Morgan Allen, Student Senate president. “That’s a significant part of the numbers being studied. Depending on how they fall means a lot to the effectiveness of the policy.”BOB Fall Quarter Cases involving alcohol and drugs**Alcohol

Drugs

Percent change (alcohol)

Percent change (drugs)2004

780

852005

996

102

+ 28 percent

+ 20 percent2006

590

162

- 41 percent

+ 59 percentSource: University Judiciaries** 202 cases still open