The number of liquor and drug violations and reports of sexual assault from students increased over the past year, according to the University’s Division of Public Safety and Security’s Annual Security Report and Annual Safety Report released Thursday.
According to the report, there were 254 on-campus liquor law arrests and citations in 2014, compared to 202 in 2013 and 264 in 2012. DPSS reported 155 drug law arrests in 2014 — up from 114 in 2013 and 134 in 2012.
The University administration has taken several steps over the past year to address excessive alcohol consumption. Last year, the University shortened move-in week, and the number of ambulance requests to University Housing facilities dropped from 46 in 2013 to 31 and the number of visits to University Emergency Departments drop from 100 to 76 during that period.
This fall, the University unveiled two initiatives intended to curb drinking. DPSS officers will work with the Ann Arbor Police Department to engage with students off campus. The University will also pilot a program to alert the parents of first-year students if the student “commits a violation accompanied by other serious behavior such as needing medical attention, significant property damage or driving under the influence,” or if one of these students “has a second alcohol or drug infraction.” Decisions about when to apply the policy will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
“Part of what we have talked about is trying to leave some space,” said E. Royster Harper, vice president for student life, in a September interview with The Michigan Daily. “Should, in the course of having a conversation with a student, there is a sense that actually calling would not be in their best interest, then we won’t.”
The University’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center fielded 44 reports in 2014, significantly more than the 35 and 34 reports filed in 2013 and 2012, respectively, according to the report.
Survey data released by the Association of American Universities last month said of the 30 percent of University undergraduates who reported experiencing nonconsensual penetration involving physical force, 76.8 percent of them did not report the crime.
In a September interview with the Daily, University President Mark Schlissel said he hopes to unveil an updated Sexual Misconduct Policy “before the new year.”
“The goal of making change is to have the process be as fair as possible to the complainant and the respondent to help us arrive at a decision which is the right one,” he said.
The report indicated the lowest number of on-campus thefts from a building in three years — 475 in 2014, as opposed to 504 in 2013 and 534 in 2012.