Chronicle List

Colleges That Reported the Most Liquor and Drug Violations

By Chronicle Staff

October 14, 2018

These colleges had the highest average annual numbers of liquor- and drug-law violations per 1,000 students, as reported under the Clery Act from 2014 to 2016. Of the more than 623,800 liquor-law violations that colleges reported in 2014 through 2016, only 10 percent resulted in arrests, while 90 percent resulted in referrals to student-conduct programs. Of the nearly 231,300 drug-law violations reported on campuses in the same three-year period, 26 percent resulted in arrests and 74 percent in referrals. States with the highest number of colleges on the list include New York, with 19; Colorado and Vermont, with eight; and Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, with six each. States are counted twice for colleges that appear on both the liquor- and drug-law violation lists.

We’re sorry. Something went wrong.

We are unable to fully display the content of this page.

The most likely cause of this is a content blocker on your computer or network. Please make sure your computer, VPN, or network allows javascript and allows content to be delivered from c950.chronicle.com and chronicle.blueconic.net.

Once javascript and access to those URLs are allowed, please refresh this page. You may then be asked to log in, create an account if you don't already have one, or subscribe.

If you continue to experience issues, contact us at 202-466-1032 or help@chronicle.com

Arrests and disciplinary referrals for suspected liquor-law violations

4-year public institutions

Rank	Institution	Arrests per 1,000 students	Disciplinary-action referrals per 1,000 students	Total per 1,000 students
1.	Keene State College (N.H.)	6.2	167.8	174.1
2.	Potomac State College of West Virginia U.	26.9	98.3	125.1
3.	Coastal Carolina U. (S.C.)	13.2	91.1	104.3
4.	Plymouth State U. (N.H.)	15.7	79.4	95.1
5.	Castleton U. (Vt.)	3.1	90.5	93.7
6.	Christopher Newport U. (Va.)	4.0	79.5	83.4
7.	U. of Wisconsin at La Crosse	0.0	72.6	72.6
8.	Fort Lewis College (Colo.)	17.2	52.7	69.9
9.	U. of Pittsburgh at Johnstown	15.6	50.6	66.2
10.	Alfred State College (N.Y.)	6.7	57.7	64.4
11.	West Virginia U.	10.0	54.2	64.2
12.	U. of Minnesota at Duluth	14.9	47.6	62.5
13.	Westfield State U. (Mass.)	2.3	54.5	56.7
14.	Illinois State U.	2.2	51.9	54.1
15.	Western State Colorado U.	4.0	49.4	53.4
16.	U. of Colorado at Boulder	9.3	44.0	53.3
17.	U. of Wisconsin at Whitewater	0.0	53.2	53.2
18.	U. of Wisconsin at Oshkosh	0.0	53.0	53.0
19.	Lyndon State College (Vt.)	0.3	52.3	52.5
20.	Eastern Connecticut State U.	17.0	35.4	52.3

4-year private nonprofit institutions

Rank	Institution	Arrests per 1,000 students	Disciplinary-action referrals per 1,000 students	Total per 1,000 students
1.	Nichols College (Mass.)	0.0	288.3	288.3
2.	Cazenovia College (N.Y.)	0.0	240.9	240.9
3.	Saint Johns U. (Minn.)	16.6	191.6	208.2
4.	Hobart and William Smith Colleges (N.Y.)	0.3	180.7	181.0
5.	Franklin Pierce U. (N.H.)	19.6	157.9	177.5
6.	Green Mountain College (Vt.)	0.0	172.6	172.6
7.	Randolph College (Va.)	0.0	169.9	169.9
8.	Merrimack College (Mass.)	0.7	169.1	169.8
9.	Union College (N.Y.)	0.0	169.3	169.3
10.	Dean College (Mass.)	0.0	166.0	166.0
11.	Bates College (Me.)	0.4	164.4	164.8
12.	Warren Wilson College (N.C.)	0.0	157.4	157.4
13.	College of the Holy Cross (Mass.)	0.0	156.9	156.9
14.	Bennington College (Vt.)	0.0	155.7	155.7
15.	Siena College (N.Y.)	0.0	152.8	152.8
16.	Bryant U. (R.I.)	0.0	148.9	148.9
17.	Culver-Stockton College (Mo.)	1.8	144.6	146.4
18.	Ripon College (Wis.)	8.8	134.5	143.3
19.	Bucknell U. (Pa.)	6.7	132.8	139.5
20.	Gettysburg College (Pa.)	15.2	120.6	135.8

2-year public institutions

Rank	Institution	Arrests per 1,000 students	Disciplinary-action referrals per 1,000 students	Total per 1,000 students
1.	Ohio State U. Agricultural Technical Institute	9.7	96.0	105.7
2.	Dakota College at Bottineau (N.D.)	0.0	62.9	62.9
3.	Lamar Community College (Colo.)	0.0	45.5	45.5
4.	Highlands College of Montana Tech	0.0	45.0	45.0
5.	North Dakota State College of Science	5.3	36.0	41.3
6.	Herkimer County Community College (N.Y.)	19.3	21.3	40.6
7.	Garden City Community College (Kan.)	0.2	36.4	36.5
8.	Garrett College (Md.)	0.0	36.3	36.3
9.	Northwest College (Wyo.)	6.4	27.0	33.4
10.	Ellsworth Community College (Iowa)	1.6	29.6	31.1

•••

Arrests and disciplinary referrals for suspected drug-law violations

4-year public institutions

Rank	Institution	Arrests per 1,000 students	Disciplinary-action referrals per 1,000 students	Total per 1,000 students
1.	State U. of New York College of Technology at Delhi	10.4	78.9	89.3
2.	Keene State College (N.H.)	10.4	59.1	69.5
3.	Potomac State College of West Virginia U.	12.9	53.9	66.8
4.	Plymouth State U. (N.H.)	2.1	62.9	65.0
5.	Lyndon State College (Vt.)	0.3	54.9	55.2
6.	Cheyney U. of Pennsylvania	4.0	46.9	50.9
7.	U. of California at Santa Cruz	0.9	45.2	46.2
8.	Alfred State College (N.Y.)	13.1	29.8	42.9
9.	Fort Lewis College (Colo.)	14.6	26.8	41.4
10.	Evergreen State College (Wash.)	1.0	36.6	37.6
11.	State U. of New York College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill	6.7	30.8	37.5
12.	South Carolina State U.	2.5	34.0	36.5
13.	Castleton U. (Vt.)	0.3	35.4	35.7
14.	State U. of New York A&T College at Morrisville	13.1	20.6	33.7
15.	U. of Maine at Orono	0.3	29.3	29.6
16.	U. of Vermont	0.8	26.8	27.6
17.	U. of Colorado at Boulder	5.2	22.1	27.3
18.	Delaware State U.	1.7	25.2	26.9
19.	Coastal Carolina U. (S.C.)	7.8	19.1	26.9
20.	Buffalo State College	1.4	25.2	26.6

4-year private nonprofit institutions

Rank	Institution	Arrests per 1,000 students	Disciplinary-action referrals per 1,000 students	Total per 1,000 students
1.	Reed College (Ore.)	0.2	135.9	136.2
2.	Gallaudet U. (D.C.)*	0.4	131.3	131.8
3.	Green Mountain College (Vt.)	0.4	113.0	113.5
4.	Warren Wilson College (N.C.)	0.0	107.1	107.1
5.	Eckerd College (Fla.)	1.1	80.2	81.3
6.	St. Lawrence U. (N.Y.)	1.6	77.0	78.6
7.	Colorado College	2.4	75.2	77.6
8.	Carthage College (Wis.)	0.1	72.2	72.4
9.	Hobart and William Smith Colleges (N.Y.)	1.6	67.7	69.3
10.	High Point U. (N.C.)	9.2	49.4	58.6
11.	Lycoming College (Pa.)	0.0	57.3	57.3
12.	Lewis & Clark College (Ore.)	0.5	56.2	56.6
13.	Ursinus College (Pa.)	6.6	49.5	56.1
14.	Dean College (Mass.)	0.0	54.8	54.8
15.	Connecticut College	0.4	53.6	54.0
16.	Wesleyan U. (Conn.)	3.3	49.2	52.5
17.	Denison U. (Ohio)	3.8	47.7	51.5
18.	Saint Johns U. (Minn.)	4.3	47.1	51.4
19.	College of Mount Saint Vincent (N.Y.)	0.7	49.2	49.9
20.	Beloit College (Wis.)	1.0	46.6	47.6

2-year public institutions

Rank	Institution	Arrests per 1,000 students	Disciplinary-action referrals per 1,000 students	Total per 1,000 students
1.	Sullivan County Community College (N.Y.)	1.2	45.8	47.0
2.	Tompkins Cortland Community College (N.Y.)	2.1	31.1	33.2
3.	Herkimer County Community College (N.Y.)	6.0	21.2	27.2
4.	Pierpont Community and Technical College (W.Va.)	4.0	15.3	19.3
5.	Richard Bland College (Va.)	0.3	19.0	19.2
6.	Garrett College (Md.)	1.8	15.9	17.7
7.	Lamar Community College (Colo.)	0.0	15.6	15.6
8.	Garden City Community College (Kan.)	0.8	14.6	15.4
9.	State U. of New York Broome Community College	1.0	14.3	15.3
10.	Jefferson Community College (N.Y.)	0.6	13.7	14.3

* Figures for Gallaudet University represent a downward revision for 2016 that reflect a liberalization of D.C.'s marijuana law.

Note: Data are based on reports from 11,250 colleges and branches that reported to the U.S. Department of Education under the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, also known as the Clery Act, and were current as of January 2018. Many factors can influence where colleges appear in the rankings for on-campus violations, including how residential the campus is, whether it adjoins a high-crime area, how strictly alcohol and drug laws are enforced, and how much partying occurs off campus. Public drunkenness and driving under the influence are excluded from Clery reporting. Incidents that result in both arrest and referral for disciplinary action are counted only as arrests, not as referrals. Arrests and referrals are reported no matter whether they resulted in convictions or students were found to be responsible. Incidence per 1,000 students was calculated by adding the figures in each category for 2014, 2015, and 2016, dividing that sum by three, and then dividing the result into the number of students enrolled in the fall of 2016 divided by 1,000. Colleges with fewer than 500 students were excluded from the rankings. Independent colleges situated on much larger campuses were excluded from the ranking in cases in which the number of violations represented the incidence for the larger campus. Ratios are rounded, but colleges were ranked before rounding. More data can be found here. Questions or comments on the Chronicle List should be sent to Ruth Hammond.

Source: Chronicle analysis of Campus Safety and Security Statistics from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Postsecondary Education

Correction (11/1/2018, 1:40 p.m.): The original version of this table erroneously included Oregon State University-Cascades as No. 12 among four-year public institutions for the total number of arrests and disciplinary referrals per 1,000 students for suspected drug-law violations. The institution’s reported data included violations for the co-located campus of Central Oregon Community College, but The Chronicle’s per-1,000-students calculation of violations did not take into account the enrollment at Central Oregon. With the enrollment of both campuses taken into account, the two institutions together would have had only 6.1 total suspected drug-law violations per 1,000 students, not 37.1. The Cascades campus has been removed from the list, and Buffalo State College has been added as No. 20. The total number of colleges from New York on the list was revised from 18 to 19.