Drug and liquor arrests at Yale University and Harvard University have decreased since 2013.
Alexandra Sprouls
At Yale, 38 students were arrested for drug abuse violations and 20 students were arrested for liquor law violations in 2013, compared to 13 drug arrests and 3 liquor law violations in 2015, the Yale Police Department reported.
Similarly, Harvard University reported 11 drug arrests in 2013 and 9 in 2015. Liquor law violations dropped from 7 in 2013 to 1 in 2015.
Marisol Dahl, a 2015 Yale graduate, said she witnessed drinking and drug violations almost daily on the campus in New Haven.
Still, “I always felt safe during my time as a student at Yale. I was always sure to be careful and take precautions, but there was never a point where I was significantly worried about my safety,” she said.
Harvard and Yale have enacted various tactics that appear to have lessened drug and alcohol arrests on campus.
Yale programs provide students with information concerning alcohol and drug laws, safe drinking strategies and alcohol facts. The university has also added police and patrols and the Bulldog Mobile app, which provides safety tips, location tracking for students and the ability to contact the police directly.
Harvard, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, conducts mandatory alcohol education for freshmen, evidence-based interventions for at-risk students and a campus escort program.
Blue light emergency phone systems can be found at Yale and Harvard. These phone systems can reach campus security or emergency services.
Dahl said colleges could still be doing more.
“I think the tactics are somewhat effective in terms of keeping students safe in the present, but more needs to be done to shift the college student mindset regarding drinking if we want to create sustainable change,” Dahl said.
Alexandra Sprouls is a student at Staples High School, Westport.