Buzz killed on campus

Andrew Crider

Contributing Writer

In the wake of a higher-than-usual number of alcohol-related student arrests, the VCU Police Department has introduced a new campaign to raise awareness about the risks of underage drinking.

As of Sept. 30, there have been 62 student arrests so far this school year for alcohol-related crimes, according to VCU PD. 59 of these arrests were cases of underage possession. BuzzKill, the VCU PD’s new campaign, aims to reduce the number of underage possession arrests through education.

In a statement to VCU News, Police spokesperson Corey Byers said the program’s goals were to outline a variety of issues related to underage drinking.

The ultimate goal of the campaign is to continually remind college-aged residents and students about the risks associated with underage drinking,” Byers said.

Byers said the campaign shows the connection between underage drinking and sexual assault, jail time, denials of professional licensure, physical effects on athletes, legal liability for renters serving those under 21 and impaired driving.

At an event to launch BuzzKill, VCU Police Chief John Venuti stressed that underage drinking was a major problem.

The statistics involving alcohol-related incidents and college students are staggering,” Venuti said. “All of the agencies represented here today have a shared interest in combating this problem.”

As of Oct. 1, the Office of Student Conduct and Academic Integrity has noted 116 cases of alcohol-related incidents, 103 of which involved freshmen. By this time last year, there were 112 cases, 70 percent of which involved freshmen.

Matthew Lovisa, Coordinator of Communications and Marketing Division of Student Affairs, says that the amount of students involved in alcohol cases are still low given the size of the class.

A majority of VCU students (freshmen and otherwise) obey the law regarding alcohol,” Lovisa said.

Lovisa said in August and September there were 116 alcohol-related charges from a student body estimated at 31,300. Of the 116 charges, 103 are freshman from a class that totals 4,050.

Of course, students who break any law face legal and university sanctions,” Lovisa said. “Not all of these charges have been found responsible for violations of university policy and not all were issued summons.”

According to The Wellness Resource Center, only 17 percent of students drink more than four times a month. Kristen Donovan, Assistant Director of Substance Abuse Prevention, said that there is no pattern for drinking.

VCU’s students value individuality, not conformity, so there’s no typical pattern of alcohol consumption for a VCU student,” Donovan said. “Some students come to VCU abstainers and remain abstainers. Some come to VCU heavy drinkers and remain heavy drinkers. Some come to VCU moderate users and remain moderate users.”

According to Donovan, though, drinking at VCU does follow a pattern.

There are some obvious patterns of when alcohol-related arrests happen, such as times of celebration,” Donovan said.

For the greater Richmond area, alcohol poisoning generally involves the presence of other drugs.

According to the Virginia Poison Center, since 2012, there have been 1,285 cases of alcohol poisoning. Of these cases, 91 percent involved the use of other drugs.

Since 2012 there have been 187 fatalities from alcohol poisoning. Of these 30 percent were under the age of 20.

Nonfatal cases of alcohol poisoning increased to 384, and of these 20 percent were underage.