Sophomore Abbie Braun knew she had to call her parents.
She was worried they would learn from their local news that she had been cited for minor alcohol consumption at the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity party Sunday morning.
"I was pretty scared because I knew they would be down my throat for a while," she said, "but I told them right away because there's no need to hide it from them. Honesty is the best policy."
Braun said her parents were mad at first, but they are happy the university and the police are doing something after the recent alcohol-related events.
Braun said she thinks the university's possible disciplinary actions and the police's weekend bust are excessive. However, compared to other public universities in Indiana, Ball State's policies are average.
Universities
According to the 1998 amendment to the Higher Education Act of 1965, institutions of higher education can inform parents or legal guardians "regarding any violation of any federal, state or local law, or of any rule or policy of the institution, governing the use or possession of alcohol."
However, to disclose this information to parents, the student must be under 21 and the university has to determine the student committed a disciplinary violation, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
In 2002, Ball State began sending letters to parents of students who are under 21 to inform them of their student's second violation. The university does this for drug and alcohol arrests in violation of the university's policy, Randy Hyman, dean of students, said.
Hyman said parents are in a position to be supportive of their children, and they can influence them to make better decisions.
"The parents' response at orientation was extremely positive and continues to be," he said.
David Wright, assistant to vice president of student affairs at Indiana State University, said the ISU sends letters to parents regarding on-campus violations of under 21-year-old students.
"What we find is most students will not repeat their misconduct," Wright said. "It's not that we hope mom and dad will punish them. We hope that mom and dad will help influence them and help them make better decisions."
At Indiana University in Bloomington, parents receive an advisory letter from the dean of students no matter what violation their student has committed, Jerry Minger, public information officer, said.
Hyman, Minger and Wright said the letters are intended to help students make better decisions and to think about the consequences of their actions.
POLICE
However, Minger said the best student crime deterrent is officer visibility.
"The more visibility of a police presence, the less likely criminals will take advantage of victims," Minger said. "We try to be as visible as possible. We want students to know we're out there."
The Indiana University police do not drive unmarked cars and are always in their police uniforms, Minger said. The IU police have officers on bicycles, foot and in squad cars.
At IU, he said, the number of alcohol-related arrests have dropped from 814 in 2002 to 614 in 2003.
"It's not like we're sneaking around trying to catch these people," he said. "They make themselves obvious with noise complaints. We don't have to sneak around."
Similar to the Ball State's relationship with the Muncie police, Minger said his police department works with the Bloomington Police Department every day. The two agencies exchange daily reports, then Minger said he sends a copy to the dean of students and to campus, local and state newspapers.
Hyman said his office has received reports from the University Police but only last fall began receiving reports from the Muncie Police. This change was the result of an October meeting with Hyman, Chief Joe Winkle and Mayor Dan Canan.
However, at ISU, the Terre Haute Police Department does not generally share its reports with the university police.
"If you live in an off-campus dwelling, then we're probably not going to do anything with you," Wright said.
The administration is rewriting the ISU student code to include off-campus policy violations, Wright said.
Currently, in the ISU student code, students can be sanctioned by the university if they violate polices on campus, not off campus.
Like Ball State and IU, ISU the sanctions include disciplinary probation, suspension and expulsion.
SGA
Minger said he attributes IU's drop in alcohol-related arrests to the university's Student Association.
The organization began the Midnight Special, a midnight bus service that drives students from the bars to their homes on the weekends, he said. In 2003, the service extended its service times from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. to 11 p.m. to 4 p.m., and it increased its student passengers from 7,941 to 33,998.
"We endorse this program, and we'd be more than happy to enforce the student government's endeavors," Minger said.
At ISU, Wright said the bus service was a nice idea but not practical for the university at this time.
"If you get involved with a program of that nature, you're going to have good liability insurance," he said. "The intention is wonderful, but you've got to be very careful and pragmatic about it."
Ben Tietz, president of the Ball State SGA, said he likes IU's plan, and he wants to improve Ball State's escort service. He said it's a matter of expanding the hours and adding more cars to the routes.
Hyman said it is not something the administration is advocating, but it is possible in the future.
"It's something to consider," Hyman said.
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