Officials seek new ways to curb alcohol and drug abuse on and off campus

By Albert Perales-Paniagua and Yihan Xia

The number of students coming to Marquette with established binge-drinking habits has declined over the years, but 1,000 alcohol-related misconduct cases still hit the books every year.

On the illegal drug front, the Marquette University Police Department is cracking down on dealing to students by people outside campus.

Those are two takeaways from an analysis of MUPD data and interviews with police, students, a treatment professional and a prominent campus-area landlord.

Over the last decade, studies show that binge drinking among college-bound students has declined, as has the number of Marquette students requiring transport to hospitals, said Sara Smith, Director, Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Programs at the university.

Of those referred to the student conduct process for alcohol, a majority are white males. Research has shown that they are more likely to drink more and more often compared to students of color, and students from higher socioeconomic status tend to drink at higher rates, Smith said.

Separate from the student conduct process that dealt with 1,000 incidents in 2017, the MUPD issued 23 citations that year, the most recent complete year of statistics available. Police don’t go looking for parties but get involved when they get big and out of control.

Andres Isidoro, who identified himself as a junior at Marquette, agrees that drinking parties have fallen off. He sees MUPD as tough at times (ticketing illegal drinkers) and more lenient at others (referring people to disciplinary hearings).

“It all depends on where the party was taking place and who was hosting it,” Isidoro said.

Tristan Estates owns and rents out several properties to students. The company’s financial and general manager, Julia Herro, said in an interview that the party scene is “more calm and quiet” than years ago.

“It used to be really out of control,” she said, especially over on 18th Street and 17th Street, and on 20th.

Herro credited strong law enforcement.

Drug Use

But she’s seen illegal drug rise at the same time.

“Over the last couple of years, I’ve had at least one or two students every year that I dealt with who had to go into rehab for harder drugs. We’re talking heroin. We’re talking cocaine,” Herro said during an interview at her lease office on North 18th street and Kilbourn.

One MUPD official said they haven’t seen an increase in heroin and cocaine activity — at least among students.

“The heroin problem thankfully is not a Marquette problem, as in students and faculty. It’s all outside sources,” said MUPD Officer Andrew Huber, who specializes in crime prevention. “All the overdose calls we get, all that, as far as I know, and I’ve been to a lot of them, they all have nothing to do with Marquette, other than Marquette PD showing up.”

He described the crack cocaine picture in similar terms.

As the MUPD has transitioned since mid-2015 into becoming a full-fledged police department, it has made more arrests for drugs — 57 in 2017. That was the highest figure since 2011.

Notably, a big chunk of those situations occur on city streets, not dorm rooms.

The department has stepped up efforts to stop community residents from dealing to students, said MUPD Police Sergeant Carrie Peters.

“We are more proactive with trying to prevent people from victimizing our students,” she said.

Traffic stops for driving without a license and other offences are a frequent scenario that leads to discovery of marijuana or other drugs, Peters said. Most if not all of those cases involve non-students.

At the same time, illegal drug use in the dorms and in other student housing is “a lot more common than people think,” Peters said.

Police aren’t patrolling dorm hallways. They typically get involved when someone, often a student, reports the smell of pot or bad behavior.

If students own up to using or possessing marijuana, officers are much more likely to skip writing a ticket and instead refer the offender to the student conduct process, including the chance to take a course on the dangers of drugs and alcohol, police said.

There’s no set standard for police response, “unless it’s very obvious they’re dealing,” Huber said.

MUPD and Landlord cooperation

For her part, Herro, the landlord, welcomes police assistance in handling and stopping big parties.

“They usually let me know if I have problem tenants, if they have to go to a property often, or it looks like they’re out of control,” says Herro.

Herro views her role as a landlord as much more than just a rent collector or someone who nags a tenant about her policies. She may come off as lingering to tenants, but there is a reason as why she is persistent in enforcing rules.

“Because a tenant is my face to the world, my name is on the building. If they treat it poorly, then I appear poorly to the world, and that’s not something I want,” says Herro. “We are Marquette, and as Marquette alumni, it’s important that our environment reflect our ethics.”

“If there is a nuisance issue, like you are smoking marijuana and it is easily detectable and you’re leaving it out in the middle of your living room, I’m going to address you and say, this is illegal behavior and I need you to curb this behavior,” says Herro.

She finds these polite confrontations effective.

Dave Umhoefer contributed reporting

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