Recently, students have been caught driving under the influence as well as possessing alcohol on the ETSU campus. While that may or may not seem unusual to some, the fact remains that it is an occurrence that has happened in the past and it has happened in increasing numbers this fall semester.

According to Lt. Mike Orr in the Department of Public Safety, there have been close to 40 DUIs on campus since January and 14 of these incidents happened in September.

While no specific DUI checkpoints have been set up on campus, those who have been caught driving under the influence were pulled over or addressed because of some other concern.

After addressing the traffic violation, the officer will smell alcohol or sometimes see alcohol in the car and the appropriate measures are taken.

The time frame for most of these incidents seems to be “between Thursday and Saturday.”

“Most incidents have been students coming back to campus and they have some other traffic violation,” said Orr.

Whether the driver be an ETSU student or someone not enrolled at the university, the same measures are taken as if the incident were handled off campus.

“The punishment is the same,” said Orr. “The majority are students, but some aren’t. They are arrested, photographed, taken to jail and they usually have a court date the next morning.”

The repercussions for a student can be much more severe, depending on the situation. Students have to go through the student council, and if the student is underage then they can be charged with underage alcohol possession in addition to their other charges.

Aside from driving under the influence, there has been an increased number of incidents involving possession of alcohol as well as underage drinking.

According to Orr, having a charge against a student such as a DUI or underage alcohol possession can be detrimental in the future. Should a possible employer do a background check, that charge would still be present. In addition to the charge, a student would have to pay fees as well as court costs.

Some students on campus were not surprised to hear about the number of incidents while others were taken back at how increasing it has been this semester.

“I really had no idea it was happening that much,” said Leif Smith, a 22-year-old broadcasting major who lived on campus during the 2009 school year. “I knew it was bound to be happening, but I didn’t know it was this big of an issue.”

Brett Cook, a 22-year-old graphic design major said he wasn’t surprised.

“Considering the number of parties I hear about on campus, it’s not that surprising,” said Cook. “I’m glad more people are getting caught. It makes it less dangerous on campus.”

Orr said students should contact public safety if they feel an issue need to be addressed.

“If you see something suspicious, we want students to call us,” said Orr. “We would rather us check it out and it turn out to be nothing than them not report it all.”

Students who feel they need to contact the Department of Public Safety for suspicious activity can reach them at 439-4480, or they can also be reached at 423-439-6900 for non-emergency purposes.

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