Pubdate: Thu, 05 Dec 2002
Source: Washington Square News (NY Edu)
Copyright: 2002, Washington Square News
Contact:  http://www.nyunews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1621
Note:  also listed as a contact
Author: Lynne Brown
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2203/a03.html

WSN OVERPLAYED DRUG PROBLEM

To the Editor:

Substance abuse is an important issue to address here at NYU. However, I am 
not certain that Jon Mummolo's article in Monday's Washington Square News 
advanced the conversation constructively ("High times in NYU dorms," Dec. 2).

John Sexton has stated publicly that he believes addressing substance abuse 
is necessary to improve the quality of the undergraduate experience here, 
and that the use of alcohol and drugs erodes the quality of life for all 
students. I think it is fair to say that his administration began the 
conversation we are now having.

It was at a recent senate meeting that the university's administration 
shared the findings of the ACHA survey --- that 29 percent of first-year 
student respondents at NYU said they had used marijuana in the previous 30 
days.

Our reaction to the data is twofold. First, this was the first time we had 
administered the survey, so we have only one data point to work with. We 
think it is an important step for the university to collect this data -- 
the 2002 data is being analyzed now -- and to begin discussing it in an 
open fashion. Second, because we are early in the process of studying this 
phenomenon, it is difficult to say anything conclusive besides this: The 
data points to an unacceptably high level of usage.

As for drug dealing: No dealing is acceptable, and we should catch and 
expel every single person involved in dealing. Clearly, Washington Square 
News put serious effort into its reporting. It is all but certain that some 
drug dealing goes on in residence halls -- we know this because we catch 
students from time to time and dismiss them from the university. If we are 
catching some, it seems likely that others are eluding us, but the 
depiction of it as widespread seems insupportable.

As Housing and Residence Life Executive Director Tom Ellett pointed out, we 
ask students who are caught using where they got their drugs. They seldom 
say they obtained them from dealers in a residence hall.

Beyond that, there is another problem with the article's assertion about it 
being widespread: It is simply hard to know. This activity is so 
reprehensible and the consequences so severe, it is of necessity done in a 
secretive and subterranean manner. That makes it difficult to know its 
extent definitively. However, given the extent of staff in the residence 
halls -- resident assistants and managers -- it seems highly unlikely that 
it is as widespread as your article suggests.

Which leads us to a question of community standards. To whatever extent it 
exists, this problem needs to be solved, and the solution must involve the 
grass roots: the students themselves. In administering the ACHA survey and 
discussing the findings -- a new undertaking for us, and one we did 
voluntarily -- we are trying to build a community where we can have 
meaningful communication about these subjects. That includes building a 
community in which students who know peers who are dealing will come 
forward and report them.

When we look at some of the problems that concern us most -- fire safety, 
property theft or drug dealing in residence halls -- these are matters that 
pertain to our community. Whichever way we address the issue of substance 
abuse, our student community will have to take it upon itself to be a part 
of the solution.
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MAP posted-by: Alex