Pubdate: Mon, 05 May 2003
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education, The (US)
Copyright: 2003 by The Chronicle of Higher Education
Contact:  http://chronicle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/84
Author: John L. Pulley

POLICE ARREST 11 STUDENTS OF EDINBORO U. OF PENNSYLVANIA ON DRUG CHARGES

Police officers arrested 11 students of Edinboro University of Pennsylvania 
on Friday during an early-morning drug sweep of campus housing and nearby 
apartment buildings.

Two dozen officers and several drug-sniffing dogs from more than half a 
dozen local jurisdictions in northwestern Pennsylvania conducted the raid, 
which netted undisclosed amounts of marijuana, a prescription anti-anxiety 
drug, and substances that students allegedly had passed off as cocaine and 
Ecstasy, according to an account published on Saturday in the Erie Times 
News, a local newspaper.

A spokesman for the Borough of Edinboro Police Department confirmed the 
arrests but was unable to comment on details of the police raid.

Charges filed against the students, ages 18 to 22, include possession, 
delivery, and  intent to deliver controlled substances or look-alike 
substances. The raid concluded a five-week undercover investigation of 
drug-dealing activity on and around the campus, according to the Erie 
newspaper.

The institution was aware of the impending raid, but its police did not 
take part. State law prohibits the university's law-enforcement agents from 
participating in the operations of the regional task force that conducted 
the drug sweep. That task force operates under the direction of the state 
attorney general's narcotics bureau.

Under the university's policy of zero tolerance for illegal drug use, 
students found guilty of the charges will face punishments ranging from 
probation to expulsion, said Emily F. Sinsabaugh, a university spokeswoman.

She applauded the raid.

"The message is clear that illegal drug activity has no place on our 
campus," Ms. Sinsabaugh said. "We are grateful that the regional agencies 
are as committed to ensuring the safety of our campus as we are."
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