Student alcohol violations dropped 58% to 230 incidents during the last school year on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus, according to the Office of Student Conflict Resolution.

During the same period, drug violations decreased to 36 from 135 — a 73% decrease.

But the numbers do not necessarily reflect the actual use, Bob Wilczynski, associate dean of students and director of the Office of Student Conflict Resolution, said in an interview with CU-CitizenAccess.

He said he doesn’t believe student drug and alcohol consumption has decreased in the last year:

“We’re seeing alcohol incapacitations. Those are staying consistent, if not slightly rising,” Wilczynski said. 

The daily crime log, which tracks crime in the Campustown area under the federal Clery Act, showed 267 incidents involving underage liquor-related crimes last school year, a slight increase from 259 the year before.

“I would say that the consumption level is still strong, but maybe we just need different strategies for identifying it,” Wilczynski said. 

Not all cases reviewed result in discipline

In the 2023-24 school year, which runs from July 1 to June 30, there were 552 underage possession or use of alcohol violations given to students — a vast jump from 90 the previous year.

Last year, it dropped to 230 — over half as many violations. Possession or use of illegal drugs or drug paraphernalia violations similarly fell.

But the Office of Student Conflict Resolution receives more reports than appear in the annual reports. Wilczynski said there were 448 potential underage alcohol violation reports received by the office that resulted in those 230 violations last year.

Reports of violations are reviewed for potential disciplinary measures by the conflict resolution office, which receives allegations of misconduct from individuals including university officials and local law enforcement. 

“Anyone can submit a report to us, all the reports come to me, and I evaluate whether or not what is being described would rise to potentially violating the student code,” Wilczynski said.

From the report, Wilczynski said he applies a reasonable person standard, evaluating if the individual can be found in violation of the student code. Depending on the allegation, witnesses may be interviewed and the student will be asked to make an appointment to discuss the situation. 

“After we gather all of the information, do we believe that ‘x’ took place?” he said. “And if we do believe that, then we try to determine what’s the best educational approach to responding to it on behalf of the community, because we’re not only trying to educate the student that’s found responsible. We’re also trying to uphold the standards for the community.”

Reflection essays, educational workshops and meetings with mentors are some of the ways students given violations are tasked with learning from the incident.

The office also takes the severity of each violation into account. While it is federally required to document each violation, some mild incidents are documented as a violation but may not show on a student’s permanent record or spur any disciplinary action. 

“With what we saw with a variety of students getting entangled with simple underage drinking, like, ‘Oops, I got a beer in my hand, yeah, I did it’, versus someone that’s drunk and throws a bar stool through a window. Those are two different types of cases,” Wilczynski explained.

With the disciplinary process staying consistent, the fluctuation in violations results from external factors, including the frequency of bar sweeps by local law enforcement and quality of fake IDs. 

“As University of Illinois Police Department took over the Campustown area in the fall of 2022 and area agencies recovered staffing, we’ve begun to engage in regular compliance checks of area bars with the Illinois Liquor Control Commission,” UIPD Captain Jason Bradley stated. “The amount of sweeps has not really changed since the pandemic, but we’ve increased those the past couple of years.”

Dean Wilczynski explained that he thinks the frequency of bar sweeps has been inconsistent since prior to the pandemic. 

“What I am noticing is that from the police reports that we do get, it just comes in in spurts,” Wilczynski stated.

The university police also face busy times during which they will see increased violations throughout Campustown.

“The Fall football season and early spring will have increased violations. Halloween is a big weekend for alcohol consumption and problems caused by overconsumption,” Bradley said. “Campus gets more visitors during these times and many are spending a lot of that time drinking alcohol.”

While University police do not differ from local police in regard to underage drinking or drug possession enforcement, they do rely more heavily on educational programs and the advertisement of the Illinois Medical Amnesty Law.

​​”Nobody is hiding the fact that there is a considerable amount of underage drinking going on in Champaign-Urbana, but we know that law enforcement is only one part of the solution,” Bradley said. “Education is a big portion of what we and other campus partners do that local police usually don’t.”