Quinnipiac Public Safety released its annual security and fire safety report for the 2018 calendar year.
The data in the report covers all three Quinnipiac campuses
Hate crimes and drug arrests on campus have increased in the past year, but the number of liquor referrals have gone down.
The noteworthy differences from 2017 to 2018 include a rise in hate crimes and drug arrests, and a decline in liquor referrals.
In 2018, the number of hate crimes on campus increased to five. Three of the five hate crimes were acts of vandalism based on sexual orientation. The other two were instances of intimidation based on race. There was one hate crime on campus in 2017, a simple assault based on religion.
There were 17 drug arrests on campus in 2018. This number was significantly higher than 2017, when there were seven drug arrests on campus.
In 2018, there were 327 liquor referrals on campus, a dramatic decrease from the 436 liquor referrals in 2017.
The reason there are so many referrals and no arrests for liquor offenses is because the Connecticut does not require the university to report these offenses to law enforcement, according to Karoline Keith, Quinnipiac’s Clery compliance officer.
“[Quinnipiac] has the discretion to determine how they want to handle these incidents,” Keith said. “These incidents are handled by the Dean of Students in collaboration with campus partners such as public safety and the state’s attorney office.”
Rape, aggravated assault, burglary and drug referrals are four crimes that have maintained a steady rate since 2014.
Crimes that remained close to previous totals include rape, aggravated assault, burglary and drug referrals.
In 2018, there were three reported rapes on campus. There were no reported rapes on campus in 2017, two in 2016, four in 2015 and five in 2014. Most of these crimes occurred on Mt. Carmel campus.
Aggravated assault is defined as “an unlawful attack by one person upon another for the purpose of inflicting severe or aggravated bodily injury,” according to the Clery report.
There were three aggravated assaults on campus in 2018. In 2017, there were five aggravated assaults on campus. In 2016 there was one aggravated assault, in 2015 there were four and in 2014 there were five.
In 2018, there were 13 burglaries on campus. This was a slight increase from the nine burglaries in 2017. There were 10 in 2016, 19 in 2015 and 17 in 2014.
There were 170 drug referrals on campus in 2018. In 2017 there were 172. This was a big increase from 2016, when there were 127 drug referrals on campus. In 2015 there were 128. In 2014, there were 160 drug referrals on campus.
Officer Keith speculated that this increase is due in part to the popularity of marijuana.
“I suspect some of the increase is due to social acceptance of marijuana use in the United States,” she said.
Quinnipiac has a zero tolerance policy for drugs on campus, which is spelled out in the student code of conduct. Due to federal funding, the university must abide by federal laws, which does not permit recreational marijuana.
“Even if Connecticut legalizes recreational use of marijuana, it would still not be permitted at QU,” Keith said. “
To report an emergency on campus, students can one of the “Code Blue” boxes, which are located throughout campus. The boxes are noticeable by their blue lights and only require users to push a button to notify authorities.
Another option for reporting emergencies on campus is the Rave Guardian app. Students can notify public safety from their smartphone, and an officer will respond to the student’s location. The third way to report an emergency is to simply call 911.
To report a non-emergency, students should call public safety at (860) 582-6200 or Hamden Police at (203) 230-4000.