More Students = More Drinking = More Problems?

As Ole Miss’s student population continues to grow so does its number of alcohol related incidents, leaving the community to wonder if it’s a natural occurrence with increase in enrollment or if Ole Miss is simply stepping up its party school reputation.

Last year, the University of Mississippi had its largest freshman class in history. However, that record enrollment number was quickly overshadowed by the current freshman class which was 19.9% larger. In 2009, the UPD made 269 alcohol and drug related arrests. in 2010, that number nearly tripled to 604. These spikes in enrollment along with an increase in alcohol related incidents have “sparked” a crusade for change from Dean of Students Sparky Reardon. This change has included an increase in patrol on Fraternity Row as well as a continued threat of the ABC on the square. The Dean of Students has also recommended those guilty perform clean up duty in The Grove or stadium. "For those of you who persist in this behavior, you will be dealt with swiftly and rigidly," said the Dean sternly. Many believe Mr. Reardon's "Tough Love" approach is damaging to the appeal of Ole Miss as a party school, especially for those not causing trouble.

Senior David Thompson has watched Ole Miss grow since he first came to the university four years ago. "Incidents have increased over the years. That's for sure. However, a majority of these incidents comes from all these bigger and bigger freshman classes who happen to just be inexperienced drinkers getting in trouble that's bumping the incident number up so much. That's the most frustrating part."

Linda Christian, the UPD manager of parking services, has been on staff here at Ole Miss for nearly 30 years. To Christian, it's not a matter of Ole Miss getting wilder with drinking or increasingly large freshman classes to blame. "Colleges all across the country experience this problem. Ole Miss may be a party school, but all colleges drink and have these types of issues. When a college population grows, the number of these types of incidents grow along with it. It's perfectly natural. We can't solve the problem by just arresting everyone guilty. We can't be like that. We've got to have balance. That's why we have programs like AlcoholEdu to try to educate and prevent these things."

"We value our students a great deal," said the Dean of Students. "Our repeated advice to them is to know the rules, obey the rules and take responsibility."