Could police dare to raid Harvard for drug use?

proudamerican007 · 05-06-2008, 12:56 PM

FOXNews.com - Nearly 100 Students Arrested in Massive Drug Raid at San Diego State University - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News

San Diego police can go and arrest these students. However, I wonder if Police can go and raid the students in Harvard. As far As I know, if not more, probably similar number of students in Harvard are using drugs. But because of family connections, Ivy League students are free to walk away even if they are caught.

07DAD · 05-06-2008, 01:12 PM

I think the issue is usually the quantity and type of drugs involved. Harvard has gone after its students for drug offenses. The link below is one example.

John Harvard's Journal - Aftermath of a Drug Bust, September-October 1996

marite · 05-06-2008, 01:47 PM

Quote:

As far As I know, if not more, probably similar number of students in Harvard are using drugs

"As far as I know" means you know. Where is your evidence?

kenf1234 · 05-06-2008, 01:50 PM

Police and DAs decide what offenses they want to go after. Obviously they think it is politically advantageous for them to do this. Presumably the police/DAs in Cambridge (or Berkeley) wouldn't find it as politically beneficial...

HarrietMWelsch · 05-06-2008, 01:51 PM

Elite colleges (Ivies and others) have indeed had students arrested for drug offenses.

If there ever really were days when this was true

Quote:

But because of family connections, Ivy League students are free to walk away even if they are caught.

(and I don't think there were), they are long gone. Also, private schools can keep a lid on some news, but arrests are a matter of public record.

I think 07DAD is correct: This is news because of the scope and the type of drugs.

cptofthehouse · 05-06-2008, 01:55 PM

I'm with 07Dad. It depends on the drugs, the quantity and other issues. For every person who would hesitate to bust Harvard, there is one who is licking his chops to do so. So there isn't a universal attitude about this.

Most colleges seem to have an agreement with the local cops to regulate the students in terms of alcohol and drug use. You don't see cops often raiding any campus. There are schools that do not have good town/gown relationships and that may be an issue, but even those schools tend to have keep out policy with local law enforcement. Which is usually fine with them. They have enough to do that they are not going to be looking for trouble on a college campus. But if something way out there, comes to their attention, they certainly would raid. I know that at my college, there was a police raid my freshman year, the only one in the time I was there, and the only one that kids who were seniors when I was a frosh, remembered. It is rare but it happens. And my school was the crown jewel for education of its city.

07DAD · 05-06-2008, 02:04 PM

Well, there are also some "tolerance" issues in on campus enforcement by the campus police. Most schools would like to keep "bad press" from happening. Here's an article that puts pot use at Harvard at 28% and indicates a hands off approach by the university.

The Harvard Crimson :: News :: Harvard Rarely Punishes Student Drug Use

10,000 smoked pot outside at CU Boulder on 4/20 and the campus police and county sheriffs stood by and directed traffic. NO arrests.At pot rallies, things get hazy at 4:20 : Updates : The Rocky Mountain News

proudamerican007 · 05-06-2008, 02:12 PM

Marite:

Being a Harvard parent, and and having few other extended family member who have attended the institution in past, my observation is based on feed back.

Harvard campus police current policy is just stopping any party where drug/alcohol use is prevalent. The campus police tend not to arrest anyone as students are allowed to walk and the campus police just take away the substances. They do not charge the host of the party. I know few cases this year where someone was caught, but the person got free because of family political connections. Sorry, I can not reveal more in details as kids involved have very powerful connections.

marite · 05-06-2008, 02:12 PM

Most campus police--and not just at Harvard or other elite schools--rarely punish students for drug use. However, they do go after drug sellers. Last year, the day after moving into their dorm at Northeastern, two freshmen called out the window to another student: "Wanna buy some pot?" or something like it. Unfortunately for them, Northeastern is right in the middle of Boston and there was a cop walking beneath their window. He went into their room and found drug paraphernalia and far more drug than would be used by a single individual. A few years ago, a Harvard student was busted, also for selling drugs.Keep in mind that Harvard Houses are in Cambridge, and that both HUPD and Cambridge police patrol the streets they're on. And there's no love lost between town and gown.

cptofthehouse · 05-06-2008, 02:16 PM

Not as bad as at some other schools, Marite. There are isolated drug busts of kids in many schools but they often do not make the papers. I know a couple of kids from one of my son's school who got into trouble because of drugs. One did some hard time for the quantity of drugs he was holding. Pretty prestigious school too, and no real town gown problem.

kenf1234 · 05-06-2008, 02:50 PM

Quote:

The undercover probe, dubbed Operation Sudden Fall, was sparked by the cocaine overdose death of a student in May 2007, authorities said. As the investigation continued, another student, from Mesa College, died Feb. 26 of a cocaine overdose at an SDSU fraternity house, the DEA said.

This explains the politics behind it.

marite · 05-06-2008, 03:22 PM

Proudamerican.

Not only am I a Harvard parent, but I've lived in Cambridge for nearly forty years (save for 6 years spent elsewhere), not a million miles from the Harvard campus. I also went to college in the Boston-area in the 60s, when drug use was far more prevalent than it is today. I'm not naive about the extent of drug use either at Harvard or elsewhere. Nor do I think that Ivy League students are the only students with family connections. Families don't have to be loaded with money to be able to put pressure on the local authorities.

The police do conduct drug busts at Harvard and other schools, but usually when dealing is involved, not just use. At SDSU, that seems to have been the case. There were dealers and buyers involved, and it involved not only pot but cocaine. At Northeastern, the students were yelling out of open windows in the hearing of a passing cop that they had drug for sale. This is the sort of situation that gets students busted, whether at Harvard, SDSU or Northeastern.

Re post 11, it does explain it. And if drug overdoses happened at HYPS, I bet there would be investigations there, too, family connections or not.

coureur · 05-06-2008, 03:24 PM

I'm not sure why everything that happens on other campuses has to somehow reflect back on Harvard, but if the drug use is causing problems Harvard police will certainly arrest students:

The Harvard Crimson :: News :: Undergrad Arrested on LSD Charges

DuelingApps · 05-06-2008, 06:08 PM

Officials at SDSU made it clear - they weren't after personal or recreational drug users, this was a case of drug trafficking ,complete with weapons, and product in quantities packaged for distribution. Good for those who went after it officially, I'd like to think the same would have happened at any college/university - pulic or private, ivy or garden variety, but perhaps not.

sunnyflorida · 05-06-2008, 07:52 PM

Yup, the arrests at SDSU were mostly dealers running a major trafficking operation. They were dealing in cocaine and crystal meth, among others; weapons involved. This was not about recreational use.