SHE KNOCKED on a locked room in a fraternity house as she had many times before, and stumbled in. In order to please her older sister visiting for the weekend, she went searching for marijuana. It was a short search. Upon entering the room, the freshman encountered a group of students sitting around a table snorting cocaine off of a coffee table, something she had not encountered any other weekend.
"It just sort of freaked me out — I was like ‘whoa,'" said the woman, who asked not to be identified being involved with illegal drugs. "I don't know, I was just kind of blown-away because I knew that it happened on campus and I knew that there were people who did cocaine and things like that, but to walk into a room and just see it like right in front of me was really weird," she said.
Though initially startled by the scene, she came to the conclusion that the use of cocaine was not incredibly surprising given the large number of students who come from wealthy families. She said her high school also had a number of wealthy students who used cocaine.
"When people find out, I think they're surprised so I don't think that it's something that's broadcasted and I don't think it's something that people see as normal, but it's definitely out there. It's not the norm, but it's out there," she said.
Though alcohol is the most prevalent drug on campus, numerous DePauw students take advantage of harder substances, despite the legal, social and health risks they can pose. These drugs often remain out of the public eye and the reports of Public Safety officers, but for students the locked door can easily open.
In 2009, 211 referrals were made to the Community Standards for improper alcohol use while 26 were made for drug use, according to the DePauw Public Safety Crime Statistics. Though the numbers have decreased from 266 referrals for alcohol and 56 referrals for drugs in 2008, students and administrators admit that drugs and alcohol are a significant problem for the student body.
Drug and alcohol use cause great concern for administrators, President Brian Casey said, and he hopes to implement more events at which students can interact, and therefore reduce the number of events centered around alcohol or drugs on campus.
"They [drugs and alcohol] are a constant source of concern and worry," Casey said. "At its most primal level, you worry about the safety of students."
Director of Public Safety Angie Nally also said alcohol is a significant problem on campus, but viewed other drugs as less prevalent.
"I think there are instances when our students are using illegal substances," Nally said. "I don't know that it is the most prevalent issue on our campus."
Alcohol: the most common drug
For many students, drinking almost automatically accompanies any campus event or weekend festivity. Pre-gaming, drinking games, and social drinking occur on campus on a regular basis.
The 2008 CORE Alcohol and Drug survey showed that 82 percent of students had consumed alcohol in the 30 days preceding the survey.
Outgoing Student Government President Christine Walker, a senior, expressed little surprise at the large number of students involved in drinking. She said students drink quite often on campus and often justify their excessive consumption as a reward for hard work.
"The drinking is definitely part of the DePauw culture," Walker said, " ‘Work hard, play hard!' is the slogan that people use to describe it."
Nally said the desire on campus to get "drunker than drunk" has increased.
"It just feels as if as a community we've passed the point where feeling some effects of alcohol is satisfying," she said. "We've reached the point where we have to be excessively intoxicated to reach the point where we feel like we've satisfied the need to have alcohol."
This danger, along with many other factors, discourages some students from drinking. Sophomore Carroll Bible chooses not to drink because she does not wish to alter her personality and has a family history of alcoholism. However, she attends fraternity parties on occasion in order to socialize.
"It's definitely how you get to know people at DePauw and that's at any school, not DePauw alone so I like them, but I don't like when they get out of control or people make decisions that aren't in their best interest," Bible said.
A freshman male who wished to remain anonymous said he chooses to drink though he is under the legal drinking age. It helps alleviate anxieties. The freshman has been drinking since high school, but college and fraternity life have significantly increased his use of alcohol.
"It's like one of the social things to do when there's like a party going on or something and it just makes you more sociable, makes approaching random strangers easier and I think that it makes some situations funnier or easier to confront," he said.
Junior Margaret Busam also said drinking takes a large part in social events at DePauw. Busam said she began drinking in high school and continued throughout her DePauw career. She said DePauw has just as much drinking, if not more, than larger universities, because so many students come to DePauw knowing that there is a strong alcohol culture.
Cindy Babington, vice president for Student Life, echoed Nally, saying safety is most important to the university when it comes to drinking.
"If our message was don't drink until you're 21, we'd just be burying our heads in the sand to the reality of what's going on, so I think it's our obligation to do that part where we're educating students about the risks of alcohol and how to be safer if you choose to drink," Babington said. "But it is a tough message to relay to students and it puts us in an awkward position," Babington said.
Under the radar: marijuana
Though most parties provide alcohol up front, just down the hall behind a closed door, a student can regularly find marijuana.
Nally pointed to marijuana as the most common illegal drug recovered by Public Safety and said it often comes with a dangerous culture that emphasizes weapons and violence.
"We've seen visitors to campus who are supplying the drugs or coming to parties and not only bringing the marijuana with them but also the culture that comes with it. It is an illegal activity and on lots of occasions there are ramifications for dealing with marijuana that pose high risk to those individuals," Nally said.
The CORE survey showed that 43 percent of DePauw students had tried marijuana at least once in their lives compared to 47 percent of college students nationwide.
An anonymous freshman male said he smoked marijuana, even though he had several friends who received legal consequences for use or possession. Despite the statistics showing otherwise, he thinks who use marijuana on campus is probably nearly as high as that of students who use alcohol.
"Practically all the students at DePauw drink and I'd say it's like the same [with pot]," he said.
The freshman explained that he uses marijuana to reduce social tension and to make normal events seem "funnier." He also said he uses the drug to "open his mind" at times for academic endeavors.
Nally said she worries students who smoke marijuana might have less motivation for everyday activities.
"For people who consume marijuana to excess it can have dramatic effects on their desire to do well in classes and there are some people who have the opinion that marijuana opens their minds to exploration and intellectual engagement," Nally said.
The hard drugs: harder to find
Though very infrequently encountered by Public Safety, designer drugs such as cocaine, heroin and ecstasy are used on campus more often than many students realize.
Only 0.02 percent of students said they had used designer drugs in the 30 days preceding the CORE survey, but ask nearly any student, and they can tell you a person they know who uses or can get hard drugs.
Babington said students are rarely caught with designer drugs, but they present serious danger to students' health.
"Every once in a while we hear rumors about cocaine use and I think that that's probably something that if student's are using cocaine, that's a drug that's more serious than, say, marijuana," she said.
Nally recognized that Public Safety occasionally encounters designer drugs, but she said designer drugs are extremely difficult for officers to find as they do not always cause drastic changes in mood or behavior and are well hidden on campus.
Reaching into the cabinet: growing trend of prescription drug use
As finals push some students to their breaking points, some seek an illegal edge to improve their focus and ability to study: Ritalin and Adderall.
Many students illegally purchase prescription medications not actually perscribed to them from other students at anywhere from $3 to $30 a pill to feel the effects of those medications.
Many students buy and use prescription medications for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in order to improve focus and to study for greater periods of time.
Students often fail to recognize the potential dangers associated with using another person's prescription, Babington said.
"I think because students see that benefit from it they're ignoring all the potential risks involved, and I think we need to do a better job of getting those risks out there," she said.
Medication is prescribed to an individual based on weight, symptoms and other factors. By giving or selling it to someone else, Babington said, the medication may have different effects that may be negative. She mentioned instances where students using another individual's Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder prescription required medical attention for increased heart rate and other effects.
An anonymous sophomore male said he buys Adderall or Concerta from classmates in order to focus better during his studying sessions for finals.
"I have ADHD, but I don't have a prescription basically. I used to be on meds, but they made me act like a zombie," he said.
The sophomore said the drugs help him calm down and focus for extended periods of time.
"They're pretty easy to come by here, a ton of people have them so you just have to go out and find them," he said.
Cara Setchell, the associate dean of students, said an increasing number of students are seeking prescription drugs.
"We haven't had this at the forefront of our attention in recent years, but it is a real problem," Setchell said.
For that reason, Abigail Gerwin ‘09 returned to DePauw on April 14 with a fellow student from Ohio State University's College of Pharmacy and OSU's Dr. Ken Hale to give a presentation entitled "Prescription Medication Abuse in the College-Age Population." The presentation presented the issue of prescription drug abuse nationally and provided various programs for colleges and universities to educate students on the dangers of prescription drug abuse.
Many administrators attended the presentation and expressed a desire to implement similar programs at DePauw in order to combat problems with prescription drugs. Currently, the university has yet to adopt such programs.
The aftermath of drugs
Often the drugs and alcohol come with negative effects that may not set in until later. Whether that be a hangover, increased heart rate or addiction, using a drug generates a change within the body.
Babington said professors have called her office regarding students they believe to have drug or alcohol problems coming across in the classroom. These calls, though, don't happen frequently.
Eighty-six percent of students said they had never performed poorly on a test or project due to drug or alcohol use, and 77 percent said they had never skipped a class due to drugs or alcohol, according to the CORE survey.
Still, Babington said there has to be some impact.
"I've had that conversation with students before and they say, ‘no, no, no, I get all my work done and then I socialize.' " she said. "And I think for some students they can probably handle that pretty well, and I think for other students, they can't."
— Andrew Maddocks contributed to this story.