Metropolitan Police officers arrested a student Friday for possession with intent to sell marijuana and possession of LSD – the sixth arrest for intent to distribute drugs this academic year.
Officers seized seven Ziploc bags of marijuana, a personal supply of LSD and $687 in cash from a Guthridge Hall room at about 3:48 a.m., according to police documents. They also discovered a black and silver scale, as well as empty Ziploc bags and freezer lock bags in 19-year-old Connor O’Neill’s room. He said Thursday that he did not face charges.
Six of the seven students arrested for drugs in the first month of school were busted for intent to distribute, University Police Chief Kevin Hay said. During the same period last year, just one student out of the five drug arrests was busted for intent to sell, he said.
This year's busts also uncovered harder drugs.
Two students were found with cocaine and ecstasy in Munson Hall Aug. 31. The other three students this year were arrested for marijuana, and two were charged with intent to sell. MPD also arrested a former student Sept. 20 for possession with intent to sell heroin and amphetamines, and for having an unregistered rifle and ammunition.
Last year, four of the five arrests in the first month of classes involved marijuana at parks near campus. The student arrested for intent to distribute was found in Mitchell Hall.
Hay said though the number of arrests has increased, he does not consider it unusual, because there has been “less than one resident arrested for every thousand students” living on campus.
Students are increasingly alerting UPD of their neighbors' alleged drug use, Hay said, adding that students report seeing smoke or smelling marijuana in hallways or complain of loud music.
“Some students take offense to drug use happening in their residence halls. They don’t want to be around it, and the students call GWPD,” Hay said. “As these cases are reported, we will take action.”
Officers patrolling residence halls also look out for smoke and odor, he said, but the force is not adjusting protocol as a result of the recent arrests.
Gabriel Slifka, director of the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities, said most students who are suspended or expelled are caught with “illegal drugs, such as cocaine, MDMA, hallucinogens, the possession of marijuana in significant quantities or multiple violations of the University’s drug policies.”
Thirteen drug arrests were made in 2010 on the Foggy Bottom Campus, according to UPD data filed with the Department of Education, compared to the seven reported in the past month. UPD must report statistics for the 2011 calendar year to the department next month.
Slifka said the majority of drug violations on campus are for small quantities of marijuana and would not typically result in suspension or expulsion “unless there are particular aggravating circumstances such as the distribution of marijuana to other individuals.”
The office took an education-based turn this year, outlining consequences for drug violations in a flow chart. Students who receive violations for illegal drugs must complete substance abuse education, and first-time drug users could earn an administrative record and a $50 fine.
Slifka said the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act barred him from releasing what disciplinary actions the office handed out for arrested students.
This article was updated Sept. 27, 2012 at 5:33 p.m. to reflect new information that was provided after publication.
Are you kidding? You found it necessary to publish this student’s name? The story can be comprehended without that information. I get it, it’s public information. But for the sake of a fellow student, who is already dealing with something like this, the last thing that person needs is to be put in the spot light.
The student apparently didn’t have a problem with buyers knowing his name. Now that he got busted, suddenly it should be a private matter?
Your tuition dollars and taxes pay for MPD and GWPD. You have a right to know who they arresting. If you don’t want to know, don’t read the article.
How do you know the people this student allegedly sold drugs to knew his name?
The article does not say that student is guilty of dealing with anything wrong. That is your interpretation…. All it says is drugs were found in the students room.
stop publishings innocent people’s names and try posting some real news ya cunts
I didn’t know that dealing pot is worthy of a full article with name printed. The title of the article and its links to the others are directing the reader to conclude that this student was dealing hard drugs, which he wasn’t. Its BS article i’m sure many members of the Hatchet smoke weed just like alot of GW students lets see them exposed next article.
hahaha so true! I promise you’ll never see the headline, “Hatchet staffer arrested for intent to distribute.” They just like to broadcast everyone else’s misfortune.
I tried saying that when they wrote an article saying why they published the names of the girls arrested in munson. they failed to respond other than giving an example of a former writer who drew swastikas on her door and got the FBI involved…i guess thats comparable…Id like to see what would happen if Matthew Kwiecinski got arrested or another person high up in the hatchet ranking
empty ziplock bags and freezer bags. now that’s some pretty incriminating stuff.
you have to be fucking kidding me. you felt the need to publish his name…but not anyone else arrested this year for harder drugs….take a step back and look at what you’re doing.
look back at the other articles, the names are mentioned, too. arrest = public. shouldn’t get arrested if you don’t want your name in the paper. good job Hatchet, keep up the good reporting!
Just because your arrested doesn’t mean your guilty. There is no need to further humiliate someone who is Innocent until the courts say otherwise. A simple entry in the crime log would have been appropriate.
The smartest comment in this thread was “innocent until proven guilty.” By publishing the student’s name in The Hatchet, you have done — pardon the pun — a hatchet job on this guy and it is not your place to do so. By publishing his name, you have already determined him to be guilty and that is NOT your role to be judge and jury. Your role is to report news.
It’s true that the names of people who are arrested are public record and are thus subject to be published. However, this is not ethical nor fair reporting. What if the person is innocent or is not guilty of the crime for which he or she is being arrested? Let the legal process, not The Hatchet, decide!
@Constant Reader Throughout the entire article, no other names of those who were ARRESTED (that makes it public right?) are mentioned. That makes Connor seem like the only guilty one in the article. I completely agree with @gwstudent. A simple god damn crime log post would have been fine.
“busted,” you call this journalism?
Real professional here guys. Publish this students name when he is not proven guilty. In fact, the charges were dropped. So this students reputation among his peers and more importantly professors at GW is tarnished. Good luck getting fair judgment in classes now that his name was published and will be associated with drugs whether or not he really was.
Why would you publish the kid’s name? If you’re going to name names, either name them all or name none of them. This could potentially qualify as libel.
Actually, to clarify, not all of the students arrested this year were busted for “intent to distribute”. Make sure your information is correct before you put it in print, because a lot of it hasn’t been, even with your sources. These articles make it seem like you are running a gossip column instead of an actual newspaper. The place for this isn’t where students, that are innocent until proven guilty, should be called out and judged.
This is libel. This is worthy of a lawsuit.
The name printed aside, I think the thing we should be paying attention to is the fact that people are getting busted at these new higher rates. To set some premises here…we all know “drugs are bad”, “people shouldn’t sell drugs” “these things are illegal and punishable”…got it, but as we know these things are happening and will continue to happen. Frankly, I take issue with the students increasingly alerting UPD. I understand that people don’t want to smell weed all the time, they don’t want loud music when they are trying to sleep, because these are understandable things, but I think there needs to be more of an emphasis on communication within the community before the police are involved. I don’t think people totally think about what it means to have the police find these kinds of drugs, or what it really means to get busted for possession or have too many noise complaints. These things can destroy a students career and life. Have any of you concerned students ever…idk?..uhhh…. talked to your neighbor yourself? or ask your house proctor/scholar to maybe talk to them and give them a warning. People don’t understand they are creating situations for students to just be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I know no one wants to sympathize with the “offenders” here, but we are all students and we all indulge in things we are not supposed to sometimes. Next time your neighbor is bumping their music to loud why don’t you send them a text versus calling the police. You don’t know what they are doing…all it takes is for UPD to see open container or feel the need to do a search and you could royally fuck someones life over…all because you wanted to sleep and didn’t have the balls to say “hey, its getting really bad could you chill”. If they give you a hard time, then fine you tried. The same people making all these calls are the same kids panicking when UPD gets all their info at that room party they were at Saturday night…you didn’t like the concerned caller then did you.
It is easier to call UPD, I know…but its not so easy when Mommy and Daddy find out you are toking on their dime, or you are charged with Schedule II drug possession….I bet you concerned students don’t even know what Schedule II means.
With the number of drug arrests so far this semester, I would think the GW students would be a little more concerned about their university instead of whether someone’s name was published in a report. For those that are so distraught that a student was named, let me remind you that the arrest was for possession with intent to sell marijuana and possession of LSD. Seven Ziploc bags of marijuana were seized along with a personal supply of LSD. These are serious drug offenses especially if convicted of distributing or possessing with the intent to distribute within 1000 feet of an appropriately identified public or private university. So try to stay focused on the issue at hand. I question whether this student is actually there to receive an education. And please display some intelligence when replying to an article, this is not libel.
Actually, US Citizen, please look up libel. This is exactly what libel is.
stupid of you to print the name of the student. whether it was public info or not. you dont do that. he should sue for defamation of character..apparently the charges were dropped? w/e the hatchet sucks anyways.
I see Wahhhh is just as ignorant as the others. Please do your homework. When an individual is named in a police report, it becomes public record. If this was not the case and the reported information was not of public concern, then there might be a case for libel or defamation. Go sit in the corner with your dunce cap on Mr. Wahhhh.
I think it was unprofessional and rude to publish Connor’s name. Even if Connor weren’t my friend, I would feel the same way. This is the first article I’ve read from the Hatchet, but I assumed it was a professional and decent newspaper. My respect for it has decreased and I can’t say I support it anymore.