The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

House drug raids seem futile as school year ends

We have one more week left in the semester. One more week. And students across campus might have thought they were home free.

But on Tuesday, University Police began making arrests as part of an on-going drug investigation. Twenty-five people were arrested. Twenty-one out of the 25 being University students. At least eight of those students are involved in the Greek system. More than likely, they thought they wouldn’t get caught this close to school being out.

At a University with over 40,000 students, 21 makes up an almost dismal percentage. But now, those 21 students and their poor decisions will represent our campus community, regardless of how many other students on campus don’t participate in illegal drug activity.

The news will undoubtedly follow those students who were caught with drugs, but in the end the entire campus community will be affected by the generalization.

The same happened when the Newman priest was caught with drugs; it reflected poorly on not only the priest, but the Newman Center and our university.

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These drug arrests not only reflect poorly on the students arrested, but also University students. Moreover, the negative stereotypes of the Greek system will grow to be 10 times worse.

It’s not like we’re blind to the realities of campus life; students experiment with alcohol and drugs — illegally or not.

We know it happens. We know some students do illegal drugs. But students need to be prepared to suffer the consequences if caught doing anything illegal.

And while yes, we absolutely believe the law should be enforced, the underlying question really is whether these drug raids will change anything. Will they make Greek chapters crack down on alcohol and drugs in the houses? Will there be more Kolusis supervision? More strict punishments and consequences for illegal activities?

The drug investigation had been on-going for two semesters, said Lt. Roy Acree of the University police’s investigation team. After speaking with police, the timing of this raid probably was not done on a whim.

And if that’s the case, there may be more where that came from.

But with one more week left in the semester, it’s unlikely that we’ll see the ultimate outcome of these arrests.

If the students are convicted, it will probably be during the summer when University students are off campus. And in the fall, new students will move on to campus and it will almost seem like nothing happened.

This might be a big warning for students for the rest of this semester. Maybe punishment will be enforced during these last weeks, but will the consequences of these arrests carry through to the fall semester? The raid was beneficial in the sense of arresting those who had been illegally handling drugs, and it might have set an example for the rest of the school year, but will it take another drug raid in the fall semester to set another example?

Unfortunately, it might. Unless rules and restrictions are more strictly enforced, nothing will change.

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