The 2013 Linfield Annual Security and Fire report was recently released to the Linfield community which detail Linfield policies and the annual crime statistics.

This report is required by law and is something that students should look at, as its contents pertain directly to student life.

In the report, a significant increase in Liquor Law Referrals were documented. 134 people received Liquor Law Referrals in 2013.

This number increased by 40 students as compared to 94 students in 2012.

“This data could tell us that more students were drinking and that campus officials were more observant of what students were doing,” said Ron Noble, director of College Public Safety.

Noble also mentioned that RAs and ADs are very well trained so that could have played a part as to why there were more referrals.

“We are not about punishing people at Linfield,” Noble said.

Noble says that the point of the student conduct board is to show those that were referred to them that there are consequences, but more importantly, that they need to learn from their mistakes.

Noble also emphasized that the purpose of strikes and the conduct board is to educate students on what can happen through substance abuse, whether it be drugs, alcohol or both.

“We want to limit abuse of alcohol and drugs on campus … we want people to make smart decisions,” Noble said.

An important difference to note is that there were only 6 Liquor Law Arrests in 2013 as compared to 11 in 2012.

Liquor Law Arrests can only be made by local law enforcement and by sheriffs.

Campus Public Safety can only issue citations and referrals to students on campus.

Interpreting statistics isn’t always easy. Statistics will always present the numbers behind something but they do not tell the stories of why each incident happened.

An example of this is the 11 burglary incidents that were reported in the 2013 report.

Noble explained, “The burglary incidents occurred during a summer basketball camp.”

“Nine of the 11 burglary incidents happened in different rooms that athletes were staying in during the camp,” Noble said.

One incident of stalking was noted in the report.

A female student on the McMinnville campus said she thought that someone was stalking her. CPS found it to be a man from McMinnville and told him that Linfield is private property and that a student felt like he was stalking her.

The other most notable incident reported is the 5 incidents of Forcible Sex in 2013.

The report has numerous pages dedicated to explaining Linfield’s definition of sexual assault as well as people who students can talk to if they have been sexually assaulted or have a friend that needs help.

All of the incidents mentioned in this article are incidents that are required to be reported by the Clery act.

The report is accesible to all students, faculty and staff at Linfield. It is available on the Linfield website and can be provided by CPS upon request.

Above all Noble wants, “students to be safe and feel safe at Linfield.”

For more information on the 2013 report contact Ron Noble at [email protected].