Fewer students faced discipline last year for drinking alcohol on campus than in previous years, but more students were arrested for under aged drinking according to the 2010 Annual Security and Fire Safety Report.  The report also showed an increase in campus thefts.

The Clery Act requires schools to publish the Annual Security and Fire Safety Report annually by Oct. 1, and the report must contain three years worth of campus crime statistics.

Congress enacted the Clery Act in 1990 after a student, Jeanne Clery, was murdered at Lehigh University in 1986.

USI’s report showed students disciplined for liquor law violations decreased from 278 to 152, a 4.5 percent decrease, but arrests for liquor law violations increased from 23 to 59, a 15 percent increase.

The decrease in liquor law violations may be contributed to a few things, said Security Director Steve Woodall.

“Maybe the fact that the number hasn’t decreased, but instead of drinking alcohol here, they’re going off campus,” Woodall said.

Another possibility is that less students are drinking alcohol, or the law enforcement is acting as a deterrent, Woodall said.

The number of campus thefts increased from 83 to 117, a four percent increase.

Electronics, books and backpacks are the main things reported stolen, he said.

The increase in thefts could be because more people are reporting items stolen than previously, Woodall said.

“Before they may have reported lost, I think now they’re reporting more things they believe to have been stolen,” he said.

The report also showed a decrease in forcible sex offenses from 4 to 3.