EMILY REID/Arizona Daily Wildcat Hopi Lodge resident Ryan Harper smokes Sunday outside his residence hall. Although all students living in Hopi are required to sign an agreement stating that they will abstain from alcohol, smoking or illegal drugs, the number of reported substance offenses there are comparable to that in the other dorms.

Officials say rate of drug and alcohol violations at Hopi Lodge comparable to other dorms

The UA's "substance-free" dormitory may have more substances in it than some students expected.

Cmdr. Brian Seastone, a spokesman for the University of Arizona Police Department, said Hopi Lodge has a similar rate of drug and alcohol violations compared to other dorms of its size, even though all students who live there are required to sign contracts stating that they will abstain from drugs, alcohol and tobacco.

But Seastone said that the number of offenses in the dormitories is very low across the board.

William Haun, a biochemistry and molecular and cellular biology freshman and resident at Hopi Lodge, pointed out that simply because something is labeled "substance-free" does not mean it will stay that way.

"This dorm is supposed to be substance-free, but it is so easy to break rules," he said.

Haun, who did not indicate Hopi Lodge as a preference on his application for on-campus housing, also said that the chances of finding a dormitory that is truly substance-free is difficult on any college campus.

"You can't stop people from doing drugs and drinking in college," he said. "It's just never going to happen."

Haun said he did not take the contract seriously.

"I didn't really read the contract," he said. "You need to sign it on the first day to get your key, so I did."

EMILY REID/Arizona Daily Wildcat A dorm refrigerator in Hopi Lodge holds a variety of malt liquor beverages. Although officials from the Department of Resident Life say they are not surprised the rules are broken, they also say residents should hold themselves to a higher standard because they signed contract to refrain from using alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.

Jim Van Arsdel, director of Residence Life, said he is aware of the current situations in Hopi Lodge.

"When we first started (the substance-free hall program), we started with a group of students who were individually interested and had the right intentions in the program," he said. "Over the years, you will begin to see students without such intentions who end up in Hopi."

Constructed in 1947, Hopi Lodge became a substance-free facility within the last decade. Residents are expected to sign a contract upon move-in agreeing to have no alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs in their living environment. They also agree not to return to the hall "under the influence" or in a state which would negatively affect or disrupt the community.

Van Arsdel said the ideals of the community have not changed. Although Hopi residents face the same penalties for using substances as students in any other dorm, Van Arsdel said because students make a commitment upon move-in, and they have a greater responsibility than the general dorm population.

"The ideal of the community is that this really should be self-policing," he said.

Van Arsdel denied that a recent housing shortage that left more than 200 students living in hotel rooms and dorm lounges caused people to violate the substance-free policy.

"We will fill up Hopi regardless of any sort of housing shortfall," he said. "We have always been assigning some numbers of students who don't necessarily want to be there at the time."

Van Arsdel still stresses that there are students who appreciate and are genuinely interested in a substance-free dormitory. He said that while interest has declined a bit, it definitely remains.

"This was developed because of students who wanted to be without underage drinking in their living space and to be without the consequences of drinking," he said. "It was developed and initiated in a smaller residence hall because we felt that it would be easier to enforce."

Van Arsdel also said that they chose to designate an entire building because the policies would be easier to enforce. He said that simply designating a wing or floor of a building may not have sufficed in fulfilling their goals.

Alan Levy, director of Housing Public Affairs at the University of Michigan, said UM offers 2,515 of nearly 9,000 spaces as "substance-free" and they fill them each year with interested students. The university designates specific floors as substance-free areas, allowing students to experience a substance-free environment in the dormitory of their choice.

Levy says what makes the substance-free atmosphere valuable is that it is a voluntary association.

"We have less than 50 students in those spaces who didn't specifically ask for it," he said.

Levy said that the UM program, the largest substance-free program of its kind in the country, has very high compliance, but it is not 100 percent.