Students deserve a cookie for behavior

Monday marked an interesting day in Breeze history — no Police Log. For the first time in recent history, the page 2 staple was nowhere to be found and we had to decide what we could do with that entire block of space. Why? Because apparently JMU students behaved this week.

It's not just this week, however. Over the course of the year, the police log has been tiny.

Usually filled with stories of underage drinkers passing out at Godwin bus stop, of trespassers in the Arboretum at 4 a.m. and a variety of other incidents, the Police Log is often a chronicle of what Madison's crazier kids are up to. If not up to their usual, what are they doing? What happened to drunks in public and the John Does caught urinating on Duke Drive.?

We began hypothesizing last month. We talked to police and offered theories — maybe it was because of Sept. 11. Maybe people were staying in dorms more on the weekends. Maybe the increased police presence was the reason. Hypotheses failed. We were at a loss.

Perhaps JMU students have taken a turn to more studious endeavors, staying in on the weekends for the sake of academic pursuits? Hmm. Saturday night studying in the Garber study lounge or Saturday night dancing to ABBA in College Station while Backstreet Boy wannabes pass out Jell-O shooters and sing along to karaoke. You decide.

Maybe JMU administrators have taken to spiking the campus water with some sort of behavior-modifying chemical to bring about a calmer and safer environment? Didn't something like that happen in that teen movie from a few years ago "The Faculty"?

Could a covert operation be underway wherein all the bad seeds on campus are sent away to Iceland, cleansing the JMU population over time so as to encourage the obliteration of all crime? Not likely.

In all seriousness, though, the potential reasons for the decrease in crime are ambiguous and unclear.

Even though judicial referrals are up by 66 this year as compared to this same time last year, Director of Public Safety Alan MacNutt said campus police are following the same philosophy it has in the past, so the argument appears invalid.

Rather, the increase is attributed to more alcohol violations in residence halls.
Harrisonburg and JMU police teamed up for the first month of school this year and on certain weekends such as Homecoming, though Chris Tarbell, information assistant for the JMU Police Department, indicated that the relationship has not had an effect on the decreased in crime.

Other ideas were brought up and shot down in the Dec. 3 issue of The Breeze, including a more well-behaved freshman class, but these hyphotheses are vague, at best.

So the reason is still a mystery. Not that we're complaining. A decrease in crime is a positive change, but such a change leaves one pondering what motivated the decrease. Maybe there is no reason for the decrease — just a coincidence as things change year to year. Your guess is as good as ours. E-mail suggestions at our Web site if you feel so inclined.

Regardless, stay out of trouble and out of the Police Log and be safe this holiday season.