RAs report rising drug use
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Resident assistants in University of North Florida housing report evidence of drug and alcohol use in residents' rooms. The University Police Department said the number of incidents is rising but there is not a problem on campus. |
Resident assistants at the University of North Florida dorms say they're seeing increasing evidence of illegal substances in student's dorm rooms.
While no concrete numbers are available for this school year, University Police Department Chief Mark Foxworth said the number of drug and alcohol related incidents are increasing because of higher enforcement and better relations between students and police.
"We don't see an alcohol and drug problem in the
housing areas on campus,"
Foxworth said.
However, Christina Rock, an RA in Osprey Landing, said students are finding more effective ways of doing drugs on campus without getting caught.
"We typically see alcohol and marijuana being used in the dorm rooms," said Rock, a sophomore physical therapy major. "It can be as often as three to four times a week where we have a drug-related problem at the Landing," Rock said.
"I see drugs being used and offered on an everyday basis," said Jasmine Hunter, a freshman criminal justice major and a resident of The Crossings.
According to the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration and the National Survey on Drug Use & Health, illicit drug use rates among young adults ages 18-22 were similar for full-time college students (37.5 percent), part-time college students (38.5 percent) and nonstudents (38.4 percent) last year. Full-time college students were less likely to have used cocaine, crack cocaineand pain
relievers in the past year than
non-students.
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SG trying to tie up loose ends
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A cleaning service for University of North Florida residents as proposed by SG is not currently possible, as are the free oil changes for UNF students. |
As their term ends, University of North Florida Student Body President Justin Damiano and Vice President Dorrell Briscoe
are trying to fulfill their
campaign promises.
Damiano and Briscoe made a campaign promise last spring for a cleaning service for housing students and free oil changes for UNF students. The idea was to reach out to both those living on
campus and commuter students,
Damiano said.
"Dorrell and I were elected on these promises, and we want to
follow through on them,"
Damiano said.
Cleaning service
They aimed to make the cleaning service available in all campus housing and to include the expense in the cost of housing, Damiano said. If a student decided to opt out of the service, he or she would be able to go online and request his or her room not to be cleaned, he said.
Damiano said Student Government was told to choose an external contractor, and the service would cost students around $90 a month. However, Damiano said SG proposed a $100,000 budget for the service and it would cost students from $5 to $20 a month. Under this plan, three UNF housing employees would be responsible for cleaning the facilities,
he said.
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AOL Building deal finalized
After more than seven months of negotiation, the University of North Florida has signed an agreement to purchase the AOL Building on Kernan Boulevard.
The university signed a lease agreement with Jacksonville Police and Fire Pension Fund with the option to purchase the 125,000-square-foot building located east of campus April 3, said Shari Shuman, vice president of administration and finance. The pension fund completed a purchase agreement with AOL April 2, Shuman said.
The university plans to purchase the building in the fall if public education capital outlay funds are approved and made available by the Legislature and the Board of Governors.
"It's a tremendous, tremendous move for us," said President John Delaney. "It will allow us to eliminate all the trailers and free up space for faculty and classrooms."
To purchase the building after a one-year lease would cost approximately $18 million, Shuman said.
"However, we anticipate buying it before that," Shuman said.
Delaney said the university will begin to relocate select administrative offices to the building within the next few weeks.
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