More football, more drunk students

6/4/2011: From Lauren Fox in the RG. UO is #4 for alcohol violations, #3 for drugs. (2009 data). A UO student explains the drinking:

“It’s really not that surprising,” said student Sean Roney, a junior. “UO is a great party school; we have good sports teams, and drinking is a big thing associated with that.”

And, of course, some damn economists have already spoiled the party with a careful econometric analysis verifying Mr Roney’s hypothesis: The more games, the more drinking (and violence). Those coefficients look impressive, but it’s a negative binomial, so they are not marginal effects.

Abstract:

There is a great deal of anecdotal evidence that college football games can lead to aggressive and destructive behavior by fans. However, to date, no empirical study has attempted to document the magnitude of this phenomenon. We match daily data on offenses from the National Incident-Based Reporting System to 26 Division I-A college football programs to estimate the relationship between college football games and crime. Our results suggest that the host community registers sharp increases in assaults, vandalism, arrests for disorderly conduct, and arrests for alcohol-related offenses on game days. Upsets are associated with the largest increases in the number of expected offenses.

Daniel I. Rees and Kevin T. Schnepel, “College Football Games and Crime,” Journal of Sports Economics 10, no. 1 (February 1, 2009): 68 -87.

Talk to a DPS Officer and you’ll learn this is the real reason Doug Tripp wants guns. It’s a real drag dealing with drunk mouthy kids all night, and carrying a gun brings you a little self-respect. The problem is what happens when some 19-year-old decides to mouth off anyway – boom.