The numbers of alcohol violations, arrests and vandalism, as well as the first reported case of sexual assault, this Homecoming weekend were higher than last year's.
College Proctor Bob McEwen said he did not want to call the across-the-board increase in violations of College policy a trend because, for the most part, the numbers of violations were not significantly greater than last year.
McEwen said of all the College policy violations that occurred this past weekend, the incident that concerned him most was the sexual assault reported to his department.
McEwen said the incident, which happened Friday night and early Saturday morning, involved a woman who is a student at the College and a man who does not attend Dartmouth.
Currently, the woman has not issued an official complaint, but both Safety and Security and the Hanover Police are investigating the case.
Last year, according to the Annual Security Report, no cases of sexual assault were reported to Safety and Security from Fall 1998 through Summer 1999.
Sexual Abuse Peer Adviser Janelle Ruley '00 said she knows of more cases of sexual assault that occurred this weekend that were not reported to Safety and Security.
"We all know that sexual assault and alcohol consumption are correlated and on most big weekends more alcohol is consumed," she said.
McEwen did acknowledge that this weekend the number of inebriates -- students who are at risk and have to be transported to Dick's House, the hospital or back to a roommate -- doubled to 18 from last year's nine.
He said most of these violations occurred on Friday, some during the Bonfire and some later on that night.
The number of arrests also increased from last year's three. McEwen said yesterday that was aware of six arrests.
Three students were arrested for petty larceny. McEwen said these students shoplifted grocery carts on Friday night.
There was also one arrest for illegal possession of alcohol and two arrests for women who rushed the field during the third quarter of the football game against Cornell on Saturday.
He said the students did not attempt to run from the Hanover Police.
In a related incident this weekend someone sent an e-mail message from an anonymous account claiming to be Dean of First Year Students Gail Zimmerman.
The message, signed Dean Zimmerman, read in part: "While it is not feasible for me to officially encourage students to rush the field, I will be dealing with students caught in the Homecoming rush in a reasonable manner and on a case by case basis that will not affect students' permanent records."
McEwen said the mass e-mail message was sent past midnight on Friday and as soon as Safety and Security officers learned of it early Saturday morning, officers sent out notices telling students that it was erroneous.
"It's very unfortunate that someone would try and write first-year students to do something that's not only a violation of College policy, but a criminal act," Zimmerman told The Dartmouth yesterday.
According to McEwen, Kiewit and the Dean's office are currently handling the investigation of this incident.
Zimmerman said in similar cases in the past, Kiewit has tracked messages and the students involved have been punished. She expects the same to happen in this case.
McEwen also said there were five cases of simple assault, which is two more than last year.
In one of the cases, McEwen said a student intentionally struck another student in the mouth, breaking the student's teeth.
Another student punched a Security officer and three students were punched with fists or elbows in their faces during the Bonfire.
Last year, a Safety and Security was punched in the rib cage by a student at the Bonfire, and his portable radio was thrown into the crowd.
An injured leg and an eye injury, both sustained during the Bonfire, were also reported to Safety and Security. McEwen said he was surprised that as far as he knew, there had been no reported incidents of burns from the fire.
He said there were eight cases of vandalism this weekend, up from five last year, and that most of them took place in residence halls and involved broken glass and fire extinguishers.
McEwen also said there were two keg violations, in which Safety and Security had to remove kegs from Greek houses that were not authorized to have them.
McEwen said there were increased officers patrolling at night over the Homecoming weekend.
"There's always an increased number of calls" over the big weekends, he said.
He said some of the calls come from students who get locked out of their rooms, and others are for more serious problems.
He said the fall is usually the term with the most reported violations, especially since there are five home football games, which draw crowds of outsiders into town.
