“As long as I’ve known FSU I've always known that it is a possibility to get spiked while going out so to be a female, especially going out with my friends and how easy it is to get into the bars around here it's always been a real worry for me and it's always been a scary thought,” says FSU student Shea Posner. She says she’s always been concerned about her drinks being drugged and looks out for her friends while never leaving their cups unattended.
According to the FSU crime log, between September 18th and November 11th, there were 33 reported incidents of “tampering with consumer products.”
FSU Police Chief Rhonda Harris says information about drinks being drugged began spreading via social media around Halloween when there were many parties on and around campus.
“There were social media posts about ‘Hey could this have happened to you, I think this happened to me.’ I think there was a lot of discussion about our community," she said in an interview with WFSU.
According to the crime logs, 12 of the reported incidents stem from 429 W. Park Avenue which is the site of the Theta Chi fraternity house. WFSU reached out to Theta Chi and the Inter-fraternity council, which governs fraternities at FSU, for a comment. The request was not immediately returned.
Harris says drink spiking can, and has, happened at locations other than fraternity houses.
“It’s also bars and restaurants- and its private house parties and all kinds of social events.”
Students point to the university’s culture as a potential cause of the problem.
For nearly 20 years, FSU has consistently been ranked at or near the top of dozens of lists of so-called “party schools” by various outlets. Much of that involves drinking culture. Senior Kaitlyn Walsh, says she enjoys going out with her friends on weekends but worries about her safety.
“After being a student for the day, maybe on the weekends I wanna spend time with my girlfriends and go tailgate and go to the football games and have a seltzer or two. I wanna feel safe doing that," says Walsh.
Chief Harris, knows the "party school' stigma well.
“I remember being naive enough when I first made chief that I thought I would get this big support from parents to implement curtailing drinking on campus," she says, "but even parents feel that it is part of the college.”
FSU has a bar in its student union that serves beer and liquor. It’s on hand at football games and tailgates. Harris agrees that drinking is considered a norm in college culture. Yet, across the street at Florida A&M University, student Makayla Thomas says there’s a different culture around the subject at the historically Black university.
“That's not something we really hear about here,” says Thomas.
Just because she doesn’t hear about drink spiking, doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Still, during that same September to November time frame, there were no incidents of drugged drinks reported to the FAMU Police Department. FAMU student Jakayla Jackson says she takes precautions against drink spiking by sticking with her close friends.
“I make sure I’m with my friends. People I can actually trust.”
Staying with friends on a night out, keeping drinks covered, and not setting down a drink are all preventive measures students take to ensure safety when drinking. Harris says she hopes the spate of drugged drinks will slow down. It’s a felony in Florida and Harris says the incidents remain under investigation.
