Student alcohol problems result in fat wallets for attorneys

BY LINDSAY JACKSON
SEPT. 11, 2007

With Miami University students back for a new semester, restaurants are filling their tables, book stores are ringing out textbooks – and bars and parties are serving up drinks. For Oxford lawyers, it’s that last activity – consumption of alcohol – that creates a new crop of clients each fall.

Criminal defense attorney Daniel E. Haughey is one of Oxford’s attorneys whose business includes an “overwhelming majority” of students, specifically students with some type of alcohol-related charge.

“It’s why he [Haughey] opened business here,” Haughey’s secretary, Vickie Jung, said.

“Students just seem to get in a lot of trouble. And it just escalates each year. Miami is now considered one of the party schools, and that wasn’t the case a couple of years ago.”

Most of Haughey’s student cases involve underage intoxication, underage possession, false identification, bar fights and sexual assaults.

“Most people think I’m representing shady or disgusting people,” Haughey said. “But I’m really representing people with bright futures who have one bad night.”

Miami President David Hodge’s overall goal to curb Miami’s drinking appetite coupled with the increased police attention of alcohol-related crimes supports the opinion of Haughey and others that Miami has a drinking problem.

“I think we do have a huge problem, but not one that you wouldn’t find anywhere else,” Haughey said. “Do I think it’s a problem? Yes. Do I think it’s a huge problem? Yes. Do I think it’s different from any other schools in the Midwest? No.”

Haughey pointed out that even parenting style and upbringing does not necessarily predict a student’s disciplinary record. Students who violate drinking laws come from both conservative and liberal homes.

“Either way,” Haughey said, “they’re still in the same place… right here in my office.”

Haughey hypothesized that some students from very restrictive backgrounds intentionally rebel against their parents and the rules they were forced to follow for 18 years prior to coming to college. He calls it the “I can engage in self-destructive behavior and there’s nothing you can do about it, Mom” attitude.

Miami receives a lot of attention as a school with affluent, good-looking people, Haughey noted. It is this increased publicity of the school, he said, that adds to why people assume Miami’s “drinking problem” is an isolated event that does not transcend other college campuses. The more attention Miami receives, the bigger the problem is perceived to be.

At the University of Cincinnati, another Midwest college campus in close proximity to Oxford, alcohol abuse is not the No. 1 source of crime, Haughey said. That campus has more pressing issues on the docket, such as theft and assault.

“[Alcohol-related problems] are our No. 1 source of crime. It’s a No. 1 concern because we don’t have anything bigger to worry about,” he said.

Oxford attorneys Wayne Staton and Martha Meyer also handle alcohol-related crimes, with students generating 60 to 70 percent of their business.

“Students commit a gamut of crimes, like felonies, drug abuse and trafficking, and burglary,” Meyer said, “but the bulk majority is alcohol or alcohol is involved in some way.”

Attorney F. Harrison Green, a local lawyer who specializes in medical malpractice and personal injury cases, doesn’t even escape the influence of Miami students: although the university’s students do not make up the majority of his business, those who do are typically there on alcohol-related claims.

There is hope, however, for students who find themselves in an alcohol-related incident that requires representation by a local attorney. Judge Robert Lyons of the Area I Court in Oxford offers a relatively new program, entitled the Diversion Program, which allows students with a first-time offense to complete the program and essentially have the offense removed from their criminal record.

“It’s basically for stupid people that have done stupid things,” said a Miami sophomore who recently visited Haughey. He was participating in the program after an alcohol-related bar fight at Brick Street Bar & Grille.

Lyons designed two parts of the Diversion Program. The first program specifically deals with cases involving underage alcohol consumption and alcohol possession. Offenders are required to pay $80 in court fees, perform 30 hours of community service and participate in a two-day alcohol program. The second program is specifically designed for cases involving the use of false identification. These offenders are required to pay $80 in court fees, a $750 contribution fee to the community and complete a two-day alcohol program.

“If you lose your mind one night, it gives you a fresh start,” said Jung, Haughey’s secretary.

Local attorney stake no pleasure in meeting students trying to repair the damage of these “one nights.”

“An individual student is going to make whatever decision they want to make,” Haughey said.

“If they want to party, drink, and socialize, that’s what they’re going to do. It’s the way it’s going to be, but I do think it’s a shame.”

For Haughey and his competitors, the continuing shame means continued business.

“My job is seasonal,” Haughey added. “I’m still busy in the summer, but when the students begin moving in is really when the season starts. If it weren’t for people engaging in stupid behavior, I wouldn’t have a job market.”