Content warning: This story discusses topics such as sexual assault and rape.
There were 56 criminal offenses committed within Allegheny’s jurisdiction during 2024. Of those, two were hate crimes and 47 were related to drug or liquor abuse violations, three of which resulted in arrest. Notably, between 2023 and 2024, there was a 36% decrease in drug abuse violations, dropping from 41 reports in 2023 to 26 in 2024.
This data is recorded in the 2025 Annual Security and Fire Report, released to the campus community via email on Sept. 30. Congress has required the publication of the report each year since the passage of the Campus Fire Safety Right-to-Know Act in 2008 — an act that amended the Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act of 1998, which was named in memory of Jeanne Clery, a student who was raped and murdered in her college dormitory in 1986. The Clery Act mandates that all higher education institutions that receive federal funding must report all crimes that occur within their jurisdiction in an annual report published and distributed by Oct. 1.
Reportable offenses include violent crimes, such as homicide, sex offenses and assault, as well as non-violent crimes, such as liquor and drug violations, burglary and vandalism. To be within the jurisdiction of the college and therefore reportable, the offense must take place on Allegheny’s main campus or at the Robertson Athletic Complex, Bousson Environmental Research Reserve or ALIC @ Bessemer. Additionally, offenses are reportable if they occur off-campus at a college-authorized event.
The 36% decrease in drug abuse violations between 2023 and 2024 is even further down from the reported 52 instances of drug abuse violations in 2022. In an interview with The Campus, Director of Public Safety Mark Weindorf said the vast majority of the drug abuse violations in 2024 involved marijuana. Most of the violations were witnessed firsthand by Public Safety officers or reported by Student Life employees, such as resident advisors, he said.
Although Weindorf was uncertain exactly what caused the 36% decrease in drug offenses, he attributed it partially to the college’s successful deterrence strategy, which includes “aggressive” patrolling by Public Safety, consistent response to and follow-up on all drug complaints and an effective student conduct process. He also mentioned that some Public Safety officers who consistently made a significant number of drug seizures in prior years are no longer at the college, though he said their departure did not affect Public Safety’s commitment to preventing violations of the law.
There were 18 liquor violations in 2024, up from 14 in 2023 and eight in 2022. Weindorf said Dean for Student Life and Title IX Coordinator Trae Yeckley can trace the increase in violations between 2023 and 2024 to a single event at a fraternity where five students were caught in violation of liquor laws. Despite the increase of liquor violations over the past few years, Weindorf emphasized that the number of violations still remains small overall.
Only three of the 47 drug and liquor violations resulted in an arrest.
“If there’s nothing significant with an incident, (if) somebody hasn’t been hurt, we try to go through the student conduct process with students first with some of these violations,” Weindorf said.
If a violation becomes a habit or poses a danger, then Public Safety will escalate the consequences to pursue a criminal charge, Weindorf explained.
In addition to the drug and liquor violations, there were five instances of forcible sex offenses in 2024, a crime in which a sexual act is directed against another person without the consent of the victim or in circumstances where the victim is incapable of giving consent. This category can include rape, fondling and the administration of a date rape drug. All five instances in 2024 occurred on campus, with four of them occurring in residential facilities. The 2024 rate for this crime category held relatively steady compared to prior years, with five instances occurring in 2023 and six in 2022.
These numbers include those reported through the Title IX process, Weindorf said, which means there was not necessarily a police response to the scene of the crime or an investigation for each offense.
There was one report of stalking on campus in 2024, compared to one report in 2023 and three in 2022, as well as one report of burglary, of which there was one report in 2023 and two in 2022.
Finally, there were two reports of intimidation in 2024, a crime in which an individual places another person in reasonable fear of bodily harm through the use of threatening words or conduct, but without displaying a weapon or subjecting the victim to actual physical attack, according to the report. Both instances in 2024 occurred on campus on public property, but not in a residential facility.
The two reports of intimidation were the only two hate crimes reported in 2024, a category of crime in which an offender is motivated because of the offender’s bias against the victim’s perceived race, gender, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, national origin or disability. There were no reported hate crimes in 2023 and only one involving destruction/damage/vandalism of property in 2022.
