Students at Brandeis Questioned On Recent Campus Drug Incidents

This community is running scared," an administrator at Brandeis University said yesterday. "To my knowledge, there have been several suicide attempts by freshmen who were taking drugs, and at least one students pusher has left the University already."

"Students are being called in for questioning about drug usage on campus," he said, "but the administrative board is still seeking information. No student has been disciplined as of yet."

The problem is being well treated by the university, he continued "it is being handled as a medical and psychological problem."

But Matthew Sgan, associate dean of students, denied that there had been any any suicide attempts: "There is no medical proof that any of the gestures were suicidal." Sgan did confirm that "specific students are being questioned about drugs."

Robert M. Kantar, assistant dean of students, is quoted in this week's Justice, weekly student newspaper, as saying "I'm disturbed that possible suicides could have resulted without anyone saying to us that they had a problem."

In a statement on "Drug Experimentation by Students" issued to all members of the Brandeis community a week ago, the Administrative Committee of the Faculty stated that the university will "cooperate with law enforcement authorities if it should be necessary for such agencies to be involved with students concerning drug activities."

The statement went on to list Federal and state drug laws. In Massachusetts it is a crime to be "knowingly in the presence of a person illegally possessing narcotics or other harmful drugs or be in a place where such drugs are illegally kept or deposited." First offenders can be fined, given suspended sentences with parole.

The Administrative Committee warned against the harmful physical and psychological effects of barbituates, amphetamines, marijuana, and the hallucinogens, which include mescaline, psilocybin and LSD--commonly known as pot, bennies, pep pills, goof balls, yellow jackets etc. The statement warns against the psychological dependence which some drugs induce, as well as "suicide attempts, suicides, and long term emotional damage as severe as apparently irreversible psychotic breaks."

Sgan said that the university was trying to encourage student-faculty debate of the drug problem, and that "a spectrum of experts on drugs including Leary and Alpert have been asked to give talks on the subject."

Drug Talk

Despite the unsubstantiated rumors surrounding the recent drug incidents at Brandeis, a number of students and faculty members, agreed that there had been four freshmen who tried to kill themselves while on drugs. Other talk included stories of girls who had been fed LSD without their knowledge and who had attempted suicide as a result