RICHMOND Va. – University officials still reeling from the death of a Virginia student-athlete want a better system to tell them when students are arrested off campus, though authorities warn any changes could prove costly and difficult to enforce.
University of Virginia President John Casteen said he would push for greater notification requirements following the May 3 discovery of 22-year-old Yeardley Love’s battered body in her Charlottesville apartment. Police have arrested another 22-year-old UVA student-athlete, George Huguely, and charged him with first-degree murder. Both played lacrosse for the school.
Dr. Casteen said he would seek the change because university officials were never told of Huguely’s November 2008 arrest in Lexington, Va., on charges of public intoxication and resisting arrest. The arresting officer’s report said Huguely had threatened to kill her and a female probation officer and he had to be subdued with a stun gun.
If school officials had known about that arrest, Casteen said they might have been able discipline Huguely and keep a closer eye on him. Instead, he said the incident highlighted not just a gap in the law, but “a hole you can drive a truck through.”
Most schools get information on student arrests from their local police departments, but they rarely hear about incidents that happen outside that immediate area.
Campus safety advocates said if Casteen’s efforts are successful, Virginia would be the first state to enact a law requiring police to report off-campus arrests of students to colleges and universities.
But law enforcement officials and some campus safety experts say such a law would be complicated and costly. They question what steps would be required to verify if a suspect was a student, either halfway across the state or halfway across the nation.
