Roanoke College reported a rate of alcohol violations in recent years nearly four times as high as other four-year colleges in Virginia, federal campus crime data show.

Statewide, four-year residential colleges documented an annual average of about 3.62 violations of state alcohol laws per 100 students between 2002 and 2007. During the same period, Roanoke College reported an average of 13.72 violations per 100 full-time equivalent students.

Roanoke is joined at the top of the list of schools with the highest violation rates by many other small, private liberal arts colleges, a Roanoke Times analysis found. Public schools mostly landed in the middle of the list, with religious schools such as Liberty University and the state's historically black colleges showing the lowest rates.

But don't leap to the assumption that schools with a high rate of violations necessarily have bigger alcohol problems than other campuses.

The data reported to the U.S. Department of Education don't reflect the prominence of illegal drinking on college campuses, just the number of people caught doing it, and may include some not associated with the college where they were caught.

"The institution's determinations about how they respond to alcohol is reflected directly in the numbers," said Daniel Carter, public policy director for the nonprofit campus safety advocacy group Security on Campus Inc. "A school that does more enforcement may have higher numbers."

A school with lower numbers could be taking "a more passive approach," Carter said, or it could just have less illegal drinking going on.

The data analyzed by The Roanoke Times are reported annually to the U.S. Department of Education by all colleges that offer federal student aid programs. The reporting is required under the 1990 Jeanne Clery Act and includes a range of offenses, from violent crime to drugs and alcohol violations. The Roanoke Times examined only alcohol offenses.

Schools report both arrests and referrals for on-campus discipline. The numbers include offenses that occur on campus, on college-owned property away from campus and on public property within or adjacent to campus. Only violations of state and local law -- not campus policy -- are documented.

Statewide, three out of four violations in the data reviewed by the newspaper occurred on campus and were referred for discipline on campus.

Carter said that's typical.

At Roanoke College, more than 98 percent of violations were on campus and were referred for discipline. Out of more than 1,800 violations documented in the period, just 19 led to arrests.

About half of the school's alcohol violations are identified by residence hall staff, and half by campus safety officers, said Teresa Gereaux, director of public relations for the college. The college's safety officers regularly patrol inside buildings and residence halls, she added.

"We do handle all our violations in a formal manner," Gereaux said.

College officials weren't surprised they had the highest rate of violations recorded. Gereaux attributed the numbers to careful vigilance and the presence of freshman-only dorms, where it's "a little easier to spot" underage possession of alcohol.

Gereaux said violations that go before the Student Conduct Council are almost always underage possession cases. Salem authorities have not shown much interest in bringing such lower-level offenses into the legal system, she said.

Lt. Mike Green of the Salem police said his department is comfortable letting the college handle lesser violations.

Public intoxication and DUI cases are all referred to Salem police, as well as to the student judicial board, Gereaux said.

Handling violations on campus also gives the college a chance to compel students to learn about alcohol use and abuse and be more responsible about it, and to refer to counseling any students who seem to have a drinking problem.

Some schools draw an even harder line on alcohol violations, the data show, preferring to charge students criminally and send them through the courts.

The rate of alcohol violations at Longwood University in Farmville is third in the state in the Roanoke Times analysis and is the highest among public schools.

One-third of violations documented by Longwood involved arrests, which is twice the statewide average. Most of the arrests at Longwood occurred on public property.

"Longwood makes it very clear that we extend our jurisdiction into the community," said Ric Chassey, director of honor and judicial programs at the school. Arrests by local police are tracked, and Longwood's university police have jurisdiction in the town of Farmville.

"I do not see us having an outside-the-norm problem here," Longwood University Police Chief Bob Beach said. But his office does "have a tight rein" on campus activities.

The school has a grant from the Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control Board, some of which goes to fund additional alcohol patrols.

"We find them when they're coming and going," Beach said of the students who get caught drinking illegally. "We don't hide behind trees and stalk them."

If students are honest and polite, they are referred to the school's disciplinary system, Beach said. "If they lie to us or they're disrespectful, we don't have any qualms about locking them up as well as charging them under the justice and honor system."

But other authorities that Longwood students have met up with haven't always been so understanding.

In early 2009, the Farmville Town Council commissioned a study of the Farmville Police Department by a North Carolina consultant. The resulting report, released in April, documented numerous complaints about overzealous pursuit of student alcohol violations, including a few officers who favored patrolling near bars and following patrons in their vehicles or on foot until they found a pretext for stopping them, the report said.

The consultant found arrest rates for driving under the influence and being drunk in public were several times higher in Farmville than other places in Virginia.

Farmville's police chief has since resigned, citing health issues, but the report highlights how town-gown relationships and politics can factor into how issues such as student drinking are dealt with.

For the university's part, Beach said, "Our goal is to be a good neighbor."

Carter, of Security on Campus, said it's important for schools to back up stringent enforcement with education and counseling.

Longwood and Roanoke both do that, as do many other Virginia colleges.

At Roanoke, along with punitive sanctions, students caught drinking illegally are typically assigned to computer-based alcohol education classes and meetings with administrators. Beginning with their second violation, their parents are notified. Students are suspended on their fourth offense.

Longwood follows a similar pattern of required education, but suspends on the third offense and requires a letter certifying the student has been to alcohol counseling before re-admission.

In addition, Beach monitors the buzz about parties and calls the hosts into his office beforehand to remind them of their responsibilities. He said he's also convinced students to stop having parties in large off-campus fields that they rent for a night, bringing in bands and building bonfires, a tradition at Longwood a few times a year. The parties have gotten too big for a handful of students to host responsibly, he said.

"I really see the position here," Beach said, "as trying to help these young people make it through the first couple of years of maturing. ... Most of them are smart enough to learn."