With four on-campus DUI charges filed since graduation and more pending, end-of-year celebrations may be to blame, police said.

"At graduation, a lot of times there's an influx," said Penn State Police Sgt. Don Hazel. "People celebrating ... consume a little more than they should."

Since Saturday's graduation ceremonies, four individuals have been charged with DUI and other traffic citations after being pulled over on campus roads, according to the university police report. The individuals include: Lukasz M. Kaniewski, Class of 2008, Robert D. Long (junior-civil engineering), Erin M. Smeltzer and Alison K. Wisniewski, both not listed as students but residents of State College.
According to the police report, police stopped both Kaniewski and Long on Saturday -- Kaniewski at the intersection of Park Avenue and Allen Street and Long at North Atherton Street and White Course Drive.

Smeltzer was stopped Sunday at Burrowes Road and West Beaver Avenue and Wisniewski was stopped on Monday at College Avenue and Allen Street, according to the report.
Hazel said all university police officers are trained to recognize signs of DUI in drivers, but that often police discover drivers under the influence of alcohol without even looking for them.

Often, he said, "our attention is drawn to them for a motor vehicle violation," such as a broken headlight.

Vice President of University Relations Bill Mahon said he was not surprised graduation was followed by DUIs.

"It's very much like every weekend in Centre County," Mahon said. "A number of people make bad decisions about getting behind the wheel of a car, and from time to time, some of our neighbors are killed."

In 2007, State College Police charged 487 people with DUI, according to statistics on PSU Live. For all of Centre County, the DUI arrests totaled 935 in 2007, a decrease from 2006's five-year high of 1,001 arrests.

"That's a large number for a pretty small county," Mahon said.