In the wake of a campus-wide drug bust, three students were arrested last Friday for alcohol-related violations. However, despite the mundane nature of their offenses, these three students have received an unusual amount of attention.

Ryan Bosworth, Macdonald Wesner, and Interfraternity Council President Casey Tounget were all arrested on suspicion of furnishing alcohol to minors.

The three students, who belong to the Sigma Chi fraternity, had friends over at their Rogers Avenue house when eight police officers and a fire truck pulled up. A neighbor had called to report people  attempting to light each other on fire with a blow torch.. No blow torch was found, but there was an old chair burning in their backyard fire pit. Police arrested Bosworth, Wesner, and Tounget and issued 11 alcohol violation citations. 

Tounget’s attorney, Randy Myers, said the whole situation has been blown out of proportion largely because of the recent focus on the campus drug busts.

“I think the police did overreact to come over to their house, where there were some pledges drinking around and bonfire, to pass out 11 MIPs and arrest three people,” Myers said. “I mean, they could do that every day around TCU’s campus or any other campus.”

Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Dr. Kathy Cavins-Tull, also believed the arrests had been given far more attention than necessary.

“The report that I got of the incident that occurred on Rogers Street typically I don’t think would make the news,” Cavins-Tull said. “I think it was all timing.”

Cavins-Tull said that she believes students have responded to all the recent negative attention brought on by the drug busts very responsibly and maturely. However, she said that students must be mindful of their school’s high profile.

“Everybody’s sort of got TCU under the microscope right now, so my advice to students is do what’s right,” she said.

Despite the recent negative attention, Myers said he was confident that none of it will tarnish TCU’s image.

“There is not a campus in the United States that doesn’t have this going on,” he said. “That doesn’t make them terrible kids. I don’t think it’s going to make anybody not want to go cause some kids got caught with pot. I hope people decide to get all the facts before they decide something’s wrong with TCU.”

Their circumstance could serve as a warning to all TCU students to be particularly cautious while the spotlight on TCU is at its hottest.