NYU charges a higher tuition and has a higher number of students than its uptown rival, Columbia — and it is first by a wide margin in the number of students who get high.
The Greenwich Village-based college routs Columbia by a 5-1 margin in the number of infractions for drugs in school-owned and -patrolled buildings, mostly residence halls.
But the two schools appear to have one thing in common — neither is eager to drop a dime on its students.
One NYU campus cop told The Post he was warned to call the NYPD only in “life-and-death” situations.
In 2009, there were 121 incidents involving “discipline for drugs” at Columbia, with none reported to the cops.
That pales in comparison to the 610 total incidents at NYU that year. It’s not clear how many times NYU security reported cases to the police, but only two incidents led to arrests.
In 2010, campus security at NYU confiscated drugs or drug paraphernalia on an almost weekly basis, with 48 cases tallied, 32 involving pot.
Columbia did not post similar 2010 statistics online, but a written crime ledger maintained at the school shows about a dozen cases in 2010.
The lower 2010 figures at both universities, as compared with 2009, are due to a different method of reporting. The schools no longer include drug busts made by cops called to a location for a different crime.
The statistics are no surprise to a former NYU security officer, who said he was told to call a supervisor before calling cops.
He said he was clearly warned: “Never call the police unless it’s a life-and-death situation.”
James Devitt, a spokesman for NYU, acknowledged the policy is to call the NYPD only “in the case of significant crimes.”
Any time campus security finds “a very small amount of suspect drugs, they are flushed down the toilet,” said another NYU spokesman, John Beckman.
When five Columbia students were busted last month for alleged drug dealing, campus officials refused to comment about school policy on narcotics.
Yesterday, a spokesman insisted Columbia tells cops whenever it has evidence of a crime. This despite its own 2009 statistics that show drug cases settled through school discipline only.
City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Queens), who chairs the Public Safety Committee, said, “As far as I understand, they [NYU officials] don’t have a legal right to be disposing of drugs.”
Two NYPD Narcotics Bureau sources said it’s illegal for private security to destroy seized drugs.
NYU acknowledged this in its report on campus security, stating that its cops “have no authority beyond that of private citizens; they use citizen-arrest procedures as necessary.”