A wave of alcohol-related medical calls and late-night disturbances marked the opening weeks of Santa Clara University’s fall quarter, but beneath those familiar rhythms were a handful of unusual episodes—including multiple hazing reports, a fire in the University Villas and an arrest tied to a motor-vehicle theft—that briefly disrupted an otherwise steady pattern of weekend-driven fluctuations. In total, Campus Safety Services logged 117 incidents between Sept. 20 and Dec. 9.

The broad contours of the quarter were shaped by alcohol and drug violations, which accounted for 35 reports—the largest single category. Activity peaked sharply at the beginning of the term: Sept. 20, the first major weekend of the fall quarter, saw 14 incidents, the highest of any day. Six weeks later, on Halloween weekend, Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 each recorded 11 incidents.

Though the majority of reports involved routine alcohol violations or suspicious-person calls, several incidents stood out for their severity or rarity.

On Sept. 24, Campus Safety responded to a non-arson fire inside University Villas, the only reported instance of a fire recorded this quarter. Four days later, a student reported a sexual battery in Swig Residence Hall, one of the more serious incidents logged. A Clery-reportable hazing case, recorded on Sept. 30 inside an unspecified residence hall, also marked a departure from typical fall-quarter activity.

The log further shows multiple Violence Against Women Act stalking cases scattered across the quarter, including reports near Sobrato North and the Stevens Soccer Training Center. And on Sept. 28, a late-night theft near the Benson Memorial Center escalated into a grand theft and motor-vehicle theft, ending with an arrest by law enforcement—one of the two arrest-level events in the dataset.

Another arrest occurred on Sept. 26, when officers responding to an alarm-tampering incident at the Sobrato Campus for Discovery and Innovation discovered an individual with outstanding warrants.

Despite these outliers, the overwhelming share of reports clustered in familiar locations. Swig, one of the University’s tallest and most densely populated residence halls, accounted for 32 incidents, far surpassing any other building. Many involved intoxication, liquor law violations or tampering with fire-alarm systems—which together appeared 13 times across campus.

Swig residence hall is widely considered one of the more socially active dorm halls, meaning frequent visits from Campus Safety. **(Dylan Ryu/The Santa Clara)**

Other first-year halls, including Graham Residence Center and Dunne Residence Hall, with 11 and eight incidents, respectively, experienced similar concentrations of activity.

As in previous years, the timing of reports proved more stable than their content. Saturday and Sunday each recorded 28 incidents, underscoring how heavily the quarter’s totals were shaped by weekend behavior.

The busiest month, October, recorded 46 incidents, followed by November with 30 and September with 29. Early December saw a noticeable decline as final exams began and student activity slowed.

Thirteen reports involved theft—including bicycles, scooters and skateboards —often clustered around outdoor racks and high-traffic areas such as Benson Center and the Library. Several cases of trespassing and occupied suspicious vehicles, including one on Dec. 6, rounded out the quarter’s lower-frequency criminal matters.

Taken together, the quarter’s data depict a campus shaped less by sustained change than by recurring patterns: an early-quarter spike, weekend surges and persistent concentrations in first-year housing. While the unusual incidents—a fire, hazing report, stalking cases and two arrests—offer a reminder that outliers do occur, they did little to alter the broader trajectory of the fall quarter.