By Edward Sedlock

INDIANA -- When former Indiana University of Pennsylvania President Tony Atwater took office on Feb. 4, 2005, efforts to contain an ingrained culture of student drinking on campus already were under way.

"There was a large group of administrators trying to wrestle with how to handle the issue of alcohol misuse on campus," Kathleen R. "Kate" Linder, associate dean of students, recalled in a March 29 interview in her Pratt Hall office. "IUP's image as a party school had been a long-standing issue."

Atwater endorsed the ongoing administrative effort. And after his Oct. 6, 2005, inauguration, he upped the ante.

Following a string of substance-abuse-related incidents among IUP students -- a fatal drug overdose, a suicide after a fraternity mixer and arrests of some basketball players -- Atwater established the President's Commission on Reducing Student Substance Abuse in November 2005. The blue-ribbon panel delivered its report on May 31, 2006, and Atwater embraced its recommendations.

By The HawkEye Staff

INDIANA -- Aisha Kamara, 22, an Indiana University of Pennsylvania senior psychology major, resides at Copper Beech, a sprawling, private, hillside townhouse development about three quarters of a mile west of campus. Despite her proximity to school, Kamara drives her car to class.

Her destination spells frustration, especially with the queues at the pay-by-space parking meters, she said.

"Those lines in the morning are long," Kamara said in an April 24 interview at her home. "Because of that, I'm always late to class. I've even cut a few classes because I couldn't find a spot."