BOZEMAN, Mont. — Whether at a bar, house party, or fraternity event, there’s always a chance someone’s drink could be spiked.
At Montana State University, students recently received an email warning them about reports of drink spiking.
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“What was going through your head when you saw that email?” I asked students.
“Honestly, not like a huge shock,” senior Ella said.
“It didn’t really surprise me because it is going around,” freshman Baylee said.
Drink spiking, sometimes referred to as being "roofied, spiked, mickied, drugged," are terms used to describe incapacitating someone with a substance or adding a substance to someone’s drink without their knowledge or consent, and at Montana State, students say hearing about it is not surprising.
“I’ve heard people’s experiences before when they say, ‘Oh, my friend got spiked,’ or, ‘Oh, I got spiked,’” freshman Leto said.
“Every college goes through it. You’re never safe anywhere as a girl,” freshman Mariska said.
On Wednesday, students received a Timely Warning email titled “Drink Spiking Awareness and Prevention.”
The email explained that university police had received multiple recent reports of drink spiking, with student-initiated gatherings and fraternity events identified as major places where incidents have been reported.
“Do you think the university should be doing more about that?” I asked students.
“I feel like they should, honestly. I feel like it’s mainly at the frat houses,” Baylee said.
“I feel like it’s hard from a university standpoint because they can only do so much,” Mariska said.
I wanted to know what Montana State is responding to the recent reports, so I headed to the university police department to find out.
“Over the last two months since school started, we’ve had an uptick in reports of drink spiking related to campus events,” Lt. Thomas Luhrsen said.
Luhrsen, who has been with MSU police for 11 years, said drink spiking is not necessarily a new issue on campus.
“Every fall we receive several drink-spiking investigations or allegations of drink spiking,” Luhrsen said. “This fall, we’ve had more than normal.”
Luhrsen said the university already sent out a warning in September regarding drink spiking. Since then?
“We’ve had several more instances of drink spiking reported,” Luhrsen said.
Drink spiking has also been on many people’s minds after Cornell University recently reopened a case involving seven fraternity members accused of gang-raping a woman in 2024. Cornell has suspended fraternity social events.
“Do you think that’s something that MSU would consider if this problem continues?” I asked Luhrsen.
“I think there’s a very smart group of executive officers here that would take that into consideration,” Luhrsen said.
Luhrsen said he is also in the process of making a plan for how MSU would respond to a situation similar to Cornell’s.
For now, university police are investigating the reported drink-spiking cases they can. Luhrsen said anyone who suspects their drink has been spiked should report it immediately.
“The reporting part of it is the biggest thing,” Luhrsen said. “We can’t do a lot without a lot of information. Dates, time, location, witnesses. All those have to be included in order for us to actually start an investigation.”
For students who do plan to go out, staying safe is also top of mind.
“How are you staying safe?” I asked students.
“Well, it helps to be a man,” Leto said.
For women, students offered some straightforward advice.
“Don’t go out wasted. Be smart,” Mariska said.
“Don’t ever leave your drink alone,” Ella said.
