With another semester ending at Columbia, most students are trying to stay focused on their final exams. This task became more daunting on Tuesday morning, when 5 students were arrested on campus for selling illegal drugs.

The drug deals took place in fraternity houses and dorm rooms belonging to the arrested individuals; and more than your typical mom-and-pop shop, each student specialized in selling specific drugs and referred customers to one another.

When the police searched the students’ rooms, they seized a bottle of LSD, 50 Ecstasy capsules, 15 Adderall pills, more than half a pound of marijuana and about $6,600 in cash.

Bridget Brennan, New York City Special Narcotics Prosecutor, remarked that "drug deals were going down in fraternity living rooms, in the bathroom, in the bedroom quite openly. It appeared that there was no awareness of the fact that this was illegal and that there are consequences for it."

The group of arrested students includes Joseph Stephen Perez, a Gates Millennium Scholar, Michael Wymbs, former vice president of the Engineering Student Council, Adam Klein, a former member of the university fencing team, and Chris Coles, a Junior in Columbia College.

The fifth student arrested was Harrison David, a third-year student in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He was the target of the police investigation after anonymous tips alerted police of the drug sales. David, once a salutatorian of his Massachusetts prep school, is accused of dealing with the group’s alleged off-campus drug suppliers, who have also been charged. According to reports, these suppliers were not petty college drug dealers.

Raymond Kelly, the New York City Police Commissioner, stated that “one of the individuals arrested wanted to get our undercover officer involved in kidnapping and perhaps more one of the rival drug sellers.”

The investigation was carried out by the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor, which prosecutes an average of 3,000 felony narcotics arrests each year. However, the school attached to the arrest of these five students has caught the attention from worldwide news coverage to high-profile criminal lawyer Michael Bachner. At the moment, it is uncertain how this drug bust has altered Columbia’s reputation.

The involvement of other fraternity members in this drug ring is also unclear, but the three fraternities involved – Alpha Epsilon Pi, Pi Kappa Alpha, and Psi Upsilon – have been suspended and forced to cease all activities temporarily. The Dean of Student Affairs, Kevin Shollenberger, commented that this decision is in the best interest of the university, with a campus that is still reeling from the news.

Some of the arrested students have cited financial reasons as the motive for selling drugs. All five students have pled not guilty, despite video and photographic evidence against their crimes. With the exception of Mr. David, the students have been released on bail, with some of them already being seen returning to campus. Although the university has not made a decision on disciplinary action against the undergraduates, they are fully cooperating with authorities during this ongoing story.