David Gayle, a 19-year-old Virginia Tech student, died in September when he fell while trying to climb from a balcony to an apartment roof while intoxicated. Nineteen-year-old Laura Treanor, a sophomore at George Washington University, died from alcohol poisoning in 2009. And in 2002, Daniel Reardon, 19, died a week after going into a whiskey-induced coma during a pledging event at a University of Maryland fraternity.

The tragic consequences of heavy drinking have been felt at several local colleges. But serious legal consequences for students who binge drink and use drugs are rare.