Operation Ivy League: 4 Facts About the Columbia University Drug Bust

How far would you go to pay your college tuition?

Five students at Columbia University are accused of selling cocaine, marijuana, LSD and other drugs out of fraternity houses and campus dorm rooms in order to pay for school, according to Washington Square News. The students were arrested Tuesday after attempting to sell drugs to undercover officers who had been probing the drug ring dubbed "Operation Ivy League" by police.

"Why do you think I have to do this s***? He [my father] won't pay my tuition," Harrison David, 22, told a detective, according to the Columbia Spectator.

"I just sell it to pay tuition," Chris Coles, also 22, told police, the Spectator reported.

Among the arrested students is a Gates Millennium Scholar, a member of Columbia's fencing team and a former student council vice president. Over the course of Operation Ivy League, the students sold a total of nearly $11,000 worth of drugs to undercover police, the Washington Square News reported.

Surge Desk offers four more facts about the bust:

1. Most of the students didn't make bail 
The courts set a different bond amount for each student, ranging from $30,000 to $75,000. One student's parents posted his $25,000 bail while the other four were sent to Rikers Island last night.

Tuition and fees for Columbia undergraduates during the Fall 2010 semester were $43,304,according to the College Board. 

2. Curiously strong wares
During the failed drug sale Tuesday, students attempted to sell officers LSD, marijuana, cocaine, Adderall and powdered Ecstasy, according to The Huffington Post.

But when police searched the students' rooms, they reportedly uncovered an additional $2,000 worth of drugs, including 50 capsules of Ecstasy and a bottle of LSD that prosecutors say was being laced to Altoids and Sweet Tarts.

3. Scene of the crimes
The majority of drug sales were done out of common areas and bedrooms of university fraternity houses in addition to the Intercultural House, prosecutors reported. 

During 2009, zero students were arrested on drug charges and a total of 121 students were disciplined for drugs, according to the university's Annual Security and Fire Safety Report.

4. Ivy League justice?
On Dec. 1, just days before the arrests, the Columbia Spectator reported that students had started circulating a new drug proposal aimed at adopting a "Good Samaritan" policy, which is currently established at every other Ivy League school. The policy states that if a student seeks treatment from Columbia University Emergency Medical Services for drug-related incidents, they cannot be subject to certain disciplinary measures.

"It's very important that it's clearly stated that people aren't going to get in trouble," said the author of the proposal. "Making that life-saving call is all about the psychology of the moment."