Fewer people were arrested for liquor violations, more cars were stolen on campus and no hate crimes were reported for the third year in a row, according to a report released by MSU officials Friday.

Students received the university's annual crime statistics for 2003 via e-mail late Friday morning.

Despite recent discussions about tailgating getting out of hand, the number of alcohol arrests and campus discipline for alcohol violations decreased from 2001 to 2003. The report, titled the "Michigan State University Police and Public Safety 2003 Annual Report" didn't include numbers from 2004 because they were not yet available.

Alcohol arrests went down 4.5 percent between 2002 and 2003, from 686 to 655. They plummeted 24 percent between 2001 and 2002.

Student Disciplinary Referrals sent through the university judicial system dropped from 255 in 2002 to 115 in 2003. Until 2002, both arrests and university disciplinary action were recorded as a "disciplinary referral," doubling up some statistics. In 2003, only university action was counted, said Rick Shafer, associate director of Student Life and Judicial Affairs.

But even when the 2003 numbers are doubled, they were still less than 2002 numbers, with a 10 percent decrease between 2002 and 2003.

Shafer cautioned that the reports should not be used to predict definite trends, but to provide a snapshot of the university.

"With relatively small numbers, even a small change looks large," Shafer said.

Other campus crime is a mixed bag, police and university officials said.

"They're going to vary up and down from year to year," MSU police Sgt. Florene McGlothian-Taylor said.

The number of motor vehicle thefts increased slightly and reported hate crimes stayed at zero, according to the report.

"Overall, the numbers are low considering the number of people living in a small space," Shafer said.

Students were notified of the statistics by e-mail, but not because of recent tailgating arrests and alleged sexual assaults, said Fred Poston, university vice president for finance and operations.

"We've been changing how we distribute things over the years to make them more accessible," said Poston, adding that the university has e-mailed safety reports for at least a year or more.

No sources interviewed knew exactly how many years students have been sent the reports.

The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act requires campuses to make an accurate crime report publicly available.

"We've done these reports a long time before the Clery Act," Poston said. "We've always tried to be open about what goes on here."

Some of the university's numbers conflict with MSU police crime numbers, but Shafer said it wasn't cause for concern.

"It could be the way the Department of Education defines crime is different from the Uniform Crime Report," Shafer said.

The Uniform Crime Reporting Program is a national database of crime reporting used by police departments nationwide.