Mirroring the nationwide problem of drugs on college campuses, drugs on campus was a major issue brought to public attention in early 1976 when a Knox County Prison Farm escapee, a convicted drug dealer, was discovered living in Hess Hall with residents. The problem was a continuing one, with UT security searching rooms and sending cases of drug possession to the student judicial system. Rick Himes, an assistant head resident in Hess Hall, estimated, in a Daily Beacon article about the problem, that at least a third of the residents smoked marijuana in their rooms regularly, and Carrick Resident Assistant Jim Fagan agreed.