<p><a href=“Emotions run high as accused killers of USC student appear in court”>http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-charges-usc-student-killed-court-20140729-story.html</a></p>
<p>Glad they got them but I hate these “feel sorry for the criminal/murderer” stories. What garbage. And Xinran’s parent’s can’t get a visa to get here to see/get their only child’s body.</p>
<p>USC has more security than the green zone in Iraq with police,walls, cameras, etc… but it can’t protect everyone. If you attend school there you must understand you need to be home before the sun sets. No late evening jogs, study sessions, or going out for pizza and beer after dark. It is what it is in south central LA. USC will lose students unless it moves the campus to a safer location. </p>
<p>Where is Nikias??? I see the neophyte Dickey at the press conference but the man in charge is noticeably missing.</p>
<p>@bud123 - You made the exact same post two years ago and have only posted 5 times on the USC forum saying the same thing over and over, so I wonder if you have ever been to USC? Sounds like one of those stereotype attacks rather than first hand knowledge. I won’t defend USC security, but I wouldn’t ■■■■■ other schools websites when bad things happen looking to post for sensationalism. btw, Vanderbilt and Duke rank #5 and #3 of most dangerous colleges by the FBI for violent crime. USC isn’t on that list, go figure. Having said that, USC needs to use some of that giant endowment for security in surrounding neighborhoods rather than stocking piling it for ranking purposes. Or give less aid, it just devalues the product when you have to give so much of it away to make it work.</p>
<p>What is this nonsense about Duke being ranked 3rd for violent crime? Provide a citation immediately or risk being reported.</p>
<p>Why not use the giant endowment to move the campus. I know its an outside the box idea. Money spent on security is a huge ongoing annual expense that could be better utilized elsewhere ( research, buildings, faculty, scholarships, etc…). No university can control/police the surrounding area no matter how much they spend on security. If parents are afraid to send their kids to USC its a problem and now, its a problem. </p>
<p>This is a terrible tragedy and USC needs to continue to review and update its security procedures to prevent this from happening again. However, we have to keep this in perspective. This is not just a USC issue, violent crime is a major issue everywhere. In fact, statistically, USC is not even one of the most dangerous universities in the country. Note this study: <a href=“http://www.american-school-search.com/colleges/dangerous”>http://www.american-school-search.com/colleges/dangerous</a>, USC is not even in the top 100. Or this one that has UCLA at number 1: <a href=“Most Dangerous Colleges in America”>Most Dangerous Colleges in America; </p>
<p>I’m not trying to minimize this tragedy, but this is a bigger issue that impacts many top universities.</p>
<p>USC just gets more attention when these crimes happen that’s for sure. Probably cause it’s LA and people love to hate on LA, are jealous of all the great things about it, or the east coast/west coast thing. Last year a girl was paralyzed at the other USC in South Carolina and I only know it happened cause I was searching news for USC. Crimes at other schools certainly happen and don’t get the attention USC does being in the spotlight it is. Just yesterday an article came out about the trial of a man accused of shooting a Duke doctoral student and the UNC - Chapel Hill student body president a few years ago.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/07/30/4039045/jury-finds-lovette-not-guilty.html”>http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/07/30/4039045/jury-finds-lovette-not-guilty.html</a></p>
<p>So agree, terrible things happen everywhere. But having spent a lot of time around campus over the last 24 months, many overnights included in this very neighborhood, I still have to say, USC has to step it back up and commit to a plan long term. I wrote them a year ago asking about the DPS presence in this very neighborhood. Just after the last tragedy, yellow vests were everywhere, 6 months after that, they diminished dramatically. This past April, I couldn’t find a DPS person when driving around between Adams and 28th at 10pm. They can do a whole lot better and certainly have the money to do so.</p>
<p>People naturally tend to exaggerate the danger of things.</p>
<p>nauidiver</p>
<p>Correct me if I’m wrong here, but according to that hilarious article you posted, UCLA is the most dangerous campus in the United States. Really now? Even though it’s in Westwood, surrounded by Bel Air, Brentwood, and Beverly Hills?</p>
<p>Since when did Business Insider suddenly decide to publish satire?</p>
<p>"Violent crime incidents per year:
49</p>
<p>Property crime incidents per year:
921</p>
<p>While crime declined in 2011, things are still terrible: 12 forcible rapes; 11 robberies; 17 aggravated assaults; 195 burglaries; 625 larcenies; 18 motor vehicle thefts; and three incidents of arson."</p>
<p>Just the facts</p>
<p>Nauidiver</p>
<p>You are correct. Another fact is that the report is based off the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, which aggregates all crimes that happen in Los Angeles County. For instance, among those 49 violent crimes you cited, some of them may have occurred in Burbank, Compton, Inglewood, Torrance, Pasadena, etc. If you are familiar with geography, you could see that all of those cities are very, very far from Westwood.</p>
<p>TL;DR - crimes in LA County =/= crime at UCLA.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, I should like to note that USC, a private institution, does not disclose its crime statistics to the FBI, thus skewing the rankings even more.</p>
<p>Even using the Clery On Campus Crime data (excluding the surrounding areas), UCLA is still in the top 25 and USC is not. <a href=“Most Dangerous Colleges — Clery Vs FBI”>Most Dangerous Colleges — Clery Vs FBI; and yes, USC does disclose data for the Clery act. </p>
<p>Perception, however, is everything, so despite the fact USC is not as dangerous as many other colleges, it’s in the media capital of the world, and we’re under a microscope.</p>
<p>Where the heck is President Nikias? Hello, anybody home???</p>
<p>@simba9 - you said, “People naturally tend to exaggerate the danger of things.”</p>
<p>Tell this family that…Is it easier to dismiss this cause they are strangers, or even foreigners?</p>
<p><a href=“Tearful mother of slain USC student: 'My son, my son, my son'”>http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-usc-student-relatives-20140731-story.html</a></p>
<p>It doesn’t matter if a location in 99.99% safe. No one wants to be the 0.01%. For that 0.01%, a place will feel 100% dangerous.</p>
<p>Bad stuff happens, and it sucks.</p>
<p>In addition to the Duke story linked above, a UNC professor was murdered last week. Also a robbery: <a href=“Candlelight vigil to honor slain UNC professor”>Candlelight vigil to honor slain UNC professor;
<p>Just today, a UCLA student jogging on campus was attacked by a man with a knife: <a href=“Woman at UCLA attacked by man armed with a knife, police say”>Woman at UCLA attacked by man armed with a knife, police say;
<p>
</p>
<p>@blueskies2day, do you feel better about yourself after that “holier than thou” statement? Anyway, your comment has nothing to do with what I was trying to say.</p>
<p>There’s something in psychology called “The Exception Principle”. The classic example is when you watch the news, where it’s the exceptions to the norm that get reported. Every day or two they report a murder and soon the people watching think murder is rampant. Each new report reinforces that perception. Then you look at the numbers, and you surprisingly find the murder rate is at historically low levels, the odds of being murdered are incredibly tiny, and you can crawl out from under your bed.</p>
<p>Or when a couple of big passenger jets crash within a short amount of time and people suddenly conclude that flying is unsafe, when in fact it’s very safe - much safer than driving.</p>
<p>I’ll guesstimate there have been 80K-90K students at USC over the last 10 years, and as far as I know, only three students have been killed. And two of those students were a mile away from campus. Yet people talk like students have to start dodging bullets the second they step off campus.</p>
<p>If “reality” is simply going to be based on misleading perceptions, then universities might as well get rid of all their statistics and scientific analysis classes.</p>
<p>@highlights1919 it’s bad to assume those areas to be ‘safe’. Crime goes unreported all the time especially in those types of areas. Also, their tends to be more variation in the types of crime in those areas vs. in more downtrodden areas where there’s primarily drug or gang related crime.</p>
<p>There are tons of ridiculously wealthy areas that are crime ridden (drugs, homicides disguised as suicides, rapes, kidnappings, sexual preying, etc.) But the crimes either goes unreported statistically or unreported in the news coverage (unless it has something to do with a child and even then only one type of child actually gets coverage)</p>
<p>I think it’s interesting that people look over white collar crime (such as the recent GM scandal) in order to hone in more on ‘street crime’ when both are equally as devastating.</p>
<p>Street crime left an innocent student dead. I think it’s worse, but maybe that’s just me.</p>
<p>@actingmt and white collar crime left over 13 innocent people dead and hundreds heinously injured. I think it’s worse, but maybe that’s just me…</p>
<p>Oh and not to mention, no one at fault at GM is being held responsible (and consequently punished) even though many people knew there were defects in the product–yet no one said anything out of greed. </p>
<p>Remember the Ford defective breaks scandal that led to dozens of harsh injuries? And let’s not forget about the time when Bayer knowingly distributed medication infected with HIV in Latin American countries just to turn a profit. Or how about the regular crimes large banks commit that leave millions of people homeless to eventually die in poverty? Or how about that time Enron shareholders lost millions that left people destitute? Or The United States of America versus the Guidant Corporation case where people died because of Guidant’s neglect? These are just but a few corporate conflicts of many more. And because they are corporations, they naturally affect a larger amount of people than your run-of-the-mill street crime. White collar/Corporate crime doesn’t mean it isn’t violent (as evidenced by all the crimes listed above of which many ended in deaths), it just means that it’s committed by people in white collar/corporate positions. </p>
<p>Crime happens everywhere be it in high-class society, corporate environments, or poor part of urban areas. The difference is there is usually justice brought to the families affected by white collar/corporate crime because in criminal cases, a corporation cannot have the same punishment as an individual. </p>
<p>I’m not trying to take anything away from this tragedy but I’m just saying we often overlook that which is right in front of our faces for isolated incidents.</p>