<p>"CLEMSON, South Carolina (AP) -- The rural community surrounding Clemson University was in a frenzy in late May as authorities searched for a killer who had raped and strangled a 20-year-old student.</p>
<p>With a suspect in custody, life was returning to normal as classes resumed Wednesday. But the brutal slaying is a reminder to students, parents and administrators that just because a college is far from big-city crime doesn't mean it's safe from violence.</p>
<p>Officials at Clemson, a 16,000-student university in the northwest corner of South Carolina, and other schools across the country say they think their campuses are relatively secure -- but they don't take their location for granted.</p>
<p>"It's very important that we realize that, even in Disney World, you have to be careful," said Jeanne Norberg, spokeswoman for Purdue University, which has about 38,000 students in West Lafayette, Indiana. "It just takes a minute...."</p>
<p>Good point, Northstarmom. It's easier to become complacent when your student is going to a rural/small town school rather than a city school in a borderline neighborhood. It can happen anywhere. Some years ago, two profs at Dartmouth were murdered by someone that they had welcomed into their home along with a number of students. So those kids were rubbing shoulders with a murderer in what you would think is one of the safest places to be, your professors home in rural New Hampshire.</p>
<p>I spent a few days last summer reading Judgement Ridge The true story behind the Dartmouth murders.</p>
<p>It was truly disturbing, and I recommned it to those interested in the crime genre. [The crime was comitted by two ordinary hs students from about 30 miles away who entered the home of the professor in broad daylight after knocking on the door posing as prep school students conducting a survey. They didn't have any contact with the Dartmouth students. It was, however, a disturbing story, especially in regard to how delusional these kids were, and also because their prior record, while not pristine, would not have indicated that they were capable of the crime they committed.]</p>
<p>A friend of mine just told me his son was robbed at gunpoint this year at USC.</p>
<p>I just noticed emergency telephones placed all over S's campus. They have a blue light which shines at night and I never noticed them last year.</p>
<p>My D , who although she ended up in Memphis is NOT a city girl was being harangued by her well meaning mom during some interminable college video tour about Rice. About the 3rd time mom mentioned one of those blue phones D said "Mom, just what do you think happened that made them feel they needed all those phones?"</p>
<p>Yep. Those isolated campuses that D loved so much did sometimes bear a striking resemblance to "Crystal Lake" from all the 70-80's slasher films. But I never told her that.</p>
<p>Dadx, the story I read about the Dartmouth incident, was that the profs held open houses for many students, and that the killers had been in the house as guests before. It has been a while, and I do not remember the source. I'll do a quick search. You could very well be right that the scenario was as you described it.</p>
<p>A tragedy involving two Franciscan University students occurred a few years ago also. THe students were friendly with some townies who were not such upstanding citizens. The story was that they were heavily involved in the drug trade. Whether the students got involved int the drugs, was not established at the time, but both were murdered. It was a shocker to this very Catholic college community.</p>
<p>cpt, DADX is correct on this one. I live in Vermont. The high school students who commited the murders of the two Dartmouth professors lived in Chelsea, VT. The professors lived in NH about 30 miles away. The high school students had NO association with any Dartmouth students or faculty. The crime had no relation to Dartmouth other than the fact that those murdered taught there. The professors did host DARTMOUTH students at their home in the past and were trusting souls who liked young adults. But these high schoolers had never been there before and did not know these professors. The kids did pose as taking a survey and the professors trusted them to open their door. The entire situation was tragic all the way around. This also did not take place on campus or in the same town as the campus, though not that far away.</p>
<p>Those blue light phones, or some variation, were on every campus we visited, as I remember - whether center city, isolated or suburban. Is there any college or university without that setup these days?</p>
<p>The Dartmouth case is essentially unrelated to college attedance, and is interesting primarily in regard to the pathological reaction the one perpetrator had to any criticism. Its not a good story to read if you have any paranoia whatsoever, because you come away very disturbed, with the certainly that you wouldn't have been able to see this coming. </p>
<p>As to crime on campus, I think the students have their own knowledge of what goes on, and most campus papers make a big deal of reporting incidents....in a different way than many administrations. Doing a search in the archives of the paper on the words assault, break-in, robbery, arrest, or whatever, will probably give you a catalogue of recent incidents. Beyond that, you can only hope the kids have some common sense.........and say your prayers regularly.</p>
<p>This is a web site that allows you to type in any college/university and it will pull up their crime statistics. It has an article on the Clemson murder and many, many other articles on anything "campus safety related". The site was founded by Connie and Howard Clery following the brutal rape and murder of their daughter Jeanne at the hands of a fellow student at Lehigh University. Not sure if finding this information made us feel better or worse.</p>
<p>No one can be completely protected or 100% safe, not in an urban, suburban or rural area, or a college campus in any of those areas. Best thing is for college kids to be forewarned and a bit street smart, but not live in fear that someone is going to jump them while walking to Chem 101. That fear is oppressive and limiting.</p>