<p>My D has almost decided that Marquette is going to be her choice. She has started wearing her Marquette shirts to school but has been somewhat surprised and dismayed to hear from other kids that they have heard that Marquette is dangerous and has too much crime.</p>
<p>What have you heard? Is this true or are their parents afraid of city life? (We live in the suburbs.)</p>
<p>Marquette is in an area of Milwaukee that does see some crime. Students do not tend to go too far north or west off campus (nor should they). Heading east downtown and to the lake is fine. Marquette has amazing campus security, including escorts and LIMO service for all students. Kids need to be vigilant when out at night, but my daughter has never felt afraid on campus and has happily explored the area and the city.
I don’t think crime rates are any worse than those for a school in any major city.
We live in the Chicago suburbs too, and I think you definitely get that exaggerated fear in the suburbs. My brother is a Chicago police lieutenant and he has told me there is crime around Northwestern in Evanston. There have been rashes of armed robberies in Lincoln Park this year, one of the nicest areas of Chicago, near DePaul. College kids need to be smart, and unfortunately many make themselves easy targets – wandering around alone, intoxicated, or while on the phone or with iPods stuck in their ears.
Feel free to PM me. My older daughter chose Marquette over U of I for physical therapy, and I think her sister is going to follow her there.</p>
<p>My son works for the Student Safety Program as a supervisor. Their walking patrols and limo service are looked at as one of the best in the country. He often is showing officials from other universities around including some from Japan! He has access to crime reports and incidents and he assures me that if students are smart it is a very safe campus. Most of the incidents involving students happen either late at night when the student is alone, or in areas they shouldn’t be. There have been several crimes not involving students that have been reported first by the SSP workers and the criminals apprehended.
My future daughter in law is from a Chicago suburb and she told me she never felt in danger and had also heard crime rumors before she attended.</p>
<p>Correct me if I’m wrong on this, but MU’s reputation as being “in a bad part of town” was widespread and I think well-deserved 20 years ago, but two things are different now. One is that Milwaukee in general is much-improved, with some neighborhoods seeing a lot of urban revitalization (Third Ward, etc). Second is that the security system is elaborate, as described above. This system did not exist 20 years ago. Considerable time was spent on this during our tour this summer. I asked a number of questions of the student guides, real-world scenarios in which I pointed to the map and asked their comfort level walking from A to B at different times of night, alone or with friend. The young woman responded that she’d walk across campus alone at 10:30 as it’s essentially a bubble within the larger city. But at 1am? No, but would take the LIMO. I felt pretty satisfied that while the LIMO is readily available it is also not necessary to call it to get you across the street after dark. Seemed very reasonable to me.</p>
<p>Are there urban campuses where security is not a concern? I don’t think so. Chicago, NY, St. Louis all have schools in tricky parts of town. But, as above posters indicate, an ounce of prevention should be fine. And an urban environment is a great opportunity to explore things that don’t exist in smaller cities and towns. Obviously!</p>
<p>AFter Jeffrey Dahmer was caught, MU spent alot of money to buy up real estate around the main campus. They built University apartments and the definition of the campus became much tighter.</p>
<p>I agree a lot with the info in this thread. I went with my son on scholarship day and for orientation (he is a freshman) and it looked and felt a lot safer than when I attended '79-'83. Even back then I always felt safe and there was not a lot to be concerned around campus. I can tell you Milwaukee is much safer than most cities with same pop. But you have to remember you are in a city setting and there will always be some crime. Also, Marquette seems to have done an excellent job buying most properties near the campus and investing in remodeling them or just building new structures. I think your D should not read to much into these “warnings” of crime problems at MU. By the way my D has been accepted and I would feel very comfortable if she decides to enroll.</p>
<p>Just to add to all the above, I have a friend whose D is a senior at Marquette. She has never had a problem, and she says she just uses common sense. Tell your D to ignore the comments, there are dozens of schools that have an unfair reputation because of the areas they are close to or, more frequently, the way the areas used to be. So many of these schools have revitalized the surrounding area. But there is always a trade off in attending an urban school.</p>
<p>About five years ago I learned (by accident) that Dahmer had lived in the same apartment building that I lived in, 808 N 24th St (corner of Wells and 24th St), my junior and senior years…he was there about five years later though…</p>
<p>Learning that DID give me chills though…</p>
<p>I agree with what everyone else has posted. Don’t let the crime issue stop your daughter from attending MU if she really wants to go there. I have found that the security dept is top shelf. They are friendly and they look out for the students. MU police will also look the other way or drive a student home if they have been out having too much fun. Not so much with the Milwaukee police. Too much fun and you will be spending the night in jail. There are many homeless people who try to hit up on the students, but security will move them out quickly. I was told there are 300 remote cameras on campus and an MU security officer will be on the spot within 30 seconds if they see a problem. I believe it. They are very visible and there is always someone to escort a student at night regardless of the time. Rides can be arranged to and from the train station. The students know you don’t go too far west or too far north. Students use the LIMO and public transportation to get around the city of Milwaukee. They know never to walk alone at night. MU is a safer place than DePaul, Loyola or U of I.
The bad side of all this is that MU needs to maintain a high level of security which almost makes the campus an island. All this security has a cost and it is reflected in the tuition. We are paying for this level of security. There is a feeling that the students live in a bubble, but its a safe bubble. As a parent, I am very comfortable knowing the MU security dept is watch out for my son and his buddies.</p>
<p>If you want some good comparative information go to [Campus</a> Security Data Analysis Cutting Tool Website](<a href=“Campus Safety and Security”>Campus Safety and Security) . This site lists comparative crime stats for every college in the US. I tend to pay far greater attention to the “public property” section as it gives you a good feel for the neighborhood. The other sections list both residence hall and other university property stats. I’m certainly more suspect of the “feel” of the residence hall information as just by comparing college and from talking to staff, nearly every reported incident is listed. in other words, someone losing their iPod may be classified as burglary if a case is opened by campus police. Anyway, take a look. the information is helpful and another piece of the info to have on hand.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the great information and for the campus security web site. I just didn’t want to be naive and close my eyes to what might be real life.</p>
<p>One other thing to add, originally my D did not want an urban school. But after our two visits to Marquette and much online research by her, she is VERY excited by the location and the fact that Marquette is so involved with the community. She is looking at a health field and thinks it is fantastic that she will be able to work and make a difference in the community while she is still in school.</p>
<p>I wanted to respond to the Dahmer comments by pointing out that to none of his victims were Marquette students, and to my knowledge, had no other connection to the university. Dahmer worked in the warehouse of the Ambrosia Chocolate Factory, and he probably chose live in the area because it was relatively inexpensive and close to his job. Marquette beefing up its security around the same time was mostly a response to general concerns about student and employee safety, and probably more of a coincidence.</p>
<p>Agree with staceyglow on the Dahmer comments. I just wanted to post the strange coincidence that I learned about a few years back. My apt at 24th and Wells was very new and very nice at the time and had a mix of MU students and young professionals living in it. Like anything else, things do change.</p>
<p>MU is FAR safer today than when I attended in the early 70’s. My freshman year it was hard to distinguish the school from the surrounding area. Construction on the main Campus Mall was started my sophomore year and throughout my four years at MU they were tearing down old neighborhood buildings in an effort to create more of a real campus feel. The effort to improve the campus and surrounding area since then is truly remarkable.</p>
<p>In those days traveling too far west was not an issue, but travel to the north was not advisable. In those days State Street was as far north as you dared to venture and even then it wasn’t advisable to do it alone at night time. Interestingly at that time travel to the north actually got better the farther west you went. Back then many of the fraternity houses were in the vicinity of 30th and State and most were old mansion like homes. We knew that going too far past State meant that the neighborhood decline increased rapidly so we just avoided it.</p>
<p>Marquette has really done an amazing job of creating the "bubble’ that so many have referred to. Urban campuses everywhere require paying a bit more attention to one’s surroundings but it’s important to note that personal safety should not be taken for granted on any campus, anywhere be it urban, suburban or rural.</p>
<p>My D is seriously considering MU’s Law school right now and I would have no problem having her attend.</p>
<p>And may I say to Illinialum, that as a fellow Illinoisan, the thought of sending my kid to a school that is relies heavily on funding from a near-bankrupt state (like U of I) is way scarier than the thought of walking around Marquette!</p>
<p>staceyglow - you are so correct there! My friends and I kid that the U of I will be telling freshman to bring their own toilet paper with them to campus next fall because the school won’t have any money for such frills! And with tuition, room & board both going up 10%, the cost of engineering school there would be over $28K next year with no hope of any scholarships or financial aid.</p>
<p>LOL, staceyglow!</p>