<p>My daughter is a freshman at UD and I feel it necessary to alert other parents and future students of the crime in the area. We were led to believe in orientation that the campus is very safe with an occasional bike theft. The problem is that the University is open. There are no boundaries keeping the public out. As a result, some areas are considered "off" campus even if the kids need to walk through the area to get to their dorms. These crimes on students committed "off campus" are reported by the city of Newark, NOT the University Police dept. All of the University's reports are motor vehicle related, drugs or alcohol. However when I signed up for the "optional" crime notifications from Newark police, I was horrified to hear of the types of crimes on the students. So in one month the following occurred:
female student awoke to find a man touching her leg, student in car had his window smashed by a nonstudent and began attacking him, one hit and run into 3 students, man with knife demanding cash, attempted robberies (3), and the most disturbing was the one this weekend. All crimes on students by the public.</p>
<p>A group of female students were walking and had to pass a group of non student boys, their butts were slapped as they walked past and one girl confronted the group. She was lifted off the ground and strangled, another attempted to call 911 and she was attacked also. The icing on the cake is that the University does not inform the students of these situations.They need to have signed up for a link which my daughter nor her friends know anything about.</p>
<p>Just getting the word out there so future students can make their decision with all the facts.</p>
<p>Some of the problems occur when suburban students think they are still living in the 'burbs, and don’t take sufficient precautions. </p>
<p>At Lehigh University, a group of college students met a group of local high school students in a store. The Lehigh students were told they could buy a big screen TV for $50 if they just followed the high school students into a dark alley. Guess what happened?</p>
<p>Unfortunately crime is a potential problem in and around all college campuses. Criminals are always looking for easy targets to obtain money (usually in order to purchase drugs) and college students are generally seen as affluent individuals. I heard this morning that Temple was advising students to be on the alert due to a number of armed robberies that have occurred on their North Philly campus. This incident at UD is a major tragedy but it goes to show that it could really happen anywhere. Can it be 100% prevented, probably not. All students need to take precautions to minimize the potential that these types of things don’t happen to them. Hopefully all parents make an effort to impress upon their children at college to take such precautions.</p>
<p>This, absolutely. I grew up in NYC (back in its crime-ridden days), and H lived there for many years; we made it a point to inculcate some street smarts into our suburban kids. D went to college in a not-so-great urban area with more crime than Newark has, and understood not to walk alone at night, stick to the relatively safe areas, etc. </p>
<p>Another thing to bear in mind is that, according to the above article, “A preliminary investigation has determined that the shooting was not believed to be a random act…” It’s not as though there are armed gangs roaming the streets of Newark and shooting students at random.</p>
<p>I have never been at a campus that was not “open.”
Some are more open than others, I guess, such as George Washington.
But I’ve never seen a campus that was “locked” like a gated community.
Is there really such a thing?</p>
<p>Lehigh isn’t a good example because it’s surrounded by a drug infested area. Many colleges & universities conceal campus crimes because it’s bad for business. Parents & applicants need to thoroughly research areas around campus before committing. (Sorry, Johns Hopkins &, to a lesser extent, UChicago.)</p>
<p>Anyone who doesn’t think there’s crime in major cities like Baltimore and Chicago (as well as New Haven, Cambridge, etc.), including the colleges located there, is very naive. The idea of not attending college in one of these places (or Newark and many other small communities where there’s also plenty of crime) for that reason alone seems misguided to me, but then I’m a city girl. :)</p>
<p>There are too many other, much safer options offering outstanding educations. Just because one poster may be streetwise & comfortable in crime ridden areas doesn’t mean that others should not consider crime rates as a major factor in choice of college.</p>
<p>Axelrod (fitting name), if UD isn’t the right choice for your family, isn’t it wonderful that there is a perfectly good option that actually is right?</p>
<p>the homicide the other night was disturbing. Of course I realize crime can happen anywhere, but my MAJOR problem with UD is that they went out of their way to present their campus as (and this is a quote from police chief) “Mayberry”.
I attended Columbia University (health science campus) in Washington Heights. I knew living there it was a very rough area and I lived as such. To misrepresent UD as “Mayberry” is harmful to the students. Your behavior changes when you KNOW you are in a high crime area, and to not be honest about that puts them in danger. It is what it is, and they should make them aware of that.
As far as being an open campus. I am comparing campus to some of the NYS schools. Buildings border the perimeter of campus, so any “town” people stick out like a sore thumb. In Delaware, major streets run all around campus so you can’t tell who belongs there and who doesn’t.</p>
<p>Yes, Delaware Avenue, Main Street and College Avenue run through the campus.</p>
<p>But even if a college was completely secluded in the middle of nowhere, how on earth could you possibly tell “who belongs there and who doesn’t?”</p>
<p>^^^ Agree with the last comment … students, employees and visitors on campus come in every demographic group … is anyone suggesting certain people don’t look like students, or others who “belong there?” </p>
<p>While I completely agree with the posters who discuss living in an urban environment and taking appropriate precautions, I take some issue with characterizing this shooting and other campus crimes as “urban problems.” Crime is a problem everywhere, and many of our largest cities have our lowest crime rates. Calling it an “urban problem” sounds a bit like a veiled comment regarding race and/or social class. The vast majority of campus thefts are apparently committed by other students, as are sexual assaults, the #1 crime on campus, everywhere. Moreover, multiple-victim gun crime (ie: Virgina Tech and the many many other school/mall shootings) is an almost uniquely suburban/small town problem, most often committed by upper-middle class males who are classmates or coworkers of the people they attack. In other words, our biggest problem is often with our own students, the people who “belong.”</p>
<p>If your child is at Delaware, ask them about the “Townies” the students know them and those that are not, they do stand out like a sore thumb. My D said where the off campus apartments this occurred at was WAY off campus, not a great area to begin with. Very much mixed residents versus students in that complex, definitely not designated off campus housing.</p>