<p>How safe is Duke and its surrounding areas considered to be? and is it true that it has a heavy party scene?</p>
<p>Duke's campus is generally very safe. Most of the crimes that you read about in the newspaper such as robbery, etc occurs at off campus locations like apartment complexes and even those aren't rampant. There are services such as SafeWalk, SafeRide, Duke Police, and emergency phones throughout the campus that you can use if you are out late. If you use common sense like don't walk alone at 2am, be aware of your surroundings, etc, you shouldn't have anything to worry about. </p>
<p>As for the party scene, it's somewhat conspicuous and sizable but it's not the "in your face", "shoving it down your throat" kind of party scene. If you wish to avoid it, then there are other options and East campus is a dry campus anyway so freshmen don't have to worry about excessive partying going on.</p>
<p>Is East Campus generally safe? I know Lilly Library is open until very late. Lets say you get out at 2AM and live in one of the farther dorms like randolph or southgate, is it safe to walk back alone?</p>
<p>This is a link to the weekly reports by Duke Police:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.duke.edu/web/police/info/%5B/url%5D">http://www.duke.edu/web/police/info/</a></p>
<p>This is a link to the annual crime statistics. It does include the hospital and medical center:</p>
<p>This is a link to the Clery Report for 2006-2007 (required by Federal Law) - this is better as incidents on campus are listed separately from the medical center, but it is older as 2005 is the most recent year listed:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.duke.edu/web/police/cleryreport/%5B/url%5D">http://www.duke.edu/web/police/cleryreport/</a></p>
<p>There is also this section with the latest warning and news from the police department:</p>
<p><a href="http://dukenews.duke.edu/police.html%5B/url%5D">http://dukenews.duke.edu/police.html</a></p>
<p>Its really safe, but if you are walking off-campus late at night be smart.</p>
<p>I've been out a ton late at night, nothing bad has ever happened or nor have I seen anything shady going on other than typical college stuff.</p>
<p>What do you mean by "typical college stuff" lol?</p>
<p>bump.......</p>
<p>i've felt safe always on campus and off. sometimes i've been freaked out walking off campus at night when i'm with one other person if we're literally the only people on the dark street (hey, i'm from nyc, these things get to me).</p>
<p>walking around campus late night on a weeknight, you'll find a handful of kids doing the same thing as you: walking back from a library to a dorm, walking to/from a friend's room, sitting on a bench and chatting or making a phone call or having a cigarette. you'll see securitas. it's completely fine. on a weekend, it's a bit more crowded because people are going out/coming back, they're drunk, they're noisier. again- not unsafe.</p>
<p>off campus -- my rule of thumb is not to walk alone anywhere at night. i don't know how my male friends view this, but there's really no need to. if you're going from on-campus to an off-campus house or apt, call saferides (919-684-safe memorize this number / program it into your phones) and it's a free ride. if not, walk in groups or take cabs. walking to/from places like shooter's and sati's is well-lit and i've generally felt comfortable doing it, but again, i'd never do it alone (mainly because i'd get lonely and start to freak myself out) and now that there's that c-4 "drunk bus" running on thurs-sat nights, there's really no point to take that walk in order to save $$$ (also, charlene's which is one of the more popular cab companies accepts flex as payment).</p>
<p>you'll see the party scene. there's no way of avoiding it, quite honestly. on west there's section parties (frats live in "sections" and will throw parties in those sections a few times a semester, esp. the first month of school; many unofficially "host" thursday nights of drinking and beer pong) so that you'll see... you'll also see/hear people on campus coming back from a night out. it's not overwhelming, but it's certainly present and unavoidable.</p>
<p>Duke is feels pretty safe when you are there. Typically, there are enough people also studying in the evenings to feel ok walking back from the library to your dorm on East or West Campus. Central Campus feels a little more open and spread out,. but it is only for juniors and seniors anyway, and there are patrols that stand at each bus stop. The party scene is what it is. It can be avoided, just don't live too close to any section. But it is also fun to occasionally participate.</p>