<p>CA2006,</p>
<p>I wouldn't mind the campus. It's actually quite safe. As far as I know, there's been a pretty good amount of gentrification around the campus too...</p>
<p>It probably is, but 7 rapes and 3 murders in a 1 month period near campus bothered me especially since I stayed in the dorms at 'SC 2 weekends during that time; could happen anywhere I guess.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Its impossible to compare apples to apples with the stats you provided. First, the numbers provided by CAL are for an approx 2 mile area including the area around the campus in Berkeley and Oakland. Second, DPS at USC reports for ON CAMPUS only how convenient. That way the numbers can be twisted and massaged to keep parents paying the big bucks into thinking their children are truly safe walking around South Central LA! Third, DPS hasn't provided updated information since 2003. DPS also has the discretion of calling LAPD on a student or not hmmm . For skewing of numbers purposes, or???
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Nope, it's because USC has one of the safest urban campuses in the country. A real "apples to apples" comparison of on-campus statistics would show that. I don't know the stats for berkeley, but take UW for example (which I've never heard anyone call unsafe) has more on-campus crimes both overall and per student than USC.</p>
<p>I live in Berkeley and the area around campus can be pretty bad. I know a high schooler who had a gun pulled on him for an ipod last month. The worst scene is the homeless people on campus who will not leave you alone. They are in the bushes between buildings and even get in to the dorms to panhandle. They are very aggressive and are as bad as the druggies who cling to the fringes of campus and have free rein in the surrounding shops and sidewalks.</p>
<p>Everyone has a different preference when choosing colleges. I doubt many here will ever be a Nobel Laureate anyway. Plus, some of the Nobel Laureates are downright boring in lecture. I suggest people interested find out
1.how many years it takes to graduate because you can not get the classes you need,
2.if you have to reapply going in to junior year for your major and how many are then dumped and left on their own to find a new major,
3. spend some time on the campus and look and talk with the students (who will even speak to you) and see if you want them as friends and study partners
4. check out the decrebid buildings</p>
<p>Don't let the above post be representative of the safetyness of Berkeley, because it's not.</p>
<p>
[quote]
The worst scene is the homeless people on campus who will not leave you alone. They are in the bushes between buildings and even get in to the dorms to panhandle. They are very aggressive and are as bad as the druggies who cling to the fringes of campus and have free rein in the surrounding shops and sidewalks.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Does anybody really believe stuff like this? It's incredible. Yeah, bums just can't help but pan handle in the dorms. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>December 4, 2006 </p>
<p>BERKELEY — Once an international symbol of political activism, Berkeley's People's Park is suffering an identity crisis.</p>
<p>Homeless flock to the park for free food and clothing. But residence counselors in nearby University of California dorms warn students to stay away. Cleanup crews in the university-owned park regularly remove needles, crack vials and other drug paraphernalia from the grounds.</p>
<p>Campus robbery</p>
<p>UC Berkeley Police report that a trio of robbers attacked a man as he was walking along Sports Lane on campus very early Wednesday morning, listening to tunes on his iPod.</p>
<p>The trio approach the young man from behind shortly before 12:42 a.m. and began to pummel him, taking his iPod in the process.</p>
<p>Once they had the goodie, the robbers ran off towards Dwight Way, possibly escaping in a 1990s-era beige four-door sedan</p>
<p>I do stand by my post and my kids are actually applying to the school. The ipod incident is not the same one as the student I knew. The student I knew was at gunpoint in a residential neighborhood three blocks from campus. Another one happened yesterday next to Berkeley High but did not involve a gun just a gang of students jumping a high schooler in broad daylight..
The homesless situation is true. This summer while my younger son was at Cal Basketball camp and computer camps, we frequently had to walk across lower campus in the morning about 730-830. We had to walk out of the way to avoid the people who were yelling at us. A real plus was going down the stairs of the parking garage at 730 in the morning and having a friend sleeping at the bottom. The panhandling in the dorm was told to me by a engineering student who grew up in walnut creek over the hill. He said the same thing happened when he moved to a local apartment. People knock on your door and ask for food and money. It is safe if you travel in groups.</p>
<p>University of California, Berkeley, police arrested three people on felony drug charges today following an incident in which about a dozen students were briefly hospitalized after consuming what are suspected to be marijuana-laced cookies.</p>
<p>University officials said the suspects, two of whom are current UC Berkeley students, are believed to have been involved with the preparation and distribution of the cookies served Wednesday night at Cloyne Court, an independent student-run housing co-op at 2600 Ridge Road near the campus.</p>
<p>UC police went to the co-op after receiving a call about 8 p.m. Wednesday from a student who said she was feeling ill and very anxious.</p>
<p>Police said they soon learned that about 15 others at the co-op were experiencing similar symptoms, including numbness to feet and hands, shortness of breath and minor hallucinations.</p>
<p>Of those 15, a dozen were sent to local hospitals, where they were treated and released by this morning. Four were treated on the scene by paramedics, according to university officials.</p>
<p>Campus police said that based on interviews with the students, they executed search warrants that led to the arrest of the three individuals.</p>
<p>College Avenue and Bancroft Way </p>
<p>October 23, 2006 </p>
<p>On Monday, October 23, 2006 at 5:05 AM a strong arm robbery and 2 batteries occurred at the intersection of College and Bancroft. A group of six UC students were waiting for a bus at Kroeber Plaza when a van containing four individuals pulled up next to them. Three males exited the van and approached the group demanding their wallets. The suspects then proceeded to punch two of the victims. They then grabbed the victims’ personal property, got back in the van and sped away traveling west bound on Bancroft. The victims called 911 and were able to give a partial license plate number. UCPD and BPD responded and began to search the area. BPD spotted the van and initiated a stop at University and Bonar. The suspects were positively identified by the victims and taken into custody. Two of the victims suffered minor injuries.</p>
<p>Tackling technological truancy
Faculty start to wonder why so many students aren't coming to class </p>
<p>By Wendy Edelstein, Public Affairs | 01 November 2006</p>
<p>When the attendance in her Sociology 5 class declined last semester to the point where more than half of the 250 students were regularly absent, Kristin Luker sought a reality check. She posted a query to Teachnet, an online forum where Berkeley faculty discuss issues related to teaching and learning.</p>
<p>"I handed out a study guide for the midterm, which may be part of the problem," wrote Luker, "but some of my students tell me that no class has most of its students show up. Is it me? Is it a new trend? Any thoughts?" Continuing the conversation
Many resources are available to help faculty explore the integration of instruction and technology, and to improve teaching: </p>
<p>Luker's post sparked a wide-ranging conversation on Teachnet among faculty eager to relate their own experiences in this area. Yet no one could pinpoint a single explanation for the supposed upsurge in student absenteeism.</p>
<p>I honestly can't believe you people are taking this argument so seriously. </p>
<p>lovetocamp, do you really need to post every recent police blotter from berkeley? USC suffers from the same problems in it's surrounding area.</p>
<p>bicoastal - I did not start this discussion. Non-Trojans feel the need to come into USC threads, and talk trash of USC. Personally, i would prefer that CC have a folder (similar to the "parents" folder) where Rivalry discussion (my school is better than your school) can take place. That is not the case. </p>
<p>As i have already stated TWICE in this thread, i personally think that all 3 schools (UC Berkeley, UCLA, and USC) are excellent schools. I believe very strongly that any student going to one of the 3 will get a superb education. That's it, that is my honest opinion. </p>
<p>However, non-Trojans don't seem to enjoy their school's threads enough to limit their comments to their folders. They feel this need to constantly trash USC. If the CC rules allow them to disparage USC, then the same rules allow me to point to legitimate websites that post independant information about UC Berkeley. (That is, afterall, the name of this thread). At least in my posts, I quote directly from an official website, and i provide the source.</p>
<p>lovetocamp, I AM a trojan, and I agree with you. I just mean that you have certainly made your point, and we should just let the thread die.</p>
<p>This thread needs to be locked. It has run its course and no longer serves any purpose.</p>
<p>Miramontedad, I've read your posts and here is my response: </p>
<ol>
<li>It looks like the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physio/Med went to a former Berkeley undergraduate. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Z._Fire%5B/url%5D">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Z._Fire</a> </li>
</ol>
<p>Also, Joseph Erlanger BS 1895; William Giaque BS 1920; Lawrence Klein BA 1942; Willis Lamb BS 1934; Robert Laughlin BA 1972; Willard Libby BS 1931; Douglas North BA 1942; Thomas Schelling BA 1944; Hamilton Smith BS 1952</p>
<p>So, there are actually TEN former Berkeley UNDERGRADUATES who won the Nobel Prize.</p>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2006/0609.national.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2006/0609.national.html</a></li>
</ol>
<p>It looks like Cal graduates have a bigger impact on society than you'd like to admit (look at the ranking methodology by following the link at the bottom of the page).</p>
<ol>
<li>Cal's undergraduate education is that crappy huh? Having went to both Cal and Stanford, I can tell you FIRST-HAND that Cal provides a better undergraduate education than Stanford....in the biological sciences, at least. For example, the MCB dept. at Cal offers extensive upper-division laboratory courses in genetics, biochem, neuro, cell bio, and immuno (in addition to the core lower-div lab courses) that are team-taught by 3 professors and TAed by 3rd year PhD students in state-of-the-art teaching facilities and with small class sizes...while Stanford only offers the 2 core LOWER-division laboratory courses TAUGHT by graduate students, seniors, and the occasional med student. Another example is the availability of high-quality readers for bio courses at Cal, while Stanford bio courses rarely (if at all) have any readers available. I could list many other examples but I'm gettting lazy so I won't. You're just going to have to take my word for it: when you pay for Cal, you're paying for an education above all things. When you pay for an "elite" private school, you're paying for an affiliation above all things. Only naive tools who worship US News Rankings think otherwise, and delude themselves with the notion that they are getting a superior education.</li>
</ol>
<p>Can this thread just DIE!!</p>