Hello all!! I have heard some nasty stories about the neighborhood Vanderbilt is in. As my first choice school, I never considered safety on campus and in Nashville. Does anybody know how they stand for public safety?
I have also heard unverified stories of racism/hate crimes in and around Vanderbilt. Can anybody verify? Is racism a problem in Nashville? I am a “minority” student living in a relatively diverse city and I’ve never been the victim of stuff like that. I would hate to move to Nashville for four years and then feel like I’m not welcome or that I’m in danger.
I don’t mean this in any offensive way! I am just seeking information/confirmation based off what I’ve heard from other people. Please do not take offense. I’m trying to use this information in choosing the right college for me.
P.S. I’m a HS junior looking for colleges that might appeal to me. Go easy on me.
I’m kind of surprised that you’ve heard negative things about the neighborhoods near vanderbilt. Just going by directions: South- Hillsboro/12 south is nice/trendy. West- west end/centennial park area isn’t as trendy, but a lot of upscale apartments. North- midtown/the gulch is really expensive/yuppie. East- edgehill village is the only area that is semi-sketchy with some streets with project-y housing, but even that area is becoming gentrified, with a lot of students/professionals who work at vanderbilt living there without issue. I don’t think the neighborhood around vandy is unsafe.
Vanderbilt has its own police force, and those blue lights or whatever. There are sometimes crimes reported on campus, but it’s usually between students. The only real exception I remember is some people came into a professor’s unlocked door and stole her computer. VUPD also patrols the adjacent neighborhoods so that is where the majority of the more severe things come from, usually without students being involved. In like a 5 year period, the only ones I remember that were bad: someone got mugged at gunpoint back in 2013 or so, and the other is a guy was like forcibly fondling people on the periphery of campus. Also there was a guy who would ask for directions from his car and then flash you when you came close. I don’t think I would worry about crime.
As for racism: I really don’t think there’s that much racism in Nashville, but this really depends on personal experience. I had a diverse group of friends and I can’t remember any incidents that really stick out, but another person’s story might be different. Maybe if you drive like an hour out of the city into some weird backcountry place, or if you get unlucky and hit up the bars on broadway when there are some drunk idiots around. This question gets asked a lot, and it mostly seems to be because Nashville is in Tennessee, Tennessee is the south, and the south is stereotyped as racist. But Nashville is one of the fastest growing cities in the country right now with a ton of people coming from all over, and one of the more progressive/liberal cities in the southeast, and definitely in the state.
As far as race issue on campus, the only major events that I remember are the infamous dog poop incident. I will say though that Vanderbilt’s social scene pretty heavily emphasizes greek life, and greek organizations are sort of a product of white culture. So if you don’t have many white friends/aren’t comfortable with white culture you probably won’t enjoy greek life, and maybe will feel left out of that social scene, so that could be understood as a sort of implicit racism I suppose.
I agree with all the points in the above post as a parent but also as someone who was once a student on Vandy campus. I am not fond of the Greek culture but one son went Greek and the Vandy son stayed independent. the only thing I will add is that if you eliminate all the top 50-ish schools with active Greek life, you have sort of shot yourself in the foot, so I would never recommend that Greek life be a reason to not go to any university. Although it is true that Vandy has a vibrant Greek life, more men are independent than are in frats. Secondly, Nashville is an “independent student” friendly host city. All you have to do is close your eyes and think of attending school at wonderful heavily Greek Dartmouth in a small town with long winters …and you can say to yourself: Dang, Nashville looks like a place I could make myself quite happy with half the student body independent, great weather and an easy way to get about town for music, art, festivals, sports, etc. I realize you didn’t post with anxiety about Greek life per se…but I do think very highly of Nashville…it is a great town. Seriously fun. Of course it is not Chicago. But you can walk so many places depending which way you head off campus. It is NOT claustrophobic as some of America’s best colleges in small towns can be. The student body is now intensely diverse. I admire students who take the plunge and travel far to enroll in Vandy. Our son’s first roommate was from LA…housemates from Pakistan, Ohio, China, Florida, Polish Americans, NYC…it is not uncommon for people to be bilingual on campus. Crime would not be a reason to avoid Vanderbilt. That said, should you wish to look further, crime stats are listed at all campus police departments online around the nation and also you can look at crime maps. The Emergency Room at Vandy Hospital sometimes attracts some people who shouldn’t be around there, and like Emory, Duke, etc…there is some mix with medical complexes and campus… but we love Vandy Hospital and it is a great point of pride in the region.
Midtown Nashville is full of college students, graduate students, young healthcare professionals, young musicians, and young professionals. The Gulch area has some of the most trendy nightlife and apartment living you will find anywhere. Housing costs have exploded in the area. Not many bad characters can afford to live in the area. Heck, Taylor Swift bought her first million dollar condo 2 blocks from campus. 2 bedroom apartments rent in the $2500+ range. Midtown Nashville is a progressive, trendy, cool place to live.
I heard it from two old science teachers when I was telling them about where I was interested in applying and the stuff I heard were abhorrent. However, I don’t think they have ever been there (as far as I can tell).
Check out the Princeton Review. They look at student surveys to see what current college students say about their campus. This year under the “College City Gets High Marks” section the students ranked Nashville as the #1 college city in the country. Vandy ranks highly on the “Happiest Students” and “Best Quality of Life” section as well, year after year.
Go visit and see why.
You’re not a girl and none of the responses are from females apparently as no one mentions the violent rape incident. Okay… During our visit to Vandy there was an armed police confrontation in Centennial Park as we walked on the other side of West End.
I have a daughter at Vandy and I visit her often. I do not fear for her safety or mine any more than I would in any city. I absolutely love Nashville and consider it to be an integral part of her college experience. It’s also noteworthy that Vandy is such a residential campus and the vast majority live on campus all four years. As to racism, I cannot speak to that. I don’t think Vandy is the most racially diverse campus, but they seem to be working on that. It is also more geographically diverse than people think.
Here are some links that should help you in your research regarding safety:
What violent rape incident? Are you referring to the thing with the football players from a few years back? Obviously that’s a terrible situation, but I don’t see how that’s remotely relevant to the assessment of campus safety for a prospective student. That was an isolated incident with the girl’s boyfriend and his friends, so it’s not like there is heightened danger of this happening that is particular to Nashville. The school dealt with it quickly and appropriately. She just had the poor luck of dating a bad human being, which unfortunately, can happen no matter where you live. Women are just as safe at Vanderbilt as at any other college campus.
Anecdotes aren’t particularly useful either. Crimes occasionally happen in any part of any city without significantly impacting the safety of the residents.
It was due to a terrible attack on a female student at Lehigh in 1986 that colleges are now required to keep records on campus crimes. It was due to a terrible attack on a female student at Stanford in 2015 that national attention was paid to the dangers female students still face 30 years later while university administrators and our legal system try to sweep complaints under the rug. For each one of these in the span of 30 years how many other “things” happened, @fdgjfg?
In the case of Vanderbilt one of the rapists was a transfer who may have had a disciplinary record. Vandy may have handled the crime after the fact appropriately but did it do enough to vet this transfer and other admitted students? And yet that isn’t “remotely relevant” to safety?
I brought up the incident in Centennial Park where I was an eyewitness because the OP asked about the “neighborhood” directly across the street. As someone who has lived in urban areas I’ve seen it before so not a surprise, but it was relevant to the initial question.
I’m spending more time on this than I’d like because of the flippant post that “rejected applicants” bad mouthed the school’s safety as if that explains away every legitimate report.
Obviously sexual violence is a problem throughout American universities, and should be addressed. I just don’t agree that the football team incident constitutes a pattern that makes Vanderbilt more dangerous than any other peer school. The school and justice system responded correctly and appropriately. The Lehigh and Stanford events you describe were characterized by evidence of widespread institutional misconduct which isn’t present in this instance.
If there was any evidence prior to admission that Brandon Vandenburg would violently rape his girlfriend, obviously he would not have been admitted. Not that I don’t believe you on this, but I also can’t really find any information about his prior disciplinary record, so I am doubting its gravity (i.e. not a felony, perhaps an alcohol citation or something similar). This just seems a bit silly to me; prospective students should be wary of the school out of fear that it is systematically admitting violent, dangerous criminals through the transfer program?
You’re correct that it’s not reasonable to say that any opposing viewpoints are just “sour grapes” from rejected applicants. But I would trust the opinions of those who have lived in town for years/nashville natives over the viewpoints of short-term visitors and outsiders. The sample size is just too small to draw any meaningful objective conclusions from anecdotes. In the same vein, if you don’t have much experience with the city but have well-vetted data to back up your point, I am certainly more likely to believe you.