I visited campus and I felt really safe on campus and in Audubon Park and that area. But I looked up Tulane crime and freaked myself out because there seems to be a lot of incidents of armed robberies and other crimes in general. Would it be generally safe for me to walk around the area near Tulane during the day granted I stay away from “bad” areas? Any thoughts about safety from current students or people that know the area would be great.
In a way it is good to “freak out” but only in the sense that it is good to be careful and use common sense no matter where you go to school. But the fact of the matter is that there is no reason to freak out about Tulane at all. One reason the crime stats for Tulane look worse than some other urban schools is that Tulane complies with the law to the letter and consolidates all reported crimes within a certain radius of campus. As I understand it, all schools are supposed to do this, but because of a lack of coordination between campus police and city police, they don’t. This can make the campus report look better than it should.
I know for a fact that crime against Tulane students within a 2 mile radius of Tulane has historically been lower than at a number of other urban schools, including U Chicago, UPenn, Johns Hopkins, Columbia, and USC; it is similar to Yale, Duke and several others. Schools that had lower crime stats against students when I researched this when my D was attending a few years ago were WUSTL, Emory, and Miami, although Miami reported a fair amount of crime against students when they were farther off campus, in the city of Miami itself. None of what I am talking about is student-on-student crime, which is generally confined to petty theft and the occasional bar fight. I am talking about armed robbery, simple robbery, etc. Violent crime against students is really pretty rare at all these schools.
I think the best answer to your question is that over the last decade there have been thousands of students attending Tulane, the majority of them women. The experience of 99+% of them is (serious) crime free and really great, because they use common sense. Again, I am not talking about bike theft and the like. My D would go out in the day alone for very long walks, but she would stay on main roads like St. Charles and Broadway, and not find herself in a more isolated situation. If she was with a few other people, then certainly walking just about anywhere near campus was fine. At night you should always be escorted by friends or call TUPD for a ride/escort. Even though most of the time nothing would happen because the area really is not that dangerous, it would just be foolish to risk it when there are all sorts of safety apps you can use to call for assistance and people are only too glad to provide it.
Any time anyone asks a question like this, for any college, it makes it sound like the day-to-day is much more dramatic than it really is. As any current student will tell you, this is not something they are concerned about in terms of occupying mind space, it is just something that you do as a matter of habit, no matter what school you attend. Definitely do not let this affect your choice, but instead just listen to what the safety people tell you and do it, every time. If you are going to drink, have a plan that someone is there to exercise good judgement. That will keep you out of several potential problem situations. If you find yourself alone at night for some reason, call TUPD with a phone app they provide or get a taxi quickly. That kind of thing. But just to emphasize, this will be the rare or never thing to happen to you. With common sense, you will have a normal and fun college experience, and Tulane and New Orleans are great places to have that. Actually it won’t be normal, it will be extraordinary compared to most schools.
I would like to chime in: when anyone goes to college, you are not the only person there. There are thousand of students too live on campus and go to the same school. They are not afraid and why should you be? anyhow, The University of Chicago is located in south side of Chicago and it is surrounded by the projects (the ghetto). It is scary area and Chicago itself is not kosher lots of gangbangs, BLM drama (black live matters), etc. How do I know this? cause I used to live and went to school there. Also, after college, I had a job in Los Angeles and I heard lots of crime near USC; not the safe area. Why you should be afraid? use common sense. My son went to Tulane for three years and nothing has happened to him. If things are so bad in Chicago, Los Angeles and NOLA that have affected those schools, I believe no parents would send their kids to go to those schools over there.
Here is a link to Tulane’s crime log:
I should also point out that the crime stats and log include the downtown area which includes the med school, school of social work, and the school of public health, as well as some administrative buildings.
Thank so much for your responses! I was looking at the crime log which I figured seemed a lot worse because the Downtown area was included which is definitely not in as nice of an area. Is the area that students live off campus in a worse area than the campus?
Of course if a student lives off campus they can live anywhere, so technically it is hard to say. But for the VAST majority, there are a lot of houses near Tulane, especially on the streets on the other side of Broadway, that are smallish to medium sized and are often rented out to students. If you are looking at a map program, look on the other side of Broadway at the streets with tree names (Oak, Willow, etc.) Those and a couple of others are what I am talking about. My D was on Zimple (Zimpel, no one can agree on the spelling!). They are ideal student rentals, and many are closer to Newcomb Hall and the main library than a couple of the dorms! Tulane is not that large a campus, so I am exaggerating a little, but not much. The house my D lived in for her last two years was literally across the street from Newcomb Hall on Broadway, set back one lot behind a chapel. So not right on the street, but just one building in-between. Many of the rental houses are in about a 7 or so square block area all around there. A bike would be an excellent investment if you end up in any of these houses or the other major area for rentals, which is on the other side of campus just down from Loyola U, which is literally next door to Tulane.
So in general no the areas are not worse, but as you get into those neighborhoods they are not going to be as many people around, so you want to be smart. Experience says that the number of incidents involving students living in those houses is very small, and Tulane will escort you if you are alone and it is late. Most of the houses fall within their security perimeter. Tulane police are not limited to campus.