<p>I'm having a tough time deciding if the high crime surrounding a college campus that my daughter is interested in attending should be a determining factor. Although the campus is relatively safe I am still unsure if I am being overly protective.</p>
<p>You have to be comfortable with where she is at school, but you should do the work to be really informed before making a decision. For example my S went to Fordham (Bronx, NY) undergraduate and my husband and I had similar concerns about the neighborhood. We went back for admitted student’s day and asked a lot of questions of students and speakers and then took some time to walk around outside of campus in order to feel comfortable with the area. The neighborhood turned out to be a big bonus rather than a negative (he did community service work off campus, great restaurants right off campus, easy access to Manhattan etc.). Of course students need to understand that a degree of street smarts is needed to be safe – ex. no walking around alone and drunk at 2AM. waving an iPhone! My suggestion would be to not dismiss the school out of hand, but do the research you need to come to a decision with your D. </p>
<p>I posted this last night over at the UMD site. It’s a question we see a lot at this time of year, when parents begin to look at the schools their children have applied to. I work on a college campus and have for over 30 years. This particular campus is in a high crime area on three sides. Students are held up biweekly for their cell phones. There has been a rape and a murder on campus in the last year, but these are the only two I am aware of. Still, I feel safe almost all the time. Yes, I’m male and past the midpoint, but I’m not physically imposing and I’m a target for outside predators for other reasons. I’ve had no problems. I’ve known of one colleague who’s had a phone swiped. This is a campus of thousands. I hope this helps:</p>
<p>As for the safety of any campus: Students should be just as prepared for the predators they do know as the predators they don’t. Safety requires vigilance whether you’re treating with people [from] inside or outside the campus. Much of the theft and violence is visited upon students by students and staff members that they know. That’s often hard for students to keep in mind when dealing with other students and staff.</p>
<p>Your daughters and sons need to not just hear this but understand this. If they do encounter violence or threats of violence, they need to take it seriously and report it to the campus or local police, their counselors, the dean. somebody in addition to their friends. If they are being visited by violence or made to feel threatened, that will not stop until they act to protect themselves. Talk to them about restraining orders, alcohol abuse, locking doors, spousal abuse, date rape, losing your temper, leaving their food or drinks unattended, parking garages, how to deal with people who say it was their fault, etc. I had a middle linebacker who was jumped, stomped, and mugged, who got no support from anyone and was told he was a “punk” because he “let” it happen; it ruined his next four years because somehow that wasn’t supposed to happen to a big guy like him. Talk to your kids ahead of time. If the talk doesn’t help them it might help a friend of theirs.</p>
<p>Having said that, the incidence of violence on college campuses is no different than it is outside the college campuses. That is to say, it’s very unlikely to strike you unless you do something really stupid. Live your life this way and you almost certainly won’t have trouble on or off campus.</p>
<p>Let me add since I mentioned iPhones earlier and stupidity above. Teach your children, if it’s not already too late, to keep their heads up and earbuds out when they’re off-campus. I see so many students walking around by themselves, with buds in, head down, studying their iPhones. They might as well paint a target on their backs. An iPhone can be replaced. That sense of security is harder to get back. And for crying out loud, don’t go drinking without a buddy system in which you are guaranteed help from one of your buddies with getting home safely.</p>
<p>It depends whether you mean a neighborhood like Fordham’s or a neighboorhood like Bronx CC’s… or Temple’s, or Clark? If you can give the name of the neighborhood some residents or people who know the city may be able to talk about it.</p>
<p>Yeah, Eastern Michigan University - D has already been told, don’t bother applying.</p>
<p>I’m from NYC and well aware of the urban life. The college campus my daughter is interested in is located in Cleveland and borders a very high crime neighborhood on both sides of the campus. I’ve been told the campus is safe but don’t walk around in the dark alone. Is this true for most campuses? I understand walking around at 10:00pm alone may be risky especially if the campus is a bit isolated but not being able to feel safe walking at 7:00pm or even 8:00pm seems a bit concerning. The Clery report for this school shows a relatively safe campus and is in line with other colleges. Except rapes increased 4times from the previous years. I am visiting the campus with my daughter soon and am hopeful. Her other choice is Villanova which is surrounded by a very low crime area. My D will be studying nursing so I want to be sure that she will be in a safe environment since she will be doing clinicals and having to travel at odd times perhaps. </p>
<p>IMO such a large increase in reported rapes is due to better reporting practices, not an actual increase in incidents. Also, students are far more likely to be raped within a college campus than outside of it. </p>
<p>The don’t walk alone when it’s dark is pretty much the stock answer that any tour guide would give. I’ve heard it applied to Oxford College of Emory (an extremely safe campus) to the University of Oklahoma (pretty safe, although less so than Oxford) to USC (don’t walk outside the campus at night). If the campus is that dangerous that it’s unwise to walk to a local pizza joint after sunset, that would be a big negative in my book. </p>
<p>Totally agree about the iPhone earbuds. Don’t advertise the merchandise. Do pay attention. Sadly, a former St. Louis univ. grad was murdered in her car, keys in the ignition for her iPhone. Not on campus but a couple of blocks off. Did not take the car, just the phone, which by the way she was talking to her mother on at the time. 9 in the morning. Pointless. Senseless. Yes, he was caught. This family has started a campaign for the kill switch on apple products so if they are stolen they can be rendered useless. Apple has not agreed to this.
Also, do not resist.</p>
<p>When you visit the campus with your daughter, you should take the time to really walk the area and get a sense for safety. Also talk to campus security and even stop students on the campus to ask how they feel about safety there. Unfortunately, every student needs to take precautions at even the safest campus, especially in isolated areas or anytime after dark (even at 7 or 8PM). Our D recently graduated from a campus that was considered very safe, and if anything, I felt like she wasn’t careful enough because the campus was advertised as being so safe. Her attitude was “nothing ever happens here”. I know she walked home at night frequently and she lived fairly far from campus her last year. I feel as if she might have been more careful if she had know the campus was in a more high-risk area. Things can happen at any campus if students are not aware of their surroundings. MOst campuses offer a service where security personnel can be contacted to get you around late at night, so you should also ask about that. Make sure she knows where Emergency Beacons are located around campus (emergency button she can hit if she feels threatened). MOstly make sure she is aware of her surroundings and not walking at night while talking on her cell phone and not paying attention. </p>
<p>If you mean University Circle, it’s fine. 
Additionally, many campuses, even safe ones, consider students (won’t say it, but… young women especially) shouldn’t walk alone at night. However 7 or 8pm would be strange, on a college campus I imagine that means 10pm-3am, so you should look into what that means.</p>
<p>Yes MYOS1634, the campus is Case Western @ University Circle. It seems like an amazing University but being so close to East Cleveland is something we need to consider. When we visit I plan to walk the campus to get a feel of safety. The campus does have on campus to use if it is late and you don’t have anyone to walk with back to the dorm. We can’t wait to go see it, Case sounds like an amazing fit for my D, just hoping the safety issue sounds worse than it has been portrayed. </p>
<p>@ shiloh77 what a tragedy. I think the kill switch on the iPhone is brilliant. </p>
<p>Many college students who grew up in low crime areas are careless about locking their doors, not leaving things unattended, etc… So college campuses could very well attract thieves.</p>
<p>But perhaps the bigger dangers to personal safety at colleges come from poor judgement that people have when drunk.</p>
<p>I agree that students who grew up in low crime areas may be prone to not being diligent about locking doors or leaving things unattended. I think most young college students can be that way. I am not worried about petty crimes but worried more about violent criminal activities such as robbery and/or assaults to students by non-students. I found an interesting website which gives you the crime activity when you put in an address. <a href=“http://www.spotcrime.com/”>http://www.spotcrime.com/</a> </p>
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<p>Student-on-student crime should not be discounted, particularly unwanted sex, particularly when the victim is drunk and reduced in judgement and ability to escape or identify the suspect.</p>
<p>I am definitely not discounting student-on-student crime at all! I keep my eye on the Clery reports for all the colleges we are interested in attending. Adding non-student on student crime to the mix complicates college campus life further. Walking through campus, not drunk or impaired whatsoever, in the early evening and being assaulted or robbed is just as much of a concern! We are visiting soon so we’ll see how the vibe is on campus and what other students say about their experience. We are hopeful!</p>
<p>I have no insight, but can say I’m worried too about crime and safety as my girl searches for a college. When the schools mention the escort from security and other safety measures, it gets my attention. The ones I’m most concerned about are in Milwaukee, Detroit, So, Calif, and St. Paul. We’ll (maybe) visit and research more. </p>
<p>Some colleges have self defense martial arts PE courses in addition to the usual PE activities. Also, being able to run quickly can help – if you are faster than someone trying to attack you, you just need to stay out of reach, or fight just enough to get out of reach, but if you are slower, you do not have any good options.</p>
<p>But many students and parents do underestimate the risks of student-on-student crime, particularly when the victim is drunk and therefore less able to escape, identify the suspect, or even give a comprehensible story. Realistically, a lot of frosh try alcohol, despite being underage, but inexperience leads them to get more drunk than they intended and thus more vulnerable to crime.</p>
<p>student-on-student crime is much more frequent than “outsider crime”.
Outsider crime in high crime areas very often include student leaves door/window open- stranger gets in and steals computer; less frequent but still happening is the robbery (esp. with students talking on her Iphone=> iphone get stolen, sometimes along with wallet). </p>
<p>@diyu13: I can’t think of a college in St Paul being in a high-crime area. Just because a school is urban doesn’t mean it’s high-crime or dangerous.</p>
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<p>There are some regions where the city limit of a big city divides between a wealthy low crime suburban area and a poor high crime urban area. The term “inner city” to refer to the latter presumably comes from such geographic organization, but the term, and the assumption that it is based on, are not really accurate in many regions where wealthy low crime areas may be in big cities, and poor high crime suburbs exist.</p>
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<p>I disagree. It makes no difference if it’s a neighborhood like Fordham Road or Temple’s urban Philly or Trinity’s Hartford. The guidelines for safety are exactly the same. </p>
<p>Also disagree about the myth of “outsider” crime. I don’t have hard stats, but I’m guessing if your son or daughter experiences a crime…theft, assault, hate violence, rape/assault…the chances that it is at the hand of a peer are way higher than a stranger. </p>