Is surrounding Poughkeepsie safe for an 18 year old female? Was there a fire involving Marist students in recent years?
I don’t know about the fire. My son was accepted there and we attended the Accepted Students Open House yesterday. I felt the campus was safe. I didn’t see as many blue lights as some other schools. Marist has them mostly in the parking lots. But overall I felt safe on campus. It is highly likely (I would say 95%) that my son will attend there. I know to some degree it is different for males and females. I have a daughter too. But I had a good feeling about the school.
I’m currently a female-Sophomore student at Marist and can honestly say I’ve never felt unsafe here. Campus security is fantastic. They are open 24 hours a day 7 days a week and are very active on campus. Marist has security patrol cars that drive around during all hours of the day and night to make sure no situation is arising on campus that shouldn’t be. There are security guards in the entryway of all Freshman dorms, and anyone who is not a Marist student will not be allowed in dorms without a guest pass. Security will take you to the hospital is there is ever an emergency and last year, they even took my friend to the train station when his ride canceled on him last minute. In addition to this, we have a program at Marist called S.N.A.P. which stands for Student Nighttime Auxiliary Patrol. Security hires students who apply for SNAP positions to walk around campus at night and walk their fellow students to and from any building on campus if they feel unsafe walking there alone. But like I said before, I feel very safe on Marist’s campus. I go to the gym alone at 1am and feel confident that I will be okay walking back to my dorm alone. Overall, security is really receptive to Marist students and have put a lot of measures in place to ensure that students are safe. We even have an alert-system that will text/call/email all students if there is ever a campus-wide emergency that requires students to follow some sort of protocol.
As for the surrounding area, it’s important to remember that Marist is located in the town of Poughkeepsie, not the city. I frequently walk off campus to local diners and stores both during the day and at night and have never felt unsafe. To my knowledge, there have been no incidents or harm to any student who has walked around Poughkeepsie. In addition to this, I have not heard about any fire involving Marist students either. I’ve had friends walk home from the train station really late at night just because they wanted to, even though it’s something I wouldn’t necessarily recommend.
When it comes to security at any school, I think it’s important to remember that if you are being smart, you will most likely be safe. I do not recommend walking off campus alone at 3am but I have confidence if I did, I would not run into any issues. Even though it sounds rather elementary, using the buddy system is still a great rule to abide by in college. Safety was something my parents were very concerned about when it came time for me to chose a college. Now when they talk about Marist to family-friends and safety is brought up, they say they are more than confident that I am safe at Marist. And I really agree.
The fire was in 2012 and it was a tragedy that took the lives of a Marist student and a couple of her friends who were visiting, It was a house that students were renting (not campus or Marist-owned housing). It was so sad and upsetting. I feel for the families. The Marist student’s family started a foundation to prevent this tragedy from happening to other students:
http://www.kerryrosefoundation.org/
Poughkeepsie like so many other cities is NOT a safe place at night to walk / drive around if you are “clueless” or like to go out alone at night or prone to getting lost, etc. This said there are swarms of students at the neighboring bars at all hours. I am not happy about this but it is the reality. Taxis line up to take them to the bar of choice and the kids do a buddy system. The campus itself is very safe ^.
^ post is probably how most students feel and would respond. As a parent and a local I am more skeptical (no, do NOT walk off campus alone at 3am!!!) but as ^ states, security is really really good and always willing to drive you, not to the bars but to the library, classrooms, your dorm, etc.
Yes, students should learn to be as safe as possible. No, I would not let it hold you back from attending Marist.