<p>Have a son interested in going to Virginia Tech next year. Is anyone else worried about having your son/daughter applying and going to Virginia Tech next year?</p>
<p>I honestly wouldn’t want to apply there just because of the stigma, I was so disturbed by the major incident there that I was ill for a while. However, it’s not like there’s something in the water in Blacksburg. As long as the crime rate there isn’t indicative of a problem (which I wouldn’t know about) I would just assume that they are having an unlucky few years and not worry about it, other than to protect myself-- maybe not go camping without a big group.</p>
<p>I think every single little violent crime that occurs there that can possibly be linked to the university is going to be very heavily pushed in the media. A girl was killed at Eastern Michigan last year and the university covered it up for six months, no one even knew there was a homicidal rapist on the loose for SIX MONTHS and near as I can tell that story is only well known locally, and a lot of people still don’t know about it. Every few months it seems like a man jumps out of the bushes at a jogger in Ann Arbor, there have been several rapes in the last few years. As a student at umich these are things I need to be aware of. However things happen EVERYWHERE and all you can do is choose a college in a town with a crime rate you are comfortable with, use good judgment to keep yourself safe, and hope for the best. I don’t know much about Blacksburg but I don’t think it’s fair to judge the school based just on the few crime bulletins that make national news, because at this point EVERYTHING is going to and things happen at other schools, too.</p>
<p>After what happened I would think VaTech would be one of the safer campuses. I bet that the students & faculty would be more likely to alert the authorities to strange behaviour there than anywhere else.</p>
<p>One would hope, but I wouldn’t believe that without seeing it for myself. Eastern’s security remained dismal after the murder on campus. I mean seriously, the campus is pitch black, no police presence on campus, no card key locks-- they MAYBE added a few extra emergency phones, and now students get emailed crime reports. That’s it. And even after that happened, and even though they get an email every time someone is robbed on campus, there are still idiots who prop res hall doors open or let in strangers. Recently at eastern a freshman opened the door to a buddy and his buddy’s friend, who then robbed students in the lounge at gunpoint. No matter what happens on that campus, nobody wises up. I am personally of the opinion that security measures and the like need to be one of the top concerns when selecting a college. I have heard good things about VT since the shooting but if it were me I would definitely be researching in depth what kind of security practices they have, as with any school. That kind of information is what you need to be concerned with, not so much what the media wants you to think about the school.</p>
<p>Ypsilanti (home of Eastern Michigan) is right between Detroit and Toledo. To take security there lightly is downright criminally negligent.</p>
<p>I’d feel much safer at Virginia Tech or any other school in Virginia, where a trained and licensed citizen can carry a firearm, thus making me safer from lunatics who obey not laws but rather the voices in their heads.</p>
<p>Your statement is a little misleading. There is about an hour drive between Detroit and Ypsilanti with many VERY nice neighborhoods in between-- mine included, which is a large suburb where hardly anything ever happens, any parent’s dream place to raise a child. Toledo is also a solid hour away. And Ypsilanti borders Ann Arbor which is generally thought to be one of the safer places in Michigan. But your point still absolutely stands that their security is negligent, particularly given the area, because Ypsi itself is a hellhole. I had to say something because where I live is actually about dead center between Ypsilanti and Detroit and it is a beautiful, wonderful, nearly crime free neighborhood, I’ve never heard anyone condemn the entire area between Detroit and Toledo before.</p>
<p>I am not totally happy with the security at Michigan in Ann Arbor, either. I hardly ever spot emergency phones on campus, and any student can get into any of the residence halls that house a cafeteria (most of them) at any time while the cafeterias are open, bringing any guests they want. Their situation is not a deal breaker but I would really be more comfortable if I didn’t have to actively search to find five emergency phones after spending 6 hours on campus. My point was just that these are sorts of things you want to look for and not just take for granted at any college regardless of its history. My parents worry about campus security but never thought to look at specifics. Because I did, in part due to my experience visiting family at Eastern, I was able to come up with coping mechanisms to help make up for Michigan’s shortcomings. I think that’s very important. I don’t think that just because Eastern is an extreme example means that my attempt to help should be dismissed, I thought it was a good example to demonstrate what sort of things one needs to look for-- emergency phones, police presence, lighting after dark, dorm security, etc.</p>
<p>I have sent two kids to the New York City area for college post 9/11 - a son to Stevens in Hoboken, and a daughter to Brooklyn College. A family member who lives in Roanoke Virginia was concerned about my sending my kids there, but wants to send her son to Va. Tech :)</p>
<p>I agree with the poster that said that probably Va. Tech is safer than most campuses now. Also, we can’t protect our kids from everything.</p>
<p>I agree with AllThis…</p>
<p>We live in VA and know a lot of students at Tech. When the first incident happened in 2007, D was a sophomore in H.S. and told me she would still be OK applying to Tech.( As it happened, she visited the campus and really just didn’t feel it was the school for her).</p>
<p>So now she is going to school in NYC. Like susgeek I feel that you can’t protect your kids from everything. You have to make them aware of safety issues and them just put it in God’s hands.</p>
<p>TwistedxKiss, yes, I was a little misleading. I happen not to like Ypsi, but it’s not particularly unsafe; it’s just near a couple of cities with high crime rates, which I know is not the same thing.</p>
<p>What happened at VTech can happen at any school. Its’ not the college that was flawed, it was the student.
Most schools are in a very sub/urban setting so crime rate will obviously be pretty high.
If you’re really concerned you could consider sending your kid to a rural school…where kids make moonshine.</p>
<p>I thought I’d found the perfect rural school until I heard about a large meth problem.</p>
<p>Every rural town in America has a meth problem. Whatever you’ve heard about VTech is nothing but a kernel of truth wrapped in an exaggeration.</p>
<p>What is the “latest incident” the OP refers to in the thread title?</p>
<p>“I’d feel much safer at Virginia Tech or any other school in Virginia, where a trained and licensed citizen can carry a firearm, thus making me safer from lunatics who obey not laws but rather the voices in their heads…”</p>
<p>If only guns were illegal so ordinary students wouldn’t have to carry guns to protect themselves from other guns. Seriously, I can imagine a great college life with a .22 in your bag. <em>BANG</em> “Oh, sorry guys, that was just my gun.”</p>
<p>DougBetsy - </p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/28/AR2009082803270.html?hpid=topnews]washingtonpost.com[/url”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/28/AR2009082803270.html?hpid=topnews]washingtonpost.com[/url</a>]</p>
<p>It happened 15 miles off campus.</p>
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<p>A commonly-heard scenario from those who don’t know how to use one. Such things almost never happen to trained, licensed gun owners. Gun deaths occur in two ways. (1) A criminal uses it to commit a crime. (2) A careless, uneducated person uses it incorrectly, or leaves it where another careless, uneducated person can find it and use it incorrectly.</p>
<p>I consider it heartless for the government to tell law-abiding citizens, “We can’t keep guns out of the hands of criminals, but you are not allowed to have one to defend yourself against them.” How very naive. If you are fortunate enough to live in a country that is able to eliminate dangerous weapons, then good for you. Our government does not have that ability, and I doubt that it ever will.</p>
<p>Oh. Sad. :(</p>
<p>In my opinion, there is nothing about Virginia Tech or the surrounding area that makes it any more or less dangerous that any similar large university. The incidents that happened could happen almost anywhere–the first one was the act of a disturbed student, and the second was a crime that took place in an isolated area in a national park. This incidents are absolutely not reasons to avoid Virginia Tech.</p>
<p>You forgot the on campus beheading one. That was a first anywhere in the US…</p>