The University is no longer one of the most dangerous campuses, despite the best efforts of this guy.
Crime at this university has traditionally been a problem, but the latest crime numbers from Cleary reports by University Police indicate a continuance of the general downward trend in crime since its peak four or five years ago. But not all universities are doing so well when it comes to crime, particularly colleges in the state.
The Daily Beast recently made a ranking of both the 25 safest schools in the U.S. and the 25 most dangerous schools. Guess what? The University of Maryland at College Park isn’t on either! But there are some familiar faces (all info gleaned from The Daily Beast):
- University of Baltimore, No. 14 Most Dangerous: The campus’ surrounding area isn’t too safe, with 29 robberies and 10 aggravated assaults in 2007.
- Bowie State University, No. 9 Most Dangerous: Our PG county neighbor had 46 burglaries and eight assaults in 2007.
- University of Maryland – Eastern Shore, No. 6 Most Dangerous: This school of 4,000 people was one of the smallest schools assessed, but has a high rate of burglary and aggravated assault.
- University of Maryland – Baltimore, No. 3 Most Dangerous: Again, campus safe, neighborhood not. There were 18 assaults, 12 motor vehicle thefts and 16 robberies in their general area in 2007.
- University of Virginia, No. 7 Safest: “The most serious offenses that occurred on campus were two burglaries in 2007.”
I’m sure many of you need basis for comparison: UMCP had nine robberies, 12 cases of aggravated assault, 97 burglaries and 44 motor vehicle thefts in 2007, but because the student body is so large, the rate is lower because there are less crimes per student.
Do you really think the state of Maryland houses four of the top-25 most dangerous schools in America? Well, The Daily Beast talks about their methodology, which involved mainly browsing through Education Dept. statistics from 2006 and 2007 and developing their own complex weight system for the seriousness of the crime. They acknowledge in their rankings are seriously influenced by the surrounding environment, meaning low on-campus crime does not translate necessarily to a “safe school.” The evidence? Baltimore-based schools take a hit, but so do prestigious schools in Boston: Harvard is on the list, MIT is No. 5 and arts college Emerson is the most “dangerous” school in America. Also, the Old Line state’s strict crime-reporting laws hurt the local colleges and universities — they have to report crime in the surrounding area more rigorously than schools in other states (The Daily Beast acknowledges this in the rankings).
So basically we’re looking at outdated information with subjective weight system and rate judgements that hurt schools in states with better laws about crime reporting. Plus, to be fair, this is not a measure of police effectiveness — a lot of these schools have very safe on-campus environments. Just don’t walk off them.
Quick Hits
- The editor of The Towerlight, Towson university’s independent student newspaper, resigned last week after the publication was hit with flak from the university president for this column on mutual masturbation. In other news, The Diamondback published a sex guide yesterday, including a column on masturbation. No one has yet resigned. If Carrie Woods (the Towson editor) is looking for a new job, well …
- The Washington Post has a blog entry on a website designed to help people determine if they’re sick enough to go to the doctor to be treated for H1N1, commonly known as swine flu. After a series of questions, the website will say you need rest and fluids or you need medical attention. The Diamondback’s recommendation? If you’re sick enough to think you might need to visit the swine flu website, just go to the doctor.