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Campus Safety Evaluation
Safety Forums:
Serious questions to ask the Admissions Department and Dean of Students, regarding campus safety:
- Q:Does the institution publish campus crime information as required by The Jeanne Clery Act? (Request a copy)
- Q:Do the annual crime statistics include reports to the dean's office, judicial hearings, women's rape/crisis centers?
- Q::Are Security Logs open for public inspection?
- Q:Does the school ask applicants if they have been arrested and convicted of a crime? Do they admit applicants with a criminal history?
- Q:Are campus crime policies and penalties explicitly addressed during orientation, as well as prominently stipulated in the student handbook?
- Q:Are drinking, drug, and weapon laws strictly enforced?
- Q::Are bathroom doors in coed dorms secured with master locks for floor residents?
- Q:Are single sex and "substance free" dormitories available?
- Q:Does the school address the entire student body during the academic year about growing problems related to campus crime: date rape and sexual assault, alcohol and drug abuse, and sexually transmitted diseases? When? Who addresses the students?
- Q:Does the school have an open judicial committee? How many and what type of cases did the judicial committee handle last year?
- Q:Does the school provide immediate medical, psychological, and legal aid to victims, as required by the Campus Sexual Assault Victims' Bill of Rights (Federal Law 1992)?
Repeat similar questions to the Campus Security Dept. and the Women's Rape/Crisis Center. Then compare responses and figures. Schools with aggressive crime reporting and a low tolerance for criminal behavior provide safer environments where students can focus on their educational goals.
Post Evaluation Analysis:
Ask yourself if administrators have responded to your questions consistently
and courteously? Or, have you been given the impression that your safety
concerns are paranoid and that you should consider other schools?
Compare figures and responses from different departments. Are there
serious discrepancies between your totals and the figures reported to the
U.S. Department of Education?
Calculate campus crimes per thousand students and com-pare them with
other schools. Also, attempt a balanced evaluation by combining your
subjective impressions with any calculations. Remember that schools which
aggressively report and act on campus crime problems are generally safer
choices.
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