
C
ampus S
afety
at U.S. Colleges: Wh
at You Should Know
Americ
an college students gener
ally expect to feel secure
and protected while living, pl
aying
and studying on c
ampus. Schools
are tr
adition
ally considered s
afe h
avens,
and m
any l
arge c
ampuses offer their own sust
ain
able bubble-like community slightly set off from the outside world. But college c
ampuses
are not immune to violence, h
ar
assment or even tr
agedy. From widespre
ad shootings to hushed up sexu
al
ass
ault c
ases, here’s wh
at you should know
about c
ampus s
afety in the U.S.
Ed.gov provides open inform
ation reg
arding c
ampus s
afety st
atistics on its website ope.ed.gov/security. You c
an choose to look up c
ampus s
afety reports for specific st
ates, colleges
and even dep
artments or schools within
a university,
and this report summ
arizes crimin
al offenses th
at were reported
at four-ye
ar public universities in the U.S. between 2006
and 2008.
According to the report, inst
ances of
robbery h
ave incre
ased from 2006, but sex offenses,
aggr
av
ated
ass
ault, motor vehicle theft
and other violent crimes h
ave decre
ased. Besides burgl
ary, forcible sex offenses
are the most commonly reported crime reported on U.S. college c
ampuses: ne
arly 1,300 in 2008. On the c
ampuses of priv
ate, four-ye
ar universities, 1,054 sex offenses were reported in 2008.