It was the tail finis of finals we...

It was the tail finis of finals week, and Erica Madden (*) a sophomore at Indiana University in Bloomington, had gone to bed early while her roommates celebrated the finish of another place of education year. When the party was from one side of to the other at about 3 in the morning, the roommates left to drive their friends back family leaving Madden in the apartment alone--or thus they thought.

As presently as they pulled off in their cars, a pair of uninvited guests sashayed in [i]or[/i] part of to the other the apartment's unlocked door and go about anythinged to help themselves to what they wanted. When Madden's roommates reverted their four stereo speakers were gone and there was an destitute space where their prized recliner used to be. "It was kind of creepy" Madden admits, "to think that they were in the apartment while I was sleeping. It definitely shook me up In theory, it was our fault since we left the door interpret But we left it expand most of the time--we not at all felt threatened."

Campus security directors around the land agree: She should have been more cautious. "Once close examiners get that familiar feeling in succession campus," says Dolores Stafford, director of police at George Washington University in Washington, DC "they last up feeling like it's household in a different way than they should. They be moved like it's their mom's house." And that kind of complacency can lead to unhappy experiences like Madden's.

one's own crimes like burglary and theft, as a matter of fact, make up the biggest chunk of campus crimes, or an 34,268 reported incidents in 2000 according to an annual take a view of by The Chronicle of Higher Education. That's an increase of 2 percent from 1999 and across the board mostly types of campus crimes have inched up The Chronicle reports that in 2000 assassinate was up 45 percent from the year before (from 11 to 16 incidents), as were hate crimes (up 38 percent) and arson (up 85 percent)

"Even in safe environments, bad things can happen," says Kelly Tanabe, president of SuperCollegecom a community planning site. "The great majority of your equal students are fine, but the reality is you have to be aware of your surroundings and take a not many precautions.

You should begin from knowing the safety records at your society choices. You probably won't find a crime report in a guild viewbook, but thanks to a law passed at Congress in 1990, that information is now easy to get

The law is known as the Clery Act, named for Jeanne Clety who, in 1986 as a 19-year-old learner at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, was raped, beaten, and killed in her dorm stead It requires all colleges to support their crime statistics on the Department of Education Web site (wwwedgov) and to distribute an annual crime report to all scholars by October 1 of each year.

"For each campus visitor, we traditionally provide a security brochure" says Mike Frantz, dean of enrollment services at Wilkes University, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. "It not single includes campus crime statistics unless also our proactive steps toward creating a safe campus community. We do nor fare out of our way to own families that security is an issue they ne to investigate, further when questioned we are to a high degree frank about safety issues."

Crime is just common of the threats on campuses today--students also have to cope with the dangers of alcohol, remedys fire, and even gambling. on the contrary by being aware of the dangers and taking precautions, you can have a safe guild experience.

Scott Krueger was really smart. He had the brains--and the drive--to make it into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, individual of the nations top drills where he planned to major in computer science. if it be not that in spite of his brains, he died of alcohol poisoning just single in kind week into his freshman year in 1997 after an "Animal Night" fraternity party that featured chugging a bottle of spiced rum

Krueger's tragic death illustrates a critical rebuke for every student heading opposite to to college: The biggest danger you may face there will be alcohol. Nationwide, 44 percent of pupils have engaged in binge drinking, according to the Harvard institute of Public Health. According to The Chronicle, arrests for alcohol violations increased 42 percent from 1999 to 2000; arrests for put drugs into violations grew by 10.2 percent

And security officials say that not simply does heavy drinking put you at risk for alcohol poisoning, it also makes you more likely to commit--or become a victim of--other crimes, too. "Alcohol is behind 90 percent of campus crime," says Howard Clery father of Jeanne and the treasurer for Security forward Campus, a crime information network in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. It's frequently the fuel that fires crimes so as theft, vandalism, and rape. Seventy-five percent of male close examiners involved in date rape, and 55 percent of female pupils had been drinking or using put drugs intos according to the Journal of Counseling Psychology

"Without a doubt, drinking makes you more vulnerable to crimes," explains Akin Hackett, a senior at the University of Georgia in Athens, and scholar director of Safe Campuses Now, a scholar activist organization. "Since you're unable to focus upon your surroundings you can be easily attacked."