Special report: safety on campus; most schools are safe havens for learning. But dangers—crime, alcohol abuse, fire hazards—do exist. Knowing the realities can help you protect yourself

Careers and Colleges, March-April, 2003 by Nancy Fitzgerald

It was the tail end 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 school year. When the party was over at about 3 in the morning, the roommates left to drive their friends back home, leaving Madden in the apartment alone--or so they thought.

As soon as they pulled off in their cars, a couple of uninvited guests sashayed in through the apartment's unlocked door and proceeded to help themselves to what they wanted. When Madden's roommates returned, their four stereo speakers were gone, and there was an empty 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. In theory, it was our fault since we left the door open. But we left it open most of the time--we never felt threatened."

Campus security directors around the country agree: She should have been more cautious. "Once students get that familiar feeling on campus," says Dolores Stafford, director of police at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., "they end up feeling like it's home in a different way than they should. They feel like it's their mom's house." And that kind of complacency can lead to unhappy experiences like Madden's.

Property crimes like burglary and theft, as a matter of fact, make up the biggest chunk of campus crimes, or some 34,268 reported incidents in 2000, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. That's an increase of 2 percent from 1999, and across the board most types of campus crimes have inched up.

"Even in safe environments, bad things can happen," says Kelly Tanabe, president of SuperCollege.com, a college planning site. "The great majority of your fellow students are fine, but the reality is you have to be aware of your surroundings and rake a few precautions.

You should begin by knowing the safety records at your college choices. You probably won't find a crime report in a college view-book, but thanks to a law passed by Congress in 1990, that information is now easy to get. The law requires all colleges to post their crime statistics on the Department of Education Web site (www.ed.gov), and to distribute an annual crime report to all students by October 1 of each year.

Crime is just one of the threats on campuses today--students also have to cope with the dangers of alcohol, drugs, and fire. But by being aware of the dangers and raking precautions, you can have a safe college experience.

Scott Krueger was really smart. He had the brains and drive to make it into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the nations top schools, where he planned to major in computer science. But in spire of his brains, he died of alcohol poisoning just one 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 lesson for every student heading off to college: The biggest danger you may face there will be alcohol. Nationwide, 44 percent of students have engaged in binge drinking, according to the Harvard School of Public Health. According to The Chronicle, arrests for alcohol violations increased 4.2 percent from 1999 to 2000; arrests for drug violations grew by 10.2 percent.

And security officials say that not only 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, the treasurer for Security on Campus, a crime information network in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. It's often the fuel that fires crimes such as theft, vandalism, and rape.

Campus security officials caution that you need to be especially careful about "date rape drugs such as GHB and Rohypnol, which are used to spike women's drinks before sexual assaults.

KEEP YOURSELF SAFE

* When you hit drinking age, remember to always drink in moderation, allow time between drinks, and try alternating with non-alcoholic beverages.

* Stay away from chugging contests and other drinking games.

* Be aware of who's dispensing drinks. Don't accept any drink from a stranger.

Kate Murray was upset a out her boyfriend, who attended college in another state. So she was glad to be spending the afternoon with her friend Jim at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. When the freshman visited Jim's dorm room one day, she began crying.

"It was a really vulnerable moment for me, Murray recalls. "He started to comfort me, but before I knew it, he was pinning me down. And he had turned the stereo up so loud that nobody could hear when I started screaming."

Murray had become a victim of date--or acquaintance--rape, a crime that has increased on many campuses. Safe Campuses Now reports that one in eight women will be raped during their college years, and 84 percent of them will know their assailants. Murray didn't report her incident because she was too embarrassed to talk about it.