Following the spree of recent violent incidents on college campuses around the country, campus safety has returned to the forefront of the nation's attention. The March issue of Reader's Digest features a ranking of campus crime around the country, in which Brown ranked 144th safest out of 291 colleges surveyed.
In the crime survey, which looked at publicly available statistics on campus crime from college police departments of all 291 colleges surveyed, Brown earned a "moderate" rating in terms of crime, making it the second-safest Ivy - behind only Cornell, which was ranked 71st.
The report also consisted of a campus safety survey, in which only 135 of the 291 invited schools participated. It compared 19 attributes of each school, including ID checking, emergency response and preparedness, closed circuit camera monitoring, campus police and education on rape, drugs and alcohol.
The University declined to participate in the safety survey, though Brown would probably have placed in the top ten, said Vice President of Administration and Chief Risk Officer Walter Hunter. He added that he felt statistics alone cannot sum up how safe a campus is because the "issues are complex."
"We have quite a good story to tell," he said. "I don't think looking at one sheet of statistics comes even close to telling the story - it's a snapshot."
The "story" that the University has to tell is one of an armed, accredited, well-trained and extensive police force; improved education; orientation crime-awareness program; and emergency preparedness, Hunter said.
"We do our best to be prepared for everything we can imagine," he added.
The Reader's Digest report focused on making parents aware of the issues surrounding college safety. Campus safety is "certainly something parents care about," Hunter said. "You have to look at each school individually - I don't think parents or students should rely on surveys ... that have limited information."
Despite the University's moderate crime rating, most students interviewed still said they think Brown is a safe place. "I feel very safe on campus," said Chris Lee '09.
"I feel pretty safe," agreed Kendrick Au '11.
Some students are more concerned about their safety.
"I feel moderately unsafe only because people have told me I should feel that way," Devon Cupery '11 said. "I think I felt less safe after those reports came out last fall about people being fondled near Perkins."
Hunter said it is important that information regarding campus safety is shared with the community.
"We're proud of how transparent we are and the amount of information available on the web," he said.
The Reader's Digest article, survey results and methodology can be viewed at www.rd.com/college.
