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Student safety and campus crime have become all too familiar issues facing colleges and universities today. But how many students consider those factors during the college evaluation process? According to a recent news release issued by StateUniversity.com, founder Dominik Mazur said student safety and campus crime are sometimes overlooked, which is why the leading website for college information began ranking the 450 safest colleges and universities in the U.S.
In its second annual list, Millersville University received a score of 92.56 out of 100 – ranking as the 16th safest college in Pennsylvania. Overall, Millersville ranked 219 in the nation.
“It is important to keep in mind that the crime rate at Millersville University is very low. Our positive safety ranking by StateUniversity.com reflects a small part of what occurs toward safety and security at Millersville University,” said Peter Anders, Millersville’s police chief. “The ranking is based solely upon past reported crime; students and staff have worked with the University Police toward making our community a safe and nice place to live, study, work and visit.”
According to StateUniversity.com, safety ratings are determined based on the number of occurrences of aggravated assault, robbery, burglary, theft/larceny, motor vehicle theft, forcible rape and murder on campus, and then are weighed based on the probability of each incident happening to each student since naturally larger campuses would be expected to have a higher number of total incidents. Violent crime is given more weight in the ranking system, and has a greater effect on the safety rating than non-violent crime such as theft.
Incidents of larceny-theft affected approximately six people out of 1,000 at Millersville. There were no incidents of arson, murder, robbery or vehicle theft. Of the 14 Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education schools, 11 received notable rankings among the top 20 ranked universities in Pennsylvania with the highest safety rating. Mansfield University ranked number one, Indiana University of Pa. ranked second and Slippery Rock ranked third.
“University Police continue to caution that while we are in a safe environment, several small practices could decrease the opportunity for crime. Students are encouraged to keep their rooms, vehicles and apartment doors locked, even when they are in their apartment, and not to walk away from valuables in public areas,” Anders added.
The 2012 rankings are available online, at StateUniversity.com’s website.
2 replies on “MU Receives Second Annual Safety Ranking”
Your right on just about everything, however as the article said Millersville has a very low crime rate. The occasional theft does happen but almost every theft I heard about someone broke into housing areas and stole technology. Things like lights, and additional boxes for calling the police might be helpful but if that’s not where the crime is happening then why spend the money on it? New/better/more secure buildings might be exactly what is needed.
Placing 219 out of 450 colleges and universities in the United States evidently leaves a great deal of room for improvement. The ranking for the state and the nation appears to be poor for several reasons. Walking around the campus, I feel that it is incredibly dark. There should be a great deal more lights around and more security devices to protect the students. Millersville does have some work to do to improve security and safety of the campus residents, and all of the students that attend the school. It is interesting to realize that the university is spending a huge sum of money on building renovations, but fails to spend money on areas that truly matter.