Safety report hits hard

When students opened their campus e-mail accounts on Oct. 18, they discovered an e-mail sent from the  N. C. Central University public relations office describing the latest crime alert.

On Friday, Oct. 15  a female student reported a man exposed himself to her on campus.

The suspect was eventually apprehended and charged, but some NCCU students may be left wondering how safe campus is.

Based on the American School Search's Web site, NCCU was listed 51st among the most dangerous American colleges.

NCCU received an "F" rating for safety from 2006-2008. Other local universities didn't fare much better: Duke University received a "D-" and UNC-Chapel Hill received a "D" rating.

The American School Search is a Web site designed for prospective college students and their parents. The Web site lists 6,670 American colleges and up-to-date information concerning them.

"It is stale information," said Campus Police Chief Willie Williams. "The study may not reflect an accurate picture on campus."

"The chancellor brought the report to us," said Williams. "We feel we have a very safe campus."

NCCU is required to report all crimes to the FBI and the U.S. Department of Education.

The American School Search evaluates each school and lists 88 descriptive factors on each with data collected from public sources like the U.S. Department of Education.

The report breaks down criminal offenses at NCCU from 2006-2008.

According to the report, NCCU experienced 25 robberies, 31 motor vehicle thefts, 22 illegal weapons possession, 144 burglaries, and 6 forcible sex offenses.

The American School Search's Web site said "NCCU is a very dangerous place to be in."

Some students believe that the ranking are overblown.

"I feel NCCU might be ranked so high just because it is in Durham and Durham is a bad city for crime," said sports management senior Blake Murray.  "I feel very safe on NCCU's campus."

The American School Search Web site uses a crime chance feature which estimates a student's chance of experiencing a crime during her or his four-year stay at NCCU. The crime chance is based on present enrollment, past crime history, crime trends and assumptions that the school reports statistics accurately to the government.

The site states that students have a 1.3 percent  chance of being burglarized while enrolled at NCCU — the highest crime chance listed for the University. 

    "I am from a dangerous place and I feel safe," said Gilbert Morgan, a business senior from Detroit.

"I think our school just has a bad reputation," said Morgan.

"When things like students are getting killed or Duke lacrosse cases are being broadcast then of course we look unsafe.

"We have 24-hour security and if you walk in packs you will be fine," he said.

In order to help ease students' fear, NCCU's SGA helps to organize the program "Chat with the Chief," a forum in which students have the chance to address the chief with comments and concerns about campus.

"Every quarter, we meet with students at Chat with Chief," said Williams.  "We have good discussions and students share their concerns about the campus safety."

The next "Chat with the Chief" will be held in Baynes Hall on Tuesday, Nov. 9 at 6 p.m.

NCCU also has taken steps to increase the lighting on campus at night.

"We increased lighting  on campus and we identified some of the dark spots on campus," said Williams. "The chancellor provided funds to give a brighter glow to the campus."

"There is an organized camera system on campus," said Williams.  "Two years ago we implemented a special unit at night and since then, no robberies on campus."

At Duke, according to the American School Search, there were 17 forcible sex offenses, 166 burglaries, 20 illegal weapons possessions and 14 liquor law violations.

"I think urban areas have the same problems and I do not think Duke is unsafe," said Williams.

"If two incidents occur on campus then it will reflect negatively on the campus," he said.

For UNC-Chapel Hill, American School Search listed 23 forcible sex offenses, 24 aggravated assaults, 47 burglaries, 14 motor theft, and 170 liquor law violations at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Duke had than twice the number of forcible sex offenses, and UNC-Chapel Hill had more than three times the number of forcible sex offenses as NCCU.

American School Search listed the most dangerous school as Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Va.

The Web site lists some of the safest schools as Harry S. Truman College in Chicago at #1, ECPI College of Technology in Virginia Beach at #2, and Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. at  #3.

Jerell Morgan contributed to this story.