Iowa State - 2nd Least Safe Campus in America

[CrossCyed]

Ranking the Safest (and Worst) College Campuses | Education | Reader's Digest

I disagree that ISU's not safe, but kind of strange to consider us that close to the bottom.

[Flag Guy]

I find that to be a little questionable... I've never considered ISU to be that dangerous of a place... half of the time I didn't even lock my door when I lived in Friley! (Whiiiiiiiiiich probally has something to do with the rating we got but still...)


And our police are now armed with guns, not that I think that will change our rating much.

[sodakjoe]

We still only got a C grade...and there's only 135 schools on this list. That's a lot of schools that weren't rated.

[TravelingCY]

To be honest, the questionaire that was sent to all colleges and universities was flawed. There was no room to elaborate upon questions posed. They were all 'yes' or 'no' questions.

Here's an example: Instances such as 'are there carbon monoxide detectors located on all floors/rooms' etc. required a yes or no answer. Iowa State University uses a steam system to heat. They were forced to answer no to that question, but in fairness, was unable to list the reason as to why such things were done.

The questions were flawed as shown by that example.

Many schools simply refused to submit this questionaire.

[ISUboi12]

That is funny that Creighton received an A.

I would love to hear the decision if one of those "judges" was given the choice to walk alone across the Creighton or Iowa State campus at 1:30 on any given night.

[mwitt]

Didn't the University of Iowa have a problem recently with a serial sexual assaulter? Has that guy even been caught yet?

Maybe they mixed us up.

[mramseyISU]

Iowa doesn't seem to be as great as everybody thinks for safety and raising a family. I read something a week or two ago (wish I could find a link) that had Iowa ranked in the mid 40's out of the states you'd want to raise a family.

[balken]

It is likely that ISU's score may have been negatively impacted by the proximity to the U of I and U of I football players.

[Broodwich]

Seeing that UI is not on the list, I am assuming that they must have had us mixed up with them. Three major law-enforcement agencies (now all with guns!) in a town of 50,000 alone should have put us in the Top 10.

[benjay]

Originally Posted by CrossCyed

Ranking the Safest (and Worst) College Campuses | Education | Reader's Digest

I disagree that ISU's not safe, but kind of strange to consider us that close to the bottom.

we made the top 135. Not a glowing endorsement but I don't think it's saying campus is "not safe". There are a lot more than 135 colleges in the US.

[MontyBurns]

Actually, the survey is flawed.

All of the questions are things like "do the dorms have an attendant", "do the dorms have self-closing self-locking doors", "do you have to show ID to get into campus building", "are there blue-light phones and cameras" in parking lots and all over campus, and "how many police do you have". The top ten of their "safest" campus list is filled with schools in Baltimore, Boston, New York, and Chicago. Of course campuses in urban areas that are in many cases not safe will score better on those questions. They have security buildings and more police because they need them -- we don't. They only looked at safety measures, not crime statistics.

[ekim121]

Originally Posted by MontyBurns

Actually, the survey is flawed.

All of the questions are things like "do the dorms have an attendant", "do the dorms have self-closing self-locking doors", "do you have to show ID to get into campus building", "are there blue-light phones and cameras" in parking lots and all over campus, and "how many police do you have". The top ten of their "safest" campus list is filled with schools in Baltimore, Boston, New York, and Chicago. Of course campuses in urban areas that are in many cases not safe will score better on those questions. They have security buildings and more police because they need them -- we don't. They only looked at safety measures, not crime statistics.

This is spot on...they completed a survey of which campuses take the greatest measures in ATTEMPTS to reduce crime and increase safety. If one were to complete a survey of safety based on the number of indicents that actually occurr on each campus ISU would obviously be near the top. There are lots of things that are unnecessary in Ames because its Ames and not New York, Boston, Chicago, Champaign, or Iowa City.

The people who constructed the survey should know there is a difference between who takes the most 'safety measures' and who is actually the safest as you can only deter crime so much, but when you have people who understand right and wrong crime is much less likely to occurr in the first place. Who was it that said, "There are lies, damn lies, and statistics"?

[kingcy]

Why not look at crimes on campus compaired to the number of students on campus? ISU doesnt have to do much to avoid crime because not much is there.

As far as Iowa not being a good place to raise your family. There are not many times in the state I have been worried about my safety. Heck we dont lock our doors when we leave the house, I'm not too worried about locking my car unless I'm at a busy mall or store. There are a lot worse places to live than Iowa.

[jtd9046]

While the schools are ranked in the exact order of their preparedness, we have given the participants grades of A, B or C.

We realize that each campus is different and that its security needs are unique. Therefore, we believe it is fairer to say that certain schools are excelling in the safety arena; others are doing a good job, and some would benefit by putting more resources into campus safety and security.

From the article.

[scottie33]

If you've ever been to hooters and read their moist towelettes sayings there is one that says "57.3% of statistics are made up" Kind of makes me laugh at this.