Spring Break
Survey shows crime is visible, but students feel safe
Jim Rand/Crime on Campus
Issue date: 12/4/01 Section: News
Even though one in three UConn undergraduates has experienced or witnessed a crime on campus, students overwhelmingly feel safe, a new survey shows.
The survey of 690 undergraduates by journalism students found that nine of 10 students feel very safe or somewhat safe on campus, with more than a third responding "very safe."
But half of women feel unsafe walking alone on campus at night. Asked how they feel walking after dark, 13 percent of women said "very unsafe," while 36 percent said "somewhat unsafe." At the same time, only 37 percent of women have used Husky Watch, the service that escorts students around campus after dark. Men and women responded similarly to almost all other safety questions in the survey.
Students said that the most common crimes they had experienced or witnessed were vandalism, threatening, and assaults.
The survey was administered to randomly chosen classes between Nov. 1 and Nov. 14, with assistance from the Center for Survey Research and Analysis at UConn. Students were asked 35 questions on a range of topics, including dorm security, students' sense of safety, Spring Weekend, security provided by UConn police, and the effectiveness of special security measures on campus. Nearly the same number of men and women responded. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.7 percent.
More than 40 percent of students who bring cars to campus feel very unsafe or somewhat unsafe about leaving their cars, the survey shows.
Students' perceived sense of personal safety might explain why more than 55 percent of resident students said they have propped open the entrance to their dormitory. Nearly nine of every 10 said they have seen someone prop open a dorm entrance and more than half of the people surveyed saw strangers enter the building because of a propped door.
Four of five students say they have participated in drinking activities during Spring Weekend, about 37 percent of them "frequently." The level of police security at Spring Weekend events is "appropriate," said 54 percent of students, with most of the rest saying there is too much or slightly too much police security during the traditional weekend of partying.
In response to the riots during Spring Weekend 1998, the university amended the student conduct code to make it possible to prosecute off-campus offenses. A 59 percent majority did not know about the revised code. Of those, 56 percent oppose the measure, 32 percent support it, and 12 percent don't care.
Seventy percent of respondents feel that the UConn Police Department provides very high or moderately high security. And three in five people who called the police report the response time as within a half-hour.
Students who have been on campus for four semesters or less aren't as aware of safety devices as upperclassmen and are less likely to use safety programs on campus. Only 35 percent said they knew special lighting has been installed around campus in the last three years, and only one out of five had used Husky Watch. Among upperclassmen, 36 percent had used Husky Watch.
The survey of 690 undergraduates by journalism students found that nine of 10 students feel very safe or somewhat safe on campus, with more than a third responding "very safe."
But half of women feel unsafe walking alone on campus at night. Asked how they feel walking after dark, 13 percent of women said "very unsafe," while 36 percent said "somewhat unsafe." At the same time, only 37 percent of women have used Husky Watch, the service that escorts students around campus after dark. Men and women responded similarly to almost all other safety questions in the survey.
Students said that the most common crimes they had experienced or witnessed were vandalism, threatening, and assaults.
The survey was administered to randomly chosen classes between Nov. 1 and Nov. 14, with assistance from the Center for Survey Research and Analysis at UConn. Students were asked 35 questions on a range of topics, including dorm security, students' sense of safety, Spring Weekend, security provided by UConn police, and the effectiveness of special security measures on campus. Nearly the same number of men and women responded. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.7 percent.
More than 40 percent of students who bring cars to campus feel very unsafe or somewhat unsafe about leaving their cars, the survey shows.
Students' perceived sense of personal safety might explain why more than 55 percent of resident students said they have propped open the entrance to their dormitory. Nearly nine of every 10 said they have seen someone prop open a dorm entrance and more than half of the people surveyed saw strangers enter the building because of a propped door.
Four of five students say they have participated in drinking activities during Spring Weekend, about 37 percent of them "frequently." The level of police security at Spring Weekend events is "appropriate," said 54 percent of students, with most of the rest saying there is too much or slightly too much police security during the traditional weekend of partying.
In response to the riots during Spring Weekend 1998, the university amended the student conduct code to make it possible to prosecute off-campus offenses. A 59 percent majority did not know about the revised code. Of those, 56 percent oppose the measure, 32 percent support it, and 12 percent don't care.
Seventy percent of respondents feel that the UConn Police Department provides very high or moderately high security. And three in five people who called the police report the response time as within a half-hour.
Students who have been on campus for four semesters or less aren't as aware of safety devices as upperclassmen and are less likely to use safety programs on campus. Only 35 percent said they knew special lighting has been installed around campus in the last three years, and only one out of five had used Husky Watch. Among upperclassmen, 36 percent had used Husky Watch.