SALT LAKE CITY — Parents and their college students wanting to avoid dangers they may find on campus should look at the school’s safety reports online, pay attention to the security briefing at student orientation and ask lots of questions. But even with lots of precautions, staying safe is an ongoing process, say campus safety experts.
A spate of high-profile sexual assaults and violent incidents in the past several years have captured the national spotlight, putting campus safety on parents' and students' minds and how to improve it on institutional agendas.
Congress first declared September as National Campus Safety Awareness Month in 2008. It makes sense, as America’s 4,000-plus colleges and universities fill up with students and a new school year begins. Students who arrive on campus to further their education may find that college can be a surprisingly risky place.
But colleges and students do a lot to limit risk. Students who pay attention will find strategies and partners in the push to make higher education safe.
University of Utah student Cassi Mecham works on a class project in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. Mecham is a 22-year-old senior and graphic design major. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
Senior Cassi Mecham didn't pick the University of Utah with safety in mind, but she does think about it when she gets a campus alert or when she has a night class that gets out late and she has to walk to her car or to the commuter train. Mecham, 22, a graphic design major, counts on the U. to keep her safe, but she also takes precautions, from walking across darker parts of the campus with friends she makes in those late classes to being especially aware of her surroundings and who else is there.
"If something seems wrong, I try to take care of it upfront," she said. "If I start feeling uncomfortable, I get away from there as fast as possible." She said she avoids parties and the risks associated with them, too.
Campus safety requires a student/university partnership, said Barbara Snyder, vice president for student affairs at the University of Utah. “I think it’s a delicate balance between an individual being responsible for personal safety and the (university) doing everything possible to improve safety.”
Snyder co-chairs the U.’s safety assessment task force. “No campus can guarantee that its students will be safe all the time. Colleges and universities are not immune from the crimes that exist in the general public. We encourage free speech and we encourage people to be here. Sometimes, there are people who arrive that we can’t plan for. But to the extent we can, we do.”
University of Utah student Cassi Mecham walks on campus in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. Mecham is a 22-year-old senior and graphic design major.| Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
Danger up ahead
Some safety challenges, including theft and sexual assault, have been around as long as campuses have existed. Others arrived with innovation, including online vulnerability, said Todd Hollingshead, a spokesman for Brigham Young University. “Our students use technology more than any generation before them, and with that comes new and serious safety challenges.” He said students may place their trust in someone they’ve never met based on virtual interactions. That can set them up for predatory relationships.
A student’s trusting nature can pose other risks, too. Hollingshead’s list includes theft — the most common crime on campuses — such as not locking up a bike or leaving a laptop in an open area while going to the restroom. It can also lead to personal danger, including leaving doors unlocked and not being aware of surroundings.
Safety experts say sexual assault and suicide are the most common forms of physical harm at college, and knowing where to get help or how to prevent them is important.
Robin Hattersley-Gray, executive editor of Campus Safety Magazine and author of "Parent's Guide to Keeping Your Child Safe at College." She has a list of questions to ask schools and to review with campus-bound kids.
To her, the biggest campus safety issues are sexual assault, at-risk drinking and mental health issues. Some colleges don't do a good job of addressing suicide risk or encouraging students to report when they've been sexually assaulted, she said.
In fact, nationally there are more than 300 Title IX open investigations into how sexual assault allegations have been handled by colleges. In Utah, six colleges have or recently had an active investigation: Brigham Young University, Dixie State College, University of Utah, Utah State University, Utah Valley University and Westminster College.
Hattersley-Gray sees other needs, too, from effective training so students can intervene appropriately when a friend is in peril to recognizing the dangers of at-risk drinking and drug use. Many serious incidents involve alcohol and/or drug use, by victims or by the perpetrator. And a victim may knowingly or unknowingly consume something in a drink, she warned.
Identity theft is also common as students begin to get credit cards, said Sue Riseling, executive director of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators. Students find themselves surrounded by people they have not known for long. “Just because they seem nice and friendly doesn’t necessarily mean they’re your friends,” she said. “I tell students to be careful how they trust or get to know different people.”
It's not hard to determine if a college takes safety seriously, said Hattersley-Gray. Asking whom the top public safety person on campus reports to answers the question. If it’s to a facility manager or low-level administrator, that’s a sign safety is not a high priority. When the safety czar reports to the president or vice president, the issue is being taken seriously.
She warned that a school may be good at some aspects of student safety and not others. “It is the nature of humans; we can only absorb so many things. You can’t protect against every risk and vulnerability,” she said.
University of Utah student Cassi Mecham walks on campus in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. Mecham is a 22-year-old senior and graphic design major. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
Spotting dangers
The Rape Abuse Incest National Network says as many as 23 percent of female undergraduate students and more than 5 percent of males experience rape or sexual assault. Ages 18-24 are very vulnerable, whether the young people are on campuses or not.
David Nance cites the network's statistics that show the number of college-age females who are sexually assaulted is about four times higher than other age groups. He is CEO of SABRE, a family business that makes pepper spray and other safety items. SABRE also teaches safety, including proper use of products.
He said 65 percent of sexual assaults occur in dorms, apartments, sorority or fraternity houses or at a friend’s place — and students are particularly at risk in their first months at school. Their guard is down, they may be on their own for the first time and they may not fully understand potential dangers. Besides learning what help and protection is available, they need to know how to help themselves.
Aaron Thorup, Rape Abuse Incest National Network
Under a law called the Clery Act, every U.S. college and university publishes its security report, which is posted on the school's website. The act has been around since the early 1990s and was named for Jeanne Clery, a Lehigh University student murdered in her dorm in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 1986.
Under the act, colleges provide hard numbers on campus-related crimes, as well as an overview of campus security policy. The law includes a daily crime log, emergency notifications and more. It has been tweaked to reflect new events: For instance, after 32 students were killed at Virginia Tech in 2007, Congress changed the law to require colleges to immediately tell students and families of imminent threats on campus, sparking notification by text, email, phone and web messages. Mecham is among the thousands of students who get alerts when danger is nearby, and she pays close attention to them, she said.
University of Utah student Cassi Mecham walks through the library on campus in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. Mecham is a 22-year-old senior and graphic design major. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
Sexual violence reporting is mandated, the colleges required to treat those reporting sexual violence with respect and schools to investigate and deal with the issue.
“For 25 years, the Jeanne Clery Act has been at the forefront of a national dialogue on campus and a driver of improvements made across the board,” wrote S. Daniel Carter, president of Safety Advisors for Educational Campuses, in an article for Campus Safety Magazine. “Because of this law, campus public safety is better resourced and safety communications are significantly faster and more transparent.”
Earlier this month, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos said changes are coming to what she calls a flawed system. She expressed concern that the rights of those accused of sexual assault might not be as well protected as they should be since the Obama administration in 2011 issued what’s been called the “Dear Colleague Letter” spelling out guidance on handling reports of sexual violence.
"Every survivor of sexual misconduct must be taken seriously. Every student accused of sexual misconduct must know that guilt is not predetermined. These are nonnegotiable principles," DeVos said during her speech at George Mason University on Sept. 7.
Critics have said steps DeVos takes — none of which have been announced — could have a chilling effect on reporting of sexual assault and could wind back progress in making campuses safer. Proponents say changes would go a long way toward preventing unjust action against people who might be wrongly accused of sexual violence.
Riseling noted that campuses that report higher numbers of sexual assaults may not have more than other universities. “It usually means people there feel comfortable coming forward and talking about being a victim,” she said. Some universities run awareness campaigns to encourage reporting, like the “Tell Us” campaign University of Wisconsin, Madison ran a couple of years ago.
No matter what the number is, it’s probably low compared with reality, said Riseling. “One is too many. The numbers are not as relevant as the problem that needs to resolve. But everybody wants to chase the numbers all over the place.”
University of Utah student Cassi Mecham walks on campus in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. Mecham is a 22-year-old senior and graphic design major. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
Learning what works
At BYU, the U. and most other universities, students and often their parents attend mandatory orientation that usually includes a look at crime prevention and campus safety resources.
Those aren’t the only safety presentations. For example, BYU holds seminars in school housing to address safety in great depth each semester. The Title IX office hosts events on sexual misconduct, including “what healthy relationships look like,” Hollingshead said.
Mike Dorn, executive director of Safe Havens International, a school safety nonprofit, said perception of safety is not always reliable. For instance, homicide is way down, but perception is that it has gone up.
He warns that groups use “highly questionable data” to sell products or safety training, including “fear-based programs” that claim to address gun safety or active shooter situations, which is a situation colleges increasingly tackle. Experts say while preparedness is good, active shooters are much less common than suicides or sexual assaults, which may not get the same attention.
Dorn says gun issues have become polarized and people on both sides are willing to use bad data to fit political agendas. They create a “disturbing picture that causes a great deal of fear” without increasing safety.
Teaching what to do in the face of terrorism or an active shooter matters, he said, but efforts should also address common problems. “We have X amount to make a school safer. Let’s take a portion and work on evidence-based approaches to suicide prevention.” Having medical devices like AEDs and pens that inject Naloxone to prevent heroin overdoses make schools safer, too. Dorn believes the Stop the Bleed campaign teaching how to control severe bleeding is more likely to be needed on the average campus than terrorist training.
While safety briefings have gotten very good at most schools, Dorn said, if you don’t go or don’t pay attention, they can’t save you.
What’s new
Dixie State University in St. George has been beefing up its security measures — as have campuses nationwide, in response to the increased attention on safety and perceived safety gaps. Dixie is among schools that have just added more security cameras and other tools, and it is slowly growing its campus police force.
Regardless of a college’s size, school officials all recognize that students are essential to reducing crime by being alert, protecting themselves and their property and helping each other do those things, too.
“I think Dixie State University is a very, very safe campus,” Peter Gitau, vice president of student affairs, recently told the campus newspaper. “We just want to let new students know that a big chunk of that safety depends on you. There are crimes of opportunity that can be easily decreased if we take measures to protect ourselves.”
The U. and BYU both introduced new courses to improve safety. The U. offers EverFi’s Haven online sexual assault awareness course. Starting in fall 2018, all students must complete it to register for classes.
Hollingshead said BYU just started a University Foundations course that requires students to get to know what resources are available to them. “While many of the things we do are not new, we are constantly working to improve our safety sessions and events to be more effective and to resonate more clearly with students,” he said. Hollingshead said officials speak more boldly and directly about dangers like sexual assault.
In May 2016, BYU President Kevin J Worthen organized the Advisory Council on Campus Response to Sexual Assault to identify changes the university should make to eliminate sexual assault on campus and improve the reporting process for victims of sexual assault. It published its findings last October. Recommendations included conducting a campus climate survey, Hollingshead said.
BYU is updating its Sexual Misconduct Policy to include information on its new victim advocate, confidential resources, amnesty and other efforts aimed at safety, he said.
Snyder said she believes reporting of sexual assault at the U. has improved as individuals “become more aware and more comfortable they will get the support they need and the justice they deserve.”
U. President David Pershing assembled his safety task force at the end of 2016 to make sure the school was doing all it could to promote safety. The group has made recommendations on prevention, physical improvements like lighting, increased safety-related support staffing and training for students, faculty and staff. One of the big recommendations will be reality in a couple of weeks: a comprehensive safety website where students can find everything from where to report problems to arranging an escort across campus. The U. has hired more public safety officers and added more support in its wellness center and counseling center.
Campuses learn from each other, Snyder noted, incorporating the best practices they find elsewhere into their own plans. When the U. task force started talking about a comprehensive safety website, the group looked at Clemson University and Ohio State University, for example.
Among campus safety tips:
• Snyder said the U. encourages students to take a photo of spots that feel unsafe and report them to campus public safety.
• Nearly every campus offers a security escort or safe ride. Know how those services work.
• If you choose personal safety tools such as an alarm, pepper spray or self-defense, know how to use them. “Fine motor skills can be jeopardized under stress,” Nance warned.
• Many safety steps are very simple, such as stepping aside like you're making a phone call when someone follows you to a dorm to see if they can get in. If a door’s propped open, shut it. When you sleep, lock your door.
• Get to know your dorm director and resident assistants.
• At social gatherings, keep your drink with you or dump it. Don’t take a beverage from someone you don’t know. Someone can slip something into any drink — not just an alcoholic beverage.
• Most schools offer self-defense training. At Ohio State, for example, Rape Aggression Defense training is free for all Ohio females 14 and up.
• Some rules of civilized interaction don’t apply with strangers. You don’t have to respond. You can be rude if you need to. It’s also OK to lie. And you don’t have to help someone, but you can certainly call for help for them when you’re safely away.
RAINN has its own list designed to combat sexual assault. Among the tips: Know local resources, from police to campus health. Program the campus security number into your phone. Don’t broadcast your location; consider disabling that feature on social media. Have a backup plan for bad situations, and make people earn your trust.