Violent Crime on College Campus

“One out of five women will be a victim of violence before graduating from college.”

So says the U.S. Department of Justice. Just in the past month or so, these crimes have been making national press as even our President is speaking out on these crimes. It is, in many ways, a national shame.

Not unlike child/teen molestation, we entrust the safety of our sons and daughters to certain institutions. However, that trust is often being betrayed by some of those same institutions of higher learning who would much rather hide such violence, write-off such violence, or (worse) intimidate victims of such violence into silence.

I had a former campus security chief, now retired, tell me about how the university he worked for told him “if it doesn’t happen on the campus-proper, it didn’t happen on campus at all.” He used the illustration that if a guy or girl were attacked right across the street from the campus property, he was not to file a report to therefore potentially alert other students? The response came back “no”. Why? Because such reports become a matter of disclosure if prospective parents “ask for” such reports from the campus where their son or daughter is thinking of attending.

Yet another tactic of non-disclosure we see in the practice of many college/university “on-campus tribunals.” Yes, that sounds very nice, very academic, but it has also been used to hide many occurrences of crime and violence that SHOULD have been reported to the local, off-campus police department. The “spin” usually comes in either the verbiage of “we don’t need to ‘bother’ the local police with everything that goes on here, as we can try and discipline these things for ourselves within the confines of the campus”, or “we would not want to ruin the lives of a young man or woman who simply committed an act of ‘poor judgement’.” I think of one such case where this was the rationale for a star campus athlete who killed his former girlfriend with his bare hands. He had been before the “campus tribunal” on several occasions for physical violence against her and other students, but not ONCE been before the police.

Violent crime on college campus is not going away. In fact, I honestly believe it will continue to increase due to the ever-present dynamic of drugs, alcohol, and testosterone. Add to this the frustration and anger should certain government academic funding be cut to students in-need, and parents have true cause for concern.

It is incumbent upon parents to either educate their sons and daughters or have someone else prepare them for what potentially lies ahead, especially in light of that U.S. Department of Justice statistic noted above. We are no longer talking “possibility”, but “probability”. And considering the investment of tens of thousands of dollars most parents are contributing to the education of their son/daughter, the question arises, “What are you willing to ‘invest’ to protect your investment?”

Trouble Spotters offers a program specifically designed for H.S. senior girls (and their mothers), a two-hour seminar in developing and/or enhancing critical thinking skills. For more information, contact one of our licensed instructors.

Jeff McKissack, Founder
Trouble Spotters