When colleges do surveys to find out what parents look for in a college, personal safety always comes out very near the top of the list. At informational sessions, parents want to know how campus security personnel keep nonstudents off campus, how the dorms are secured against unwanted visitors, how the pedestrian paths are lighted, and how the campus is routinely patrolled. They want the statistics on campus violence, robberies, rapes, and brawls. They try to help their children choose a college that cares about their safety.
But even when a campus appears secure and safe, as in life anywhere else on earth, there is always a risk of danger, and all college students know this. The attack on fellow students at Columbine High School in 1999 made random and senseless acts of violence a very real part of their world. The terrorist attacks of 9/11 further obliterated any pretense of living safe and sound. Intense media coverage of these kinds of violent events hammers home the reality that the world is a violent and an unpredictable place. And colleges across the country are not immune to the ripple effect of these fears. There's no doubt that this social climate in which our children live makes it all the more difficult for them to accomplish the developmental task of moving from dependent childhood to independent adulthood.
Fears common among college students discussed in this article include campus violence, and post-9/11 terror.
Campus Violence
Today's students know that the college campus is no longer a refuge from harm. Firsthand experience with crime on campus and the national news coverage of problems on campuses around the country quickly shatter the myth of invulnerability among this age group. In addition to common dorm room robberies and fistfights, news headlines of campus murders and assaults in 2002"2003 alone make them very aware of the latest campus tragedies"for example:
"College Shooting Spree." In October 2003, Jeffrey Wilinski was arrested and charged with a bizarre plot to massacre students inside the computer science building at the University of Maryland. His threats had been communicated on the phone and through the mail.
"Fraternity Brawl Results in Critical Injuries." In October 2003, two Rutgers University students in New Jersey were critically injured at an off-campus brawl that involved members of a Rutgers fraternity, a social club, and some members of the school's wrestling team.
"Graduate Nabbed in Case Western Shooting." In May 2003 at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, a graduate student armed with two high-powered handguns killed one person and wounded two others, while holding police at bay for seven hours. During the rampage, ninety-three people were trapped inside the building, hiding in offices, classrooms, and closets.
"Student Slain in College Shooting." In April 2003 at Louisiana Technical College, Terome Silvie was shot to death by a fellow student while sitting in an electronics class. Another student in the class was wounded in the leg.
"Three Professors Killed at University of Arizona." In October 2002, students taking a midterm exam at the University of Arizona College of Nursing watched fellow student Robert Flores shoot and kill two professors after being barred from taking the test. Another professor was found dead in her office on another floor of the building. Flores then killed himself.
"Catawba College Shooting." In January 2002, a cross-city rivalry in North Carolina turned deadly when a Livingston College student fired a bullet into the chest of a Catawba college student. This murder rocked a town still reeling from the random shooting of faculty member Dr. Randle Frink two weeks earlier and a fatal campus fire earlier in the year.
"Two Die in Community College Shooting." In January 2002, word about a murder-suicide quickly spread around Broward Community College in Florida. The two young students were found dead on the path between the college's performing arts building and the English Department offices.
Fortunately, despite these headlines, violent incidents like these are rare given the hundreds of thousands of students on college campuses each day, and so it is unlikely that your child spends her days worrying that she will be shot down as she walks to class. But every time there is a campus tragedy like these, the ripple effect touches thousands of college students and makes them feel insecure and vulnerable, even if only momentarily. They suddenly see the frailty of life and the random nature of death. This realization that the college campus is not protected from life's horrors adds to their already heavy burden of maturation.
Additional Resources
For more information on how to prevent and respond to crime on campus, log onto this Web site: National Center for Victims of Crime, www.ncvc.org.
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From College of the Overwhelmed: The Campus Mental Health Crisis and What To Do About It Copyright © 2004 by Richard Kadison and Theresa Foy DiGeronimo. All Rights Reserved. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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