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Some Local Colleges Score High on List of Dangerous Campuses

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RALEIGH — We all want to make sure our sons and daughters are safe when we send them off to college. Now, there is aWeb sitethat lists dangerous campuses around the country, and several local colleges scored high on the list.

Campus safety studies usually only look at crimes that happen on school property. The new study factors in crime on and around campus.

Shaw Universitysits on the southern edge of downtown Raleigh, and that is a factor in the school's alarming score.

Shaw students are talking about the school's ranking as the 15th most dangerous college in the country.

Many say they feel safe on campus but not in the neighborhoods nearby.

"I've heard about somebody getting shot in the face, in the jaw, just down the street. I had my roommate get robbed at gunpoint with a 12 gauge (shotgun)," said student Stephanie Harris.

Other colleges in Raleigh did not score well either.N.C. Stateis rated 112th out of nearly 1,500 schools. NearbyMeredith Collegecomes in at 120 on the most dangerous list.

Elsewhere in the Triangle, theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hillearned the best score coming in at 910.

In Durham,North Carolina Central Universityis ranked 237th. Roslynne Tann was assaulted last March on campus by a woman who does not attend school there.

"She cut my face, and she cut my arm. I ended up with 50 stitches, and campus police were nowhere to be found," said Tann.

Some Central students believe the neighborhoods surrounding campus make them targets for crime.

"Sitting in this general area, we're pretty much surrounded by projects in every direction," said student Derrick Paige.

AtDuke University, students say they feel safe on the sprawling campus. Duke ranked 426th out of 1,500 schools.

"I feel like the police are around a lot, and there are so many people around. I don't feel unsafe at all," said student Caroline Rosenberg.

Shaw University issued a statement that said administrators do not agree with the findings or the methodology of the study, and that the study attempts to rate the risk of crime in the surrounding areas instead of counting crime on the campus itself.

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