Friday, August 29, 2008

Reconsider drinking age?

From The Daily Texan

The UT Vice President's Council recommended by unanimous decision Thursday that President William Powers not sign a controversial statement by university presidents from across the country calling for a reconsideration of the legal drinking age.

The Amethyst Initiative, led by former Middlebury College President John McCardell, is supported by 129 university and college presidents who agree that a culture of clandestine binge-drinking has formed on college campuses because "21 is not working."

The initiative's statement, written by McCardell, stops short of spelling out a desired policy, but urges elected officials to support a civil debate on the current drinking age.

Powers learned of the initiative days before the statement was released Aug. 20 and said he would consult with the University's vice presidents before deciding whether to sign on.

Vice President for Student Affairs Juan Gonzales said he made it clear to the other vice presidents that the initiative was not intended to prescribe a particular policy solution but to start a conversation on university campuses. He said the council based its decision on existing research linking a rise in the legal drinking age to a drop in alcohol-related deaths.

Gonzales said legislators ultimately are responsible for leading discussion on matters of policy.

"This is a matter of public policy, and there are elected representatives that are responsible for creating and voting on public policy," Gonzales said.

Student Government spokeswoman Chelsea Fosse said SG representatives have not decided whether to take a stance on the initiative.

Fosse is a member of the Alcohol Task Force, a working group composed of representatives from across UT considering issues related to alcohol abuse on campus. The task force expects to make recommendations to Vice President Gonzales on how to improve the University's policies on alcohol abuse sometime during the upcoming academic year.

Formed in 2007, the task force is still in an information-gathering stage, but Fosse said she hoped the recommendations would emphasize a more proactive approach to alcohol abuse. She said such an approach could involve a campus administrator advising student organizations on how to address alcohol use.

"The most important thing is making it not just a retroactive disciplinary policy on alcohol but something that's proactive and embraces whatever the organization's culture is," Fosse sai

Thursday, August 28, 2008

UCrime to cover K-State

Colin Drane of UCrime.com called this morning to say that K-State would within a few days be included on the UCrime.com database. I appreciate his interest and it sounds as if his organization is keenly tuned to the market place. That's something we don't always see at the institutional level.

Survival training

From the AP:

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Hundreds of colleges across the nation have purchased a training program that teaches professors and students not to take campus threats lying down but to fight back with any "improvised weapon," from a backpack to a laptop computer.

The program—which includes a video showing a gunman opening fire in a packed classroom—urges them to be ready to respond to a shooter by taking advantage of the inherent strength in numbers.

It reflects a new response at colleges and universities where grisly memories of the campus shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University are still fresh.

"Look at your environment through the lens of survival," said Domenick Brouillette, who administered the course at Metropolitan Community College, which serves more than 20,000 students. "Survivors prepare themselves both mentally and emotionally to do what it takes. It might involve life-threatening risk. You may do something you never thought you were capable of doing."

Nearly 300 professors at Metropolitan Community College were shown the video as part of a training exercise before the first day of classes on this downtown campus. The training, produced by the Center for Personal Protection and Safety, a for-profit firm based in Spokane, Wash., is also available for the school's students.

The training drills teachers and students in a "survival mindset," said Randy Spivey, a former U.S. Department of Defense hostage negotiator who is executive director of the center. The center's roster includes retired FBI agents and others with federal law enforcement experience.

"There are two extremes. On the one hand is paranoia, and on the other is oblivion," he said. "We're just trying to get people to keep this on their radar."

The training discourages cowering in a corner or huddling together in fear, Brouillette emphasized at the Kansas City session.

Instead, Metropolitan Community College faculty members were taught to be aware of their surroundings and to think of common classroom objects—such as laptops and backpacks—as "improvised weapons."

The program has been bought by nearly 500 colleges, which tailor the company's safety messages—laid out in instructional videos and other training guides—to craft localized violence prevention programs. Spivey expects that by year's end that number will have grown to about 1,000 schools.

Schools may provide the training to students as well as staff, as at Metropolitan, or limit it to instructors or security personnel.

Campus safety experts interviewed by The Associated Press said they are not aware of any similar survival training courses marketed specifically to college campuses.

"It's a dark subject," Brouillette said. "But we can't say 'It's never going to happen again.' It's 'When is it going to happen?' And we have to be prepared to survive that."

The sort of aggressive survival response cited by Brouillette troubles school violence researcher Loren Coleman, a retired University of Southern Maine professor.

Showing students violent images of school shootings could trigger post-traumatic stress or other reactions that resident advisers, graduate assistants and similarly untrained workers would be unequipped to handle, Coleman said.

And the techniques shown in instructional videos such as "Shots Fired" could provide inspiration for troubled students considering their own acts of violence, Coleman suggested.

"You more or less are giving them a blueprint for how to avoid law enforcement," he said.

At the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, officials are looking for ways to incorporate the training as part of the school's "Alert Carolina" program. Campus police chief Jeff McCracken said the school may offer hands-on training to students and faculty, or simply post a link on the university Web site.

Despite the relative rarity of deadly violence on campus, colleges can no longer assume that they are immune from such problems, McCracken said.

"I do think it's important that we talk to our folks and give them some guidance on how to protect themselves and others," he said. "It's not something that 10 years ago we thought we'd be talking about. But unfortunately, it's something we need to do now."

Todd Bowdish, a Metropolitan Community College life sciences professor who participated in the recent training session, agreed that today's classroom climate requires extreme caution.

"It's a really basic thing," Bowdish said. "We have drills for fires and tornadoes. This is just another tool for the toolbox."

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

MU freshman held in case

From the Maneater today: An excerpt:

A man who was arrested after police found his mother's body in the trunk of his car and his younger brother, who was also detained by police, were both taking classes at MU.

Police pulled over MU freshman Daniel Sanders, 19, on Aug. 14 in response to multiple complaints his car had been swerving and driving without headlights, Columbia Police Capt. Brad Nelson said. While searching the vehicle, police found a body wrapped in a blanket in the trunk of his Mercury Marquis, Nelson said.

The body was identified as Helen Sanders, his mother. The car was also registered to her, Nelson said.

Daniel Sanders was unwilling to cooperate with initial inquiries regarding the body, Nelson said.

"He refused to answer any questions about the body in the trunk," he said.

Daniel Sanders' younger brother Gary Sanders, 16, who takes classes at MU, was detained in their home on Melrose Drive.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

UCrime gets more press

Here is coverage from the Seattle PI about UCrime.com.

Seattle's University District is peppered with fists, robbers and handcuffs, according to a recently-launched Web site that tracks crime near college campuses around the country.
That's code for assaults, burglaries and arrests. Take a look at the map produced by UCrime.com, which tracks police data to for a comprehensive look at criminal activity near more than 100 schools.

TK: As I'm seeing the stats, K-State and Baylor are the only Big 12 schools not on this system. Why aren't Baylor and K-State on board? A good question for our student newspapers.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Rape report - Residence hall

From the offices of the KSU Police Department:


Rape report: The Kansas State University Police Department is investigating a rape which, occurred in a resident hall on August 22, 2008. The suspect was known to the victim. The case is still under investigation.

Captain Donald Stubbings

Support Services Commander

Kansas State University Police Department

108 Edwards Hall

Manhattan, KS 66506

785-532-6412

785-532-7408(fax

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Cameras worth the expense

That's the word from the University of Massachusetts. From the story:

AMHERST - While University of Massachusetts police can't say how many crimes the security cameras have prevented on campus they are a tool that is well worth the approximate $1 million spent on them.

"They have been an extremely useful tool in terms of identifying a suspect after a crime has occurred," said Deputy Chief of Administration Patrick T. Archbald.

Police Chief Barbara R. O'Connor cited a case in which there was a drug-related armed robbery in a residence hall. They sent the images out to the campus community taken from the cameras and within 24 hours they had the suspects identified and in another 24 they were arrested, she said.


She said 100 percent of the time the university has posted suspects' images, they have identified them - irrefutable proof of how well they work. "The reality of today's society, it's an accepted part of the culture," O'Connor said.

University officials are just finishing up the installation of 60 additional security cameras bringing the total to more than 500 placed in residence halls, dining commons and other buildings as part of a campus safety program initiated in 2000. Overall, the estimated cost of the project for UMass Amherst Housing Services is about $1.1 million.

"We think it's been an outstanding investment. That's why we're encouraging their use in residence halls and expansion in academic buildings," Archbald said.

Cameras are not in rooms, he pointed out. And he said with so many, police aren't riveted to watching monitors constantly so people don't have to worry about privacy infringement.

But he said it's important that the cameras are being placed in academic buildings. O'Connor said cameras are in the entrances and exits of residences and other buildings but not on the dorm floors.

Archbald praised the UMass community at large for addressing the issue. The university is "thinking about security needs before the buildings are designed. We're part of the process."

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Off campus conduct

Universities are seeking to control off campus conduct. From the AP.

Ah, life in the university district. Cheap ethnic food. Vibrant street life. Fresh-faced students whizzing by on bicycles.

People who choose to live on the beautiful tree-lined streets surrounding the nation's institutions of higher learning often get a more vibrant experience than they expected — loud parties, rundown student boarding houses and trash generated by weekend melees.

A growing number of universities are starting to take a more proactive approach to monitoring off-campus behavior and neighbors say the efforts are working.

The University of Washington now enforces its campus behavior code off campus as well. A student doesn't need to be charged with a violent crime to activate the campus code at this Seattle university. Being cited for breaking the city's noise regulations is enough to score an invite to the student conduct office.

Architecture professor Earl Bell, who bought a house in the University Park neighborhood 40 years ago, says he has discovered that there's a fine line between convenient and too close.

"We've all got a kind of love-hate relationship with the University of Washington," said Bell, acknowledging that he and his neighbors have noticed a slight improvement lately.

The University of Colorado-Boulder and Penn State also are taking a broader view of offenses that can activate the campus discipline system. In Colorado, the code regulates any conduct that "affects the health, safety or security of any member of the university community or the mission of the university."

Since most college students live off campus, colleges that want to be on top of discipline need to extend their reach beyond their own real estate.

To some, this may sound like an overreaching of university authority; to others, it's a teachable moment.

"We have a responsibility to educate our students about being responsible citizens," said Elizabeth A. Higgins, Washington's director of community standards and student conduct, whose office has "educated" 19 students since the extended code of conduct took effect in January.

The legal ramifications of these policies are not entirely known, said Sheldon Steinbach, a lawyer with the American Council on Education, representing the president's office at 1,800 colleges and universities.

"I fully anticipate a judicial challenges over time," said Steinbach.

Penn State's rules are similar to those at the University of Washington, but as university spokesman Bill Mahon points out, he has to first hear about a student behaving badly. Some local police departments work closely with campus authorities, passing along arrest information; others do not.

For example, if a Penn State student breaks the rules over the weekend in State College Borough, the university would probably hear about it on Monday morning, but the same violation in another town would go unnoticed.

"It's an imperfect system," Mahon said.

University of Washington police work with Seattle officers to patrol the area north of campus thick with off-campus housing including fraternities and sororities. Boston College goes further by sending a college official off campus to look for parties and students breaking the law.

An assistant dean of students at Seattle University does something similar via the Internet. A number of parties were shut down this past year after Glen Butterworth spied a page on Facebook publicizing the events. The private university has put its students on notice that cyber-patrolling will continue this year.

The University of Minnesota's campus code is more typical: It is only applied off campus during melees that happen around a campus event. Ohio State University applies its code off campus in cases of assault, drug dealing and major incidents that affect safety on campus.

In New Jersey, Rutgers University polices off-campus behavior only when campus officials have reasonable grounds to believe a student could be dangerous, said university spokeswoman Sandra Lanman. Typically, that means a pending criminal charge relating to a violent crime.

Some universities take their discipline policies a step further. At Duke University, the campus code requires students to report misbehavior by their fellow students to campus officials, no matter where the students find themselves.

In a rural setting, where a university can dominate the community, responsible behavior is much easier to enforce, said Elaine Voss, director of the office of student conduct at Washington State University in rural Pullman, Wash.

A 1998 riot along Greek row and Washington State's national reputation as a "party school" led the university to start taking a more proactive approach to curbing off-campus behavior.

The student code was revised to make the same rules apply to both on- and off-campus behavior. A staff member checks the local police log every day. Campus police forward their log to Higgins' office. Her staff does a lot of on- and off-campus education about alcohol abuse, personal safety and university expectations, including a three-day intensive freshman orientation.

"I think we've made huge strides in calming the place," Voss said.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Educate about drinking dangers

From The Des Moines Register:


In his July 29 column, “Alcohol plays a big role in campus crime,” Marc Hansen discussed the role of alcohol in campus crime. It has been well established that alcohol lowers inhibitions, leading to unintended consequences. 90 percent of all campus rapes occur when alcohol has been used by either the assailant or the victim.

Four in ten criminal offenders report alcohol as a factor in violence. Alcohol abuse also contributes to unplanned pregnancies, with 33 percent of 14- to 21- year-old mothers reporting they were drinking when they had sex and failed to properly use birth control. Finally, students spend $5.5 billion on alcohol each year — more than they spend on soft drinks, tea, milk, juice, coffee and books combined.

These statistics are alarming, and Employee & Family Resources applauds the Register for acknowledging the potential consequences of high-risk drinking on college campuses.

It is possible to learn to drink responsibly as an adult without having risked so much as a minor. As a community, we can help reduce the negative effects of alcohol by supporting environmental changes that reduce access to alcohol, offer alcohol education for young people and hold students accountable for harms they cause to themselves and others while under the influence.

With these changes, we can ensure safer campuses, better learning environments and successful futures for our youth.

— Davi Ellis, Substance Abuse and Violence Prevention Supervisor,
Employee & Family Resources, Des Moines

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Theft is a top concern at school

From coverage on campus security:

If you watch the commercials on TV you would think a parent's primary concern this fall is whether his or her child's dorm room has the proper decor.

But campus safety surely tops the list as a reason for some parents' sleepless nights. Click here to check stats on campuses Colleges all over have scrambled in recent years to beef up security and student alert systems. Text and voice messaging systems, emergency call boxes, a greater police presence and more seminars about safety are all pretty much standard at area colleges.

The crime that affects the most students is theft. When you look at crime stats, burglary tops the list. FBI table of crime stats on campuses

Students, for the most part, admit they are to blame.

The carefree college lifestyle and group living arrangements prompt normally smart kids to prop open doors, welcome strangers inside buildings and just leave their own belongings unattended.

"In fact, I started locking my doors cause my roommate got her laptop stolen out of her bedroom," says Rebecca Caveletti.

Jake Schnall admits his parents are a bit concerned about him living with 7 other guys in an off campus house at Ohio State, "I am going to keep my room locked so at least my stuff will be safe."

Laptops seem to be one of the more popular items being stolen.

Campus Safety bill signed by President Bush

President Bush has signed a bill to enhance campus safety. Find the full story here.

Ten years after her disappearance, Suzanne Lyall's name is back in the news in connection with a law to keep college students safer on campus.

Collins Circle on the UAlbany campus is the last place Suzanne Lyall is believed to have been seen on March 2, 1998.

It took a couple of days for police to get involved in investigating her disappearance, but a new law signed by president bush yesterday aims to keep that from happening again.

Much has changed for Doug and Mary Lyall in the more than ten years since their then 19-year old daughter Suzanne disappeared, but one thought remains -- would things have been different if police were brought into the case sooner, rather than two days later?

Now, under the Suzanne Lyall Campus Safety Act, college campuses and local law enforcement will be required to have a plan to work together and minimize confusion and delays in the case of a violent crime or disappearance.


TK: More on the bill:

President Bush signed a higher education law Thursday making several amendments to the Clery Act that will require universities to "immediately notify" students, faculty and staff about emergencies on campus.
Advocacy groups including Security on Campus escalated their push for Clery Act reforms after 32 students and employees were killed at Virginia Tech in April 2007.

Pennsylvania-based Security on Campus was founded in 1987 by Jeanne Clery's parents after her rape and murder in her residence hall. The organization helped secure the passage of the Jeanne Clery Act in 1990, which requires universities to open campus crime information, supplementing the disclosure requirements that already exist under state laws.

Thursday's changes make colleges immediately alert the campus community of a "significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or staff occurring on campus."

The amendments also require universities to test their emergency response and evacuation procedures once a year. The Education Department will be required to report annually to Congress on compliance with the Clery Act.

For student reporters covering campus crime, the most significant change broadens the requirement for colleges to report hate crime statistics. Previously under the Clery Act, colleges were required to report only a list of specified serious crimes, but hate crimes often include less serious actions like theft, assault, intimidation and vandalism, said S. Daniel Carter, senior vice president of Security on Campus. Under the new provisions, these crimes will be reported, too.

Carter said these amendments give the students and faculty the ability to protect themselves with information, which he calls the "hallmark of the Clery Act."

Another provision will protect "whistleblowers" from retaliation. University employees or crime victims will have better protection to report violations of the Clery Act.

With the new hate crime reporting requirements and the whistleblower provisions, student reporters should find a greater flow of information. More crime statistics will be available and sources will have more protection to be forthcoming, Carter said.

The Education Department must now develop and issue regulations to detail how institutions can comply with the changes, and Carter said that should happen some time next year.

International students - the values they learned in the Wild Wild West

From the Arab News, a worried opinion piece about what international students learn in the U.S.


MANY of us send our children to the US to study, with dreams that they come back with topnotch degrees. And the good news is: Most of them do.

The bad news, however, is that that’s not the only thing that they return with. They often come back with values that we find difficult to accept, views that we consider hard to swallow and a culture that we deem, at best, alien.

And, partly at least, it is our own doing. Hard as we may try to shirk responsibility, we cannot deny it is something we should have been prepared for long before seeing our kids off at the airport.

When we send them to the West we tend to forget we are transporting our little ones from a sheltered environment to a culture that is known to expose more than it hides; to a society where mores and taboos are all but nonexistent.

More to the point, we send our kids to schools where teenage pregnancy is commonplace, drug and alcohol menace is rife and deadly shootings in the campus make headlines every now and then.

As in-campus crime and violence spirals in the US, it is hardly surprising that a tiny Texas school district has decided to allow teachers and staff members to carry concealed firearms to protect themselves when classes begin this month.

David Thweatt, superintendent of the Harrold Independent School District, said that the small community of Harrold in north Texas is a 30-minute drive from the Wilbarger County Sheriff’s Office, leaving students and teachers without protection.

“When the federal government started making schools gun-free zones, that’s when all of these shootings started. Why would you put it out there that a group of people can’t defend themselves? That’s like saying ‘sic ‘em’ to a dog,” Thweatt said, arguing his case, in a story posted Friday on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s website. “The naysayers think (a shooting) won’t happen here. If something were to happen here, I’d much rather be calling a parent to tell them that their child is OK because we were able to protect them.”

Thweatt certainly makes a strong case. And if Ken Trump, a Cleveland-based school security expert who advises districts nationwide, is to be believed, Harrold is set to be the first US district to let teachers bring guns into the classroom.

THE US Congress once barred guns at schools nationwide, but the Supreme Court struck the law down, although state and local communities could adopt their own laws. By all accounts, recent shootings in the US have prompted a volley of calls for school officials to allow students and teachers to carry legally concealed weapons into classrooms.

In February this year alone, there were five cases of school shootings. The last three in quick succession — on Feb. 11, 12 and 14 — resulting in seven deaths. However, the incident at the Virginia Tech University that claimed 33 lives, including a suspected gunman, in April last year, remains the deadliest shooting rampage in US history.

A visibly shocked President George Bush then remarked: “Schools should be places of safety and sanctuary and learning. When that sanctuary is violated, the impact is felt in every American classroom and every American community.”

Apparently, the impact of that incident is felt even today in schools across the US. And though it is not clear how many of the 50 or so teachers and staff members will be armed this fall because Thweatt did not disclose that information, one thing is clear: Going to school is never going to be the same. Particularly, if other educational institutions decide to quickly follow Harrold Independent School’s lead.

However, it’s one thing for a Texas-born lad to walk into his classroom knowing that his teacher is armed with a gun just in case but quite another for our kids, who have not gone much beyond handling a butter knife, to get admitted to schools where crime and violence have reached such dizzying proportions that teachers have to carry guns — not roses!

Shafquat Ali is associate editor at Arab Ne

Carson case details from NC

The tragedy's of Eve Carson's murder at NC is documented in this story. From the piece:


But as the prosecutor has laid out the alleged events and many documents have become public, it is increasingly apparent that anyone could have been in Carson's shoes.

Although most violent crime is down in Chapel Hill, a shooting that hit so close to home sparked fear in students. Police have not increased patrols, but are attempting to educate sororities and others of off-campus dangers.

"It's obvious we've tried to increase awareness in town with this particular case," Chapel Hill Police Spokesman Lt. Kevin Gunter said.

The prosecution says that someone opened an e-mail from Carson's computer at 3:35 a.m. District Attorney Jim Woodall said the state would prove that Lawrence Lovette and Demario Atwater were walking downtown looking for someone to rob at about that time.

The defendants allegedly abducted Carson from just outside her house and drove her to the Bank of America in Chapel Hill. Her bank card was also used in several locations in Durham. They allegedly took $1,400 in all from her bank account.

The prosecutor says that Lovette shot Carson four times with a handgun and that Atwater shot her once with a sawed-off shotgun.

Security tips - protect your identity

Back to school tip from the Dallas Morning News. Protect your identity. From the story;


To protect themselves, college students should take these precautions:

•Don't post or share personal identifying information online and don't leave sensitive data exposed in your dorm room.

•Don't store personal information on your computer.

•Be careful what you carry in your backpack. Carry your wallet in your front pocket instead of in your back pocket.

"Carry as little as possible that identifies you," said Mr. Levin, former director of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs.

•Don't fill out credit-card applications at displays set up on campus because that exposes your information to a large mass of people.

"If you want to get a credit card, go to where you're banking and get a credit card," said Linda Foley, co-executive director of the Identity Theft Resource Center. "Then you know it's a legitimate source."

•Use your home address as your permanent mailing address rather than a temporary address used while in school. This will lessen the complications of multiple addresses.

Online crime map

Another report about an online crime map. Interesting that the students and parents will go outside the University information to find crime info:


A new Web site with an eye on public safety will compile and map crime statistics from places where they're not always easy to access -- college campuses.

UCrime, a Baltimore startup, launched its online services this summer with a Web site that provides maps and automated alerts for students, prospective students, parents, administrators, faculty, public safety officials, and those living near universities.


It promises to provide real-time data about the date, time, location, and type of crime on campuses.

Alerts are available to those who request them and transmit via e-mail or mobile devices. They also are available through Facebook.

The Web site compiles its information from police departments, newspapers, and other sources of public information. The maps display icons like burglars and money bags to show where theft has occurred. They illustrate arrests with handcuffs. The site also contains social networking features that allow users to comment on particular crimes.

Colin Drane, CEO of UCrime.com, said that the social networking features make UCrime.com particularly useful for students, administrators and security personnel.

"In addition to knowing what is happening where, users are empowered to provide tips and ideas to help solve crimes and improve public safety," he said in an announcement.

The Web site uses the same technology and information gathering techniques as SpotCrime.com, but its focus is on colleges and universities. SpotCrime.com provides the same information for 130 cities in the United State and the United Kingdom.

So far, the university crime reporting service offers information about 101 colleges and universities. It does not translate the crime statistics into per capita data to reflect crime rates.


TK: KU is the only university in Kansas listed on UCrime so far.



Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Playing catch up

This campus security blog went on a summer hiatus. From our page visits counter, not too many people have missed us. Look for more regular updates about campus security as the new term begins.....

campus crime - Bing News