Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

Students urge ramping up campus security; U.S. releases crime stats

  • Education
  • by Jacqueline Rabe Thomas
  • November 7, 2014
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

exploreStudent leaders at the state’s largest college system are concerned with shortcomings in security on their campuses and are calling for improvements.

“Students were concerned by the lack – or complete absence – of security personnel on their campuses,” Sarah Greco, a graduate student at Southern Connecticut State University, recently told the board that governs the four regional state universities and 12 community colleges. Greco is one of two student members of the board and a leader of its Student Advisory Committee.

The committee has been raising the issue for the last three years.

The 16-campus system, called Connecticut State Colleges & Universities, enrolls 90,000 students. The separate University of Connecticut enrolls about 30,000 students.

The U.S. Department of Education recently reported the latest crime statistics for all of Connecticut’s public and private colleges.  At the regional universities and community colleges, crime has remained relatively steady over the last three years.

At Southern, for example, four students or staff reported a forcible sex offense in 2011 compared to six in 2013. Among the 16 campuses in the college system, there were 12 incidents in 2011 compared to 14 last year. Similar trends play out for robberies, burglaries, aggravated assaults and motor vehicle thefts.

The federal Clery Act requires every college in the U.S. to report crime on its campus every year so students know how safe their schools are. But doubt over the reliability of this self-reported data has increased over the years, as students  at schools across the country have alleged they were turned away when they reported being sexually assaulted.

Students at The University of Connecticut recently settled a lawsuit against the state’s flagship school for the way it handled their cases. Their complaints drew national attention, and in the university’s first safety report since they came forward, the number of forcible sexual assaults reported on campus increased from 13 to 23. The only other school to experience a sizable change was Trinity College, with seven reported incidents in 2012 compared to 21 last year.

UConn President Susan Herbst told students in her “State of the University” address earlier this month that all the changes the school has launched in the last year “are designed to increase the reporting of sexual assaults at the university.

“This does not necessarily mean that sexual assaults are on the rise; rather, it means that the reporting of this historically underreported crime is increasing,” she said. “This is essential to the continuing effort to bring this issue out of the shadows and into the light.”

The Student Press Law Center and the Columbus Dispatch released an analysis last month showing that 16 percent of schools in the U.S. claim they have not had a single crime with the potential for serious injury over the last 12 years.

Among the Connecticut State Colleges & Universities, four community colleges reported they had not had a single crime in the last three years, and several other schools reported just one or two.

In addition to a lack of security staff, Greco said, the colleges lack sufficient funding to help students facing psychological and emotional problems.

“We are not properly equipped to handle the needs of today’s students,” Greco told the system’s governing board and college presidents. “We have too few counselors and professional support staff at all of our campuses to work with these students.”

The system recently hired consultants to assess security at their schools, but officials refused to release the findings, saying they would expose vulnerabilities at the schools.  In a two-page summary of the findings, officials reported that, “Many enhancements are underway, and some already completed. One of the consistent recommendations concerned staffing levels.”

Seven of the 12 community colleges had no police officers or building and grounds patrol officers, according to the most recent public data available, which is from 2012.

And with many of the schools facing major deficits in their budgets at the start of this fiscal year, several of the college presidents reduced spending on security to help close the gap.

Now, the board is asking state lawmakers to provide $1.2 million more a year to hire eight security staff for their campuses.

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jacqueline Rabe Thomas is CT Mirror’s Education and Housing Reporter and an original member of the CT Mirror staff. She has won first-place awards for investigative reporting from state, New England, and national organizations. Before joining CT Mirror in late 2009, Jacqueline was a reporter, online editor and website developer for The Washington Post Co.’s Maryland newspaper chains. She has also worked for Congressional Quarterly and the Toledo Free Press. Jacqueline received an undergraduate degree in journalism from Bowling Green State University and a master’s in public policy from Trinity College.

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Will getting teachers vaccinated get students back in school full time? It might not be that easy
by Jacqueline Rabe Thomas, Kasturi Pananjady and Adria Watson

Districts will have to convince parents and students that in-person learning is safe and that students won't bring COVID-19 home.

Senate confirms Miguel Cardona as U.S. Secretary of Education
by Adria Watson

Cardona was the youngest principal in the state of Connecticut.

CSCU students and faculty push back against contract proposals
by Adria Watson

Connecticut State Colleges and Universities faculty and students gathered outside of Central Connecticut State University Friday morning to protest the Board of Regents’ recent contract proposals, saying the changes could lead to larger class sizes and possibly losing accreditation. “The BOR must … understand their proposals are developed with union-busting in mind,” said Eastern Connecticut […]

Report: Twice as many CT high schoolers are in danger of being held back
by Jacqueline Rabe Thomas

Research released Monday confirms what many parents and educators already suspected — more students than ever are falling behind during the pandemic, a problem especially present among those learning entirely from home in some of the state’s larger districts. The RISE Network tracked about 12,000 students in nine high schools in historically struggling districts to […]

State community college system deficit up nearly 38%
by Adria Watson

Much of the shortfall is due to a sharp decrease in enrollment.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion Fitness is part of Connecticut’s COVID solution
by David Humphrey

Based on what we now know about infection rates and transmission, it is more apparent than ever before that gyms, fitness centers, and the physical and mental health benefits of exercise are essential to help our state get through the months ahead.

Opinion Connecticut can’t afford state government-run health insurance
by Mike Licamele

As much as I support strengthening and improving healthcare, I do not believe SB 842 is the way to do that. Instead of trying to force Connecticut residents into a new, government-controlled healthcare system, lawmakers should focus on improving our existing one by building on what’s working and continuing to address lowering costs, not raising taxes

Opinion Disabled, marginalized, stalled and walled
by Doris Maldonado

As a bilingual health information specialist for PATH P2P Family Voices CT and National Family Voices Cultural Responsiveness Telehealth Team, I offer more than professional expertise as well as despair for the marginalized within marginalized communities. I am a Latina with disabilities, adoptive mother of 17-year-old twins with special needs and a thriving toddler.

Opinion The marijuana legalization debate must be based on facts
by Will Jones III

In response to my earlier piece on why Connecticut lawmakers should reject marijuana commercialization,  Brendan Ruberry wrote a rebuttal that, on its face seems scathing, but to be clear, the attempted rebuttal falls flat and well off the mark.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO