These rules are great. A lot of the people I went to school with at UNC had never been outside of their small town upbringing and lost their mind at school. Common sense went out the window. When I went out with my friends (on or off campus) we made sure that we knew where the others were and who they were with. Some fraternity brothers even offered protection if things appreared to get out of hand or beyond our control (the obnoxious boy who wouldn't leave you alone all night or who danced a bit too close after you told him to back off). And no matter HOW good the party was or who was hosting it, we NEVER left a drink alone.

Sexual assaults are very common on most campuses, but sadly, a lot go unreported. My campus was relatively safe, and we felt comfortable walking back to our dorms alone. Not the smartest move, and we didn't do that often. We usually would walk to whoever's dorm was closest and then have the campus shuttle take the rest of us to our dorms. Better to think you look silly or stupid than to regret it later. Tuition pays for the shuttle, so use it! That's what it's there for.

ETA: Ditto to the one person staying sober in the group. A girl I knew ended up on the floor of the living room with a random guy "performing" on her in the middle of the party after she had waaay too much to drink. Her friends? They left early, WITHOUT HER. :mad: My friends and I ended up escorting her home and making sure that WE would never let something like that happen.

Consider yourself lucky.

Use the buddy system!!! There is safety in numbers. Come with your friends, leave with your friends.

So many freshmen girls get preyed on by older guys. Keep your guard up, even if this means being a little stand-offish. Better to have a guy think you are a bit of a bitch then to be taken advantage of.

Keep aware of your surroundings! And enjoy college most of all!

I endorse what tridel just said. However that doesn't only apply to girls. Even guys should have a pal with them. You never know what can happen and just having somebody else can keep something from happening.

Sorry, but bullshit. College women are THE SAFEST group of women in the WORLD when it comes to rape and sexual assault. Check out Who Stole Feminism? How Women Have Betrayed Women by Christina Hoff Sommers. That statistic about 1 in 4 women getting assaulted at some point in their life is a LIE, and it has even been admitted by the director of the study that it is not true.

Fearmongering does no good. CrackerBarrel, I agree with you on this.

Also: not every campus has a free shuttle..I go to a large state school and we don't.

If college women were the safest bunch in the world, then campuses would have no reason to host the safety/self defense programs that they do. Maybe 1 in 4 is extreme, but it's foolish to think that it doesn't happen.

And no one is fearmongering. It's better to have a sober buddy/use the shuttle/etc than to run around saying "Hey, I'm safe on this campus! I think I'll walk 20 blocks by myself tonight!" ... just to be on the safe side.

They have the safety/self defense programs to make parents feel better about letting their little girl go off to live on her own, to reassure nervous girls, and to make it look like they were being proactive in case god forbid anything ever did happen.

To use the fact that they host a safety seminar to imply they must not be safe is kind of silly. You certainly wouldn't agree if I said there was no risk of sexual assault in prison or else they would host a safety talk, so why should the flip-side of that argument be any more convincing?

So you're saying rape and sexual assault do not exist on college campuses? And the ONLY reason that self defense programs exist is to please mom and dad?

Rape and sexual assault exist at lower rates on campus than they do in the general community. So no, I'm not arguing that they don't exist, but you all are making it seem like people are going into a war zone rather than a college campus. The fact of the matter is that colleges and college towns usually have a fairly large police presence and it's overall a safer environment than other similarly sized cities.

And it's not the only reason, but yes, reassuring parents and scared freshmen is the primary reason colleges teach self defense programs.

Like I said, maybe there are some horrible campuses where you can never let your guard down, but my only experience has been that about the worst consequence will be beer goggles or maybe a drunk shouting match.

I would predict that many of these statistics are so low because rape/sexual assault on the college campus is likely under-reported. Being the victim of such a thing is something victims often perceive to be stigmatizing. That can be even more enhanced if the rape/sexual assault occurs within a fairly insular community such as the greek life community.

NO.

What fantASTic said is correct....the 1 in 4 statistic is complete bull and has nothing to do with rape being underreported. This statistic is advanced by women who think things like being catcalled at constitute "sexual assault."

A self defense program is essential for every woman - we had one in high school - but saying that their existence means there's a high rape/assault rate is like saying 1 in 4 elementary school kids is going to die in a fire because they have fire drills.

If you're responding to me 33, I never said that the 1:4 statistic was anywhere near accurate. I do think that sexual assault is probably underreported though.

Well, it depends what you define as sexual assault. (No, I don't want to go there.)

I would agree with you Kevin. What one person, in their experience and point of view, may call an unfortunate hook up may be called by others date rape.
Over the weekend I found out that one of my relatives went though rush and is now a member of the Greek Community. While a smart and sharp person, we did have a little conversation about keeping ones guard up at all times.
And if one is truly interested in getting informed, try searching topics campus rape,date rape or campus security.
I checked my own campus and just the two unreported date rapes that I personally know of would change the reported statistics. And I would find it rather difficult to believe that I am the only one on my campus that knows of sexual assaults that were not reported.

Sorry, fantASTic, I call bullshit on you. I can only speak for UNC and Bowie State (two schools I went to), and there were sexual assualts at both campuses, many of which went unreported. So I disagree with you. I never claimed that statistic. And seeing how I was a victim of an assault, I disagree with your statement that college women are the safest group of women in the world.

I don't think anyone is fearmongering, just discussing what they've seen on their own campuses.

But tomayto, tomahto.

I'm sorry to hear that.

But I don't see anything there that goes against what myself and others are claiming. There are sexual assaults literally everywhere. Hospitals, churches, schools, colleges, towns, cities, everywhere. And the simple fact that sexual assaults do occasionally happen on college campuses is not sufficient to prove that colleges aren't safer than just being out in the public as a whole.

ETA: And on the point you and fantASTic are arguing about, the simple fact that you know of sexual assaults that have happened on campus doesn't mean that "sexual assaults are very common on most campuses" (which is word for word what you claimed). No one is denying that they occur, but they certainly aren't a common occurrence, the kind which will inevitably happen to someone if they aren't careful. That's what some people here are saying and implying, and fear-mongering seems like a pretty good description for what's going on.

Here's the deal - there is no safe place in society where no assaults happen. I've tried to teach my daughter to think defensively no matter where she is. It just so happens that she is about to be spending almost all her time on a college campus. Therefore, as an incoming freshman, her focus is how to be safe on a college campus. When she moves to a city to begin her career, I will bore her with advice about living in the city. It's not fear mongering - it's dealing with the situation at hand

I think there MIGHT be more assaults in a college setting simply because there is more opportunity - and so many of the students are NOT thinking defensively. But that's just a theory of mine.

I completely agree.

If we're going to be sticklers for statistics, can you back up your claim that rapes and sexual assaults exist at lower rates?

There's nothing wrong with letting incoming freshman (who usually have never been on their own) know ways to keep themselves safe. Warning that rapes and sexual assaults DO happen is proactive. Telling women after the fact what they COULD have done is too reactive.

The fact that you haven't experienced them on your campus does not mean that they don't frequently happen. As several have pointed out earlier, many rapes and assaults go unreported, so they happen more than you think.

on a non-rape note, a lot of this advice applies to men as well. just because men aren't as likely to be raped doesn't mean that other occurances such as robbery/mugging or assault are out of the realm of possiblity too. walking around drunk, unaware, and alone is just a bad idea.

being safe and aware is good advice for anybody.

Sure.
http://police.ua.edu/csr/stats.html
http://www.auburn.edu/administration...-offenses.html
http://www.police.uga.edu/crimestati...tatistics.html
http://www.utexas.edu/police/reports...estats2007.pdf
http://www.police.ufl.edu/pdf_files/2006/UFPD%20Safe%20Campus-9.pdf
http://www.lsu.com/pubsafety/lsupoli...s?OpenDocument

From http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...8/ai_n10028294, the national rape rate is 64.8 per 100,000 people.

Alabama has 25,580 students for a rate of 11.7 per 100,000 people
Auburn has 24,137 students for a rate of 4.1 per 100,000 people
UGA has 33,831 students for a rate of 5.9 per 100,000 people.
Texas has 36,878 undergrad students for a rate of 2.7 per 100,000 people.
UF has 34,612 undergrad students for a rate of 11.6 per 100,000 people.
LSU has 33,587 students for a rate of 3.0 per 100,000 people.

There you go.

ETA: And most of these schools are lumping rape and forcible sexual assault (which is any sexual assault other than incest or statutory rape together), so it's possible I'm actually overestimating the rape rates.

Those statistics are all well and good. As far as they go as they are based on crimes that are reported.
Several of us, myself included, have already posted that we are personally aware of crimes that were never reported thus are not part of those statistics.
Not reporting, or in terms of statistics underreporting, certain types of crime is part of society in general and is not exclusive to campus life. However being part of a smaller segment may put even more pressure on someone not to say anything.
And because of both jurisdictional over lap as well as boundaries between campus and city, some crimes to students may not even be reported as such.
Read this story about University of Arkansas: http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/20...8azuacrime.txt
Bottom line would seem to be not to focus on statistics but in being proactive in awareness, prevention and protection.

Thanks for backing up your claim. But again, like several others have stated, these represent reported crimes. I'm sure if other incidents were factored in, they would be close to (or on par) with the national average.

Co-sign.

There's no compelling reason I've seen to believe colleges would have a lower reporting rate than anywhere else in the country. It's a problem to be sure, but lots of rapes are going to go unreported in any jurisdiction for primarily the same reason, the victims feel ashamed even though they have no reason to. But really that argument doesn't hold a lot of weight. Yes my rates are based only on crimes that are reported, but so is the national figure so they are measuring the same thing and in terms of statistics make a great comparison.

And I don't disagree with the idea that prevention is a good idea. You certainly should learn the facts and be prepared, I just took issue with the portrayal some were trying to give of college campuses being these hot spots for rape.

Pont of fact as was pointed out, many Schools have a bigger population than many towns in the country.

Just because the students are supposed to be more educated doesn't keep things from happening and in many cases rapes are not reported as one said because of embarassment that is true even though it was not the females fault.

We all may have felt safe on campus, but it does and can happen.

I have been out of town..thanks CrackerBarrel and 33Girl. I'm glad I'm not the only one who realizes that much of these statistics are crap. I do believe that we should all be prepared, because ANYTHING can happen...but just like not all Greeks [or even MOST Greeks] are hazers, not every man you meet is a potential rapist, and to treat them as such is demeaning to all males.

And I would like to point out that safety doesn't only apply to females and rape. A good friend of mine was mugged at knife point recently less then a block from campus. Just to let people know that safety is important to everyone regardless.

My only advice is...you only have one life to live, so live it to the fullest!

Don't try to out drink your friends, thats how people die from alcohol.

Always know how you are getting home from a party.

Be Careful around Windows, Especially If Woozy, Drunk, or High


WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - A Purdue student is hospitalized after falling out of a fraternity house window.

University spokeswoman Jeanne Norberg said the student fell out of a second-story window at the Delta Chi house sometime before 4:00 a.m Wednesday.

The above is an excerpt from this report:

http://www.wlfi.com/dpp/news/local/l...udent_20090910

And in Idaho there've been two separate incidents recently. See:

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/200...ernity-window/

ETA: Update Oct. 27 '09: One of the Idaho students apparently is now doing fairly well; the other is still hospitalized, if I'm understanding this news item correctly:
http://www.khq.com/Global/story.asp?S=11384848

When you lock your bicycle in the day, remember you might have to get it late at night. Think ahead.

Arena Arianna

1. Stick with beer. You quickly learn your tolerance, and are less likely to far over-shoot your limit.

My Dad gave me this advice when i was going off to college, and it served me well, and this was before date rape drugs. You have know idea how much alcohol is in punches, mixed drinks, or jello shots. If I could tell you how often in college I had to carry home friends after I had beer and they had "hairy gorilla" punch or killer strawberry daquiris ("okay, Jane, just put your arm around my shoulder. Come on, we can do this. I am NOT leaving you here.")

2. Date rape is WAY under-reported. I learned this after a good friend tried to rape me, and I started telling people how I was lucky to get him to stop. One girl I told started crying, and when I asked why, she said "With me, he didn't stop ." Another friend said "Sh#t - he did that to my roommate." So imagine how many girls this guy victimized if TWO of the people I told my story to had similar experiences with the same guy. None of us reported him to authorities (although I told as many girls as possible about what happened). A knee to the groin works if you can manage it. Sadly, I know this from experience.

3. The safety info on this thread, especially about walking around drunk and alone APPLIES TO GUYS. Yesterday, they found the body of a Penn State freshman guy who had gone out drinking with friends. Fraternity party to apartment to fraternity. His friends left him at the last fraternity, and when he attempted to walk home, it seems as though he fell into an (outside) stairwell (stairs to the basement of a building), where his body was found a day later. If his friends had INSISTED that he return to the dorms with them, this is far less likely to have happened. Safety in numbers, folks.

When my father was dropping me off at college, he told me never to put my drink down, and that if I put down a drink that I should never pick it back up. (This was in 1999, the height of the roofies craze.)

Well, I took his advice and if I ever needed to go outside (this was back when you could smoke in fraternity houses in RI) or to the bathroom, I would just chug the rest of what I had.

That was clearly not that Papa had in mind.

There is not enough water in beer or any other liquor to keep you hydrated and alcohol takes a lot of water out of your system. Coffee and tea are the opposite of helpful, since they are diuretics. Drink as much water as you can every coupla drinks, if you want to go the distance. Dehydration can cause permanent organ damage and even death, all with very little warning.

thank.s to sharing nice stuff:D

Never chase liquor with beer.

I know for a fact that many parking lots on the Hill here in Boulder, CO for many establishments and shopping centres have those same Emergency lights. This is worth noting as many houses (if not all) are in the Hill but the Hill is not CU property. Furthermore, the Boulder Police have a station in the Hill neighbourhood (13th & College), so it's quite possible you can get a fast response from either Boulder or CU-Boulder police (I see them driving around my apartment complex pretty often because we're on the East side of CU).

Just a quick note on this from a friend of mine who is a wealth of information on the subject of sexual assault.

In most states, there is a law that states that when a person is under the influence of any mind-altering substances, such as drugs or alcohol, they cannot legally consent.

Yeah, this is true, however it gets into a lot of really fuzzy places when both parties are drunk. /topic best saved for someplace other than GC or even its own thread. But, if guys have gone to the trouble of getting consent, getting a specific YES, it will go a long way towards protecting both parties.