Security on Campus

"Security On Campus, Inc. is a unique 501(c)(3) non-profit grass roots organization dedicated to safe campuses for college and university students. It was co-founded in 1987 by Connie & Howard Clery, following the murder of their daughter at Lehigh University. Jeanne Clery was a freshman when she was beaten, raped and murdered in her dormitory room on April 5, 1986. Jeanne's assailant was another Lehigh student who murdered Jeanne during his attempt to commit robbery as she slept. They did not know each other.

The Clerys quickly discovered they were not alone in their grief. Across the nation, violent and non-violent incidents had been reported to campus authorities, but administrators failed to warn students about crime. As early as 1980, the FBI Uniform Crime Report for colleges expressed alarm at the rapid growth of campus violence related to alcohol and drug abuse.

They were concerned that only 4 percent of higher education institutions were reporting campus crime, even though most schools have state authorized police forces. In 1996, a U.S. Department of Education survey of approximately 1,000 schools revealed 9,550 violent crimes were reported to campus police during 1994: 20 Murders; 5,090 Aggravated Assaults; 2,590 Sexual Assaults; and 3,130 Robberies. Property Crimes reported to campus Police totaled 37,780; 20,430 Liquor Law Violations; 7,230 Drug Arrests; and 1,960 Weapon Possessions.

Surveys by rape crisis centers have concluded that rape and sexual assault are commonplace on many campuses. One in ten women will be raped during their years in college. Studies have revealed that 80% of crime is student on student.

Alcohol is involved in 90% of college crime. Date rape drugs are creating thousands of victims.

Security On Campus, Inc. believes that students and parents have the right to know about criminal activity on college and university campuses. Many schools are still not accurately reporting crime. Parents have the right to know about the academic and conduct failures of their students under age twenty-one."
- Taken from the Security on Campus website: www.securityoncampus.org


***Note from me:***
This organization does a lot of sexual assault prevention programs and peer education for high schools and colleges. They also do outreach for sexual assault survivors. I'll be working with them over the summer and hopefully will have an internship with them starting in the fall. This is exactly what I want to do in the future so I'm really excited about it.