25 Most Dangerous RA Colleges

[Martin Eisenstadt]

Another great argument for distance learning.? No need to subject yourself to the gruesome criminal victimhood that almost certainly awaits you at one of the top 25 RA Gold Standard Death Cartel outposts.

The 25 Most Dangerous Colleges In America
Abby Rogers and Gus Lubin | Nov. 20, 2012

College is hard enough without having to worry about serious crime. Yet crime is a reality on and around many college campuses.

The FBI's Unified Crime Report identified 2,696 violent crime incidents and 87,160 property crime incidents on and around college campuses in 2011.

We ranked the most dangerous colleges by averaging FBI crime data per capita from 2008 to 2011 for schools with enrollment over 10,000. Schools were ranked based on a combination of violent crime rank and property crime rank, with violent crime weighted four times higher.

NOTE: There are many complications in ranking schools. In short, schools that report crimes in neighboring noncampus areas have elevated numbers. Since these noncampus areas are judged by the school to be relevant to students, however, we have chosen to use a list that includes this data when available.

EXTENSIVE NOTE: FBI data is based crime data that is voluntarily reported by colleges. Although many colleges participate in the program, some do not. Also there is variation in the degree to which colleges report crime in neighboring noncampus areas. Where college police jurisdiction extends unusually far into noncampus areas -- as is the case at University of California schools -- crime numbers are elevated.

Alternate data is compiled through the Clery Act by the Department of Education. This data can be sorted for campus areas as well as noncampus areas. As noncampus areas are relevant to students [Noncampus areas are defined as (1) Any building or property owned or controlled by a student organization that is officially recognized by the institution; or (2) Any building or property owned or controlled by an institution that is used in direct support of, or in relation to, the institution's educational purposes, is frequently used by students, and is not within the same reasonably contiguous geographic area of the institution.], Clery's data should be sorted to include both criteria. Unfortunately, crime data for noncampus areas is provided for only a limited selection of schools.

For schools that are tracked by the FBI and by the campus + noncampus criteria of Clery, the results are fairly similar.

If Clery's 2009 data for campus + noncampus crimes were sorted by the same methodology described above, the most dangerous school would be Howard University (which does not report to the FBI), followed by MIT (#16 on the FBI list), Duke (#4 on the FBI list), and UCLA (#1 on the FBI list).

The data would be fairly similar too: for UCLA in 2009 the FBI reports 60 incidents of violent crime and 222 incidents of property crime (not counting larcency, which is not counted by Clery); while Clery reports 49 incidents of violent crime and 186 incidents of property crime on campus and noncampus areas. Considering these similarities it follows that the data included in the FBI list is similar to the data included in Clery's campus + noncampus list.

It seems that any attempt to rank schools by crime on both campus and relevant noncampus areas will run into limits on data. Nonetheless we have chosen to rank schools by this method based on available data.

Several schools have objected to our ranking. Their full statements are given on the relevant slides.

University of California — Los Angeles director of media relations Phil Hampton called it "a reckless mischaracterization of data" and said that "UCLA students feel safe."

UC Riverside director of media relations Kris Lovekin said our headline was "intentionally inflammatory" and also that "when crime stats are higher, it often means the campus in question is realistically dealing with its crime problem and is dedicated to transparency."



#25 Florida State University -- Tallahassee



Student population:
40,416

Violent crime incidents per year:
26

Property crime incidents per year:
551

2011 was a particularly violent year, with three forcible rapes, 10 robberies, and 18 aggravated assaults.

We averaged FBI crime data per capita from 2008 to 2011 for schools with enrollment over 10,000. Schools were ranked based on a combination of the violent crime rank and property crime rank (weighted 4:1). Violent crimes include murder/nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Property crimes include burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson.


#24 University of California -- Riverside



Student population:
20,692

Violent crime incidents per year:
11

Property crime incidents per year:
360

2011 was a relatively non-violent year, with only one forcible rape, four robberies, and two aggravated assaults in 2011.

University of California — Riverside director of media relations Kris Lovekin issued a statement:

Your headline, and the way you have used the statistics to brand certain college campuses "the most dangerous" is in fact a step in the wrong direction for crime prevention. An intentionally inflammatory headline is now being widely disseminated. Comparing all reported crime will necessarily include those reports that are false or mistaken. A more relevant statistic is available in the Clery Act reports compiled and released each year.

Allow me to quote from a response to the article from Campus Security Magazine, and to argue that the same statistics you have looked at might mean something very different: "When crime stats are higher, it often means the campus in question is realistically dealing with its crime problem and is dedicated to transparency. In essence, more reports of crime very often mean members of the campus community are better informed about threats to their safety."

UC Riverside intends to continue encouraging the reporting of crime, because it is the only way to make sure we can address it.

We averaged FBI crime data per capita from 2008 to 2011 for schools with enrollment over 10,000. Schools were ranked based on a combination of the violent crime rank and property crime rank (weighted 4:1). Violent crimes include murder/nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Property crimes include burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson.


#23 Arkansas State University -- Jonesboro



Student population:
13,415

Violent crime incidents per year:
9

Property crime incidents per year:
183

Jonesboro saw an alarming 42 burglaries in 2011, among other violent crimes.

We averaged FBI crime data per capita from 2008 to 2011 for schools with enrollment over 10,000. Schools were ranked based on a combination of the violent crime rank and property crime rank (weighted 4:1). Violent crimes include murder/nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Property crimes include burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson.


#22 State University of New York College -- Buffalo



Student population:
12,419

Violent crime incidents per year:
8

Property crime incidents per year:
188

2011 was a particularly dangerous year, with an unprecedented 382 property crimes.

We averaged FBI crime data per capita from 2008 to 2011 for schools with enrollment over 10,000. Schools were ranked based on a combination of the violent crime rank and property crime rank (weighted 4:1). Violent crimes include murder/nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Property crimes include burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson.


#21 North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University



Student population:
10,795

Violent crime incidents per year:
7

Property crime incidents per year:
170

2011 was a particularly dangerous year, with 9 violent crimes and 211 property crimes.

We averaged FBI crime data per capita from 2008 to 2011 for schools with enrollment over 10,000. Schools were ranked based on a combination of the violent crime rank and property crime rank (weighted 4:1). Violent crimes include murder/nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Property crimes include burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson.


#20 Western Illinois University



Student population:
12,585

Violent crime incidents per year:
10

Property crime incidents per year:
161

2011 was a tragic year, with eight forcible rapes, among other crimes.

We averaged FBI crime data per capita from 2008 to 2011 for schools with enrollment over 10,000. Schools were ranked based on a combination of the violent crime rank and property crime rank (weighted 4:1). Violent crimes include murder/nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Property crimes include burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson.


#19 California State University -- Fresno



Student population:
20,932

Violent crime incidents per year:
12

Property crime incidents per year:
413

2011 was a particularly bad year, with 17 violent crimes and 501 property crimes.

We averaged FBI crime data per capita from 2008 to 2011 for schools with enrollment over 10,000. Schools were ranked based on a combination of the violent crime rank and property crime rank (weighted 4:1). Violent crimes include murder/nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Property crimes include burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson.


#18 Rutgers University -- Newark



Student population:
11,798

Violent crime incidents per year:
9

Property crime incidents per year:
167

2011 was a particularly bad year with 16 violent crimes -- including one killing and one forcible rape -- and 212 property crimes.

We averaged FBI crime data per capita from 2008 to 2011 for schools with enrollment over 10,000. Schools were ranked based on a combination of the violent crime rank and property crime rank (weighted 4:1). Violent crimes include murder/nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Property crimes include burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson.


#17 Northern Arizona University


Student population:
25,197

Violent crime incidents per year:
20

Property crime incidents per year:
328

2011 was bad here too, with 21 violent crimes -- including one forcible rape -- and 367 property crimes.

We averaged FBI crime data per capita from 2008 to 2011 for schools with enrollment over 10,000. Schools were ranked based on a combination of the violent crime rank and property crime rank (weighted 4:1). Violent crimes include murder/nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Property crimes include burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson.


#16 Massachusetts Institute of Technology



Student population:
10,566

Violent crime incidents per year:
6


Property crime incidents per year:
321

MIT saw a spike in property crime with 382 incidents in 2011.

We averaged FBI crime data per capita from 2008 to 2011 for schools with enrollment over 10,000. Schools were ranked based on a combination of the violent crime rank and property crime rank (weighted 4:1). Violent crimes include murder/nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Property crimes include burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson.


#15 Southern Illinois University -- Carbondale



Student population:
20,037

Violent crime incidents per year:
16

Property crime incidents per year:
291

Carbondale saw three forcible rapes in 2011, among other violent crimes.

We averaged FBI crime data per capita from 2008 to 2011 for schools with enrollment over 10,000. Schools were ranked based on a combination of the violent crime rank and property crime rank (weighted 4:1). Violent crimes include murder/nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Property crimes include burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson.


#14 University of Cincinnati



Student population:
32,283

Violent crime incidents per year:
23

Property crime incidents per year:
558

University of Cincinnati saw a big drop in violent crimes in 2011, down to 19 after an alarming 49 in 2010. Property crime was down too -- but things are still pretty bad.

We averaged FBI crime data per capita from 2008 to 2011 for schools with enrollment over 10,000. Schools were ranked based on a combination of the violent crime rank and property crime rank (weighted 4:1). Violent crimes include murder/nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Property crimes include burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson.


#13 Indiana State University



Student population:
11,494

Violent crime incidents per year:
9

Property crime incidents per year:
214

Indiana State saw an alarming 236 larceny incidents in 2011, among other property crimes.

We averaged FBI crime data per capita from 2008 to 2011 for schools with enrollment over 10,000. Schools were ranked based on a combination of the violent crime rank and property crime rank (weighted 4:1). Violent crimes include murder/nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Property crimes include burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson.


#12 Ball State University



Student population:
22,083

Violent crime incidents per year:
19

Property crime incidents per year:
353

2011 was a particularly dangerous year, with 26 violent crimes and 376 property crimes.

We averaged FBI crime data per capita from 2008 to 2011 for schools with enrollment over 10,000. Schools were ranked based on a combination of the violent crime rank and property crime rank (weighted 4:1). Violent crimes include murder/nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Property crimes include burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson.


#11 Georgia Institute of Technology



Student population:
20,720

Violent crime incidents per year:
15

Property crime incidents per year:
592

2011 was a particularly violent year, with four forcible rapes, 11 robberies, and five aggravated assaults.

We averaged FBI crime data per capita from 2008 to 2011 for schools with enrollment over 10,000. Schools were ranked based on a combination of the violent crime rank and property crime rank (weighted 4:1). Violent crimes include murder/nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Property crimes include burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson.


#10 Louisiana State University -- Baton Rouge



Student population:
29,451

Violent crime incidents per year:
26

Property crime incidents per year:
474

There were an alarming 22 robberies in 2011, among other violent crimes.

We averaged FBI crime data per capita from 2008 to 2011 for schools with enrollment over 10,000. Schools were ranked based on a combination of the violent crime rank and property crime rank (weighted 4:1). Violent crimes include murder/nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Property crimes include burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson.


#9 University of South Alabama



Student population:
14,776

Violent crime incidents per year:
14

Property crime incidents per year:
238

University of South Alabama reported one killing and two forcible rapes in 2011, among other violent crimes.

We averaged FBI crime data per capita from 2008 to 2011 for schools with enrollment over 10,000. Schools were ranked based on a combination of the violent crime rank and property crime rank (weighted 4:1). Violent crimes include murder/nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Property crimes include burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson.


#8 University of New Mexico



Student population:
28,688

Violent crime incidents per year:
24

Property crime incidents per year:
659

2011 was an extremely violent year, with two forcible rapes, four robberies, and 30 aggravated assaults.

We averaged FBI crime data per capita from 2008 to 2011 for schools with enrollment over 10,000. Schools were ranked based on a combination of the violent crime rank and property crime rank (weighted 4:1). Violent crimes include murder/nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Property crimes include burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson.


#7 San Diego State University



Student population:
29,187

Violent crime incidents per year:
27

Property crime incidents per year:
575

Violent crimes were relatively low in 2011, with only five forcible rapes, three robberies, and five aggravated assaults.

We averaged FBI crime data per capita from 2008 to 2011 for schools with enrollment over 10,000. Schools were ranked based on a combination of the violent crime rank and property crime rank (weighted 4:1). Violent crimes include murder/nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Property crimes include burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson.


#6 Vanderbilt University



Student population:
12,714

Violent crime incidents per year:
11

Property crime incidents per year:
555

2011 saw an alarming 535 larcenies, among other property crimes.

We averaged FBI crime data per capita from 2008 to 2011 for schools with enrollment over 10,000. Schools were ranked based on a combination of the violent crime rank and property crime rank (weighted 4:1). Violent crimes include murder/nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Property crimes include burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson.


#5 Florida A&M University



Student population:
13,284

Violent crime incidents per year:
15

Property crime incidents per year:
292

Property crime was relatively low in 2011, with only 11 burglaries, 220 larcenies, 12 motor vehicle thefts, and one arson.

We averaged FBI crime data per capita from 2008 to 2011 for schools with enrollment over 10,000. Schools were ranked based on a combination of the violent crime rank and property crime rank (weighted 4:1). Violent crimes include murder/nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Property crimes include burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson.

#4 Duke University



Student population:
15,016

Violent crime incidents per year:
14

Property crime incidents per year:
753

2011 was relatively safe, with only nine violent crimes and 650 property crimes.

We averaged FBI crime data per capita from 2008 to 2011 for schools with enrollment over 10,000. Schools were ranked based on a combination of the violent crime rank and property crime rank (weighted 4:1). Violent crimes include murder/nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Property crimes include burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson.


#3 University of California -- Berkeley



Student population:
35,833

Violent crime incidents per year:
38

Property crime incidents per year:
915

Violent crime dropped to 32 incidents in 2011, while property crime spiked to 1,011.

We averaged FBI crime data per capita from 2008 to 2011 for schools with enrollment over 10,000. Schools were ranked based on a combination of the violent crime rank and property crime rank (weighted 4:1). Violent crimes include murder/nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Property crimes include burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson.


#2 New Mexico State University



Student population:
18,600

Violent crime incidents per year:
22

Property crime incidents per year:
392

Property crimes spiked to 461 incidents in 2011, including 69 burglaries, 385 larcenies, seven motor vehicle thefts, and one arson.

We averaged FBI crime data per capita from 2008 to 2011 for schools with enrollment over 10,000. Schools were ranked based on a combination of the violent crime rank and property crime rank (weighted 4:1). Violent crimes include murder/nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Property crimes include burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson.


#1 University of California -- Los Angeles



Student population:
38,157

Violent crime incidents per year:
49

Property crime incidents per year:
921

While crime declined in 2011, things are still terrible: 12 forcible rapes; 11 robberies; 17 aggravated assaults; 195 burglaries; 625 larcenies; 18 motor vehicle thefts; and three incidents of arson.

UCLA director of media relations Phil Hampton issued the following statement:

Safety is a priority at UCLA, and we are proud of our record. UCLA police take reports of crimes committed not only on university-owned and university-operated properties both on campus and off, but also crimes committed in neighboring off-campus areas where UCLA police have concurrent jurisdiction with other law enforcement agencies. Our students feel safe. To conclude that UCLA somehow is dangerous is a reckless mischaracterization of data.

We averaged FBI crime data per capita from 2008 to 2011 for schools with enrollment over 10,000. Schools were ranked based on a combination of the violent crime rank and property crime rank (weighted 4:1). Violent crimes include murder/nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Property crimes include burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson.

[WilliamW]

Nice picture of Westwood Village.? Is UCLA in there somewhere?? I see Yamato restaurant (the domed building in the foreground), and Westwood Village movie theater (the building with the spire on the left).? Oh yeah, now I see it, or the fringes of it, way in the background, the dorms in the center top and Reagan medical building on the right.? The main campus is out of sight, way behind the Reagan building.?

So either the person who selected the photo didn't know what the campus looked like, or they were implying that the UCLA crimes stats might include criminal activity in the nearby neighborhood and not just from the campus.? But if the latter was the case then USC's numbers should skyrocket.

#20 Western Illinois University
#15 Southern Illinois University -- Carbondale

Two obscure Illinois universities in the top 25?? Too bad there isn't some ass-scratching bald bastard somewhere in Illinois with nothing better to do than stick his big nose in other people's business who could get 15 pals to write an article warning people about this situation.? Sometimes, danger lurks at the campus in the cornfield.

[bigfoot]

Blows the mind?....You mean USC...the University of South Central was not chosen? Every year I hear of car-jackings and homicides in the neighborhoods surrounding the campus...maybe the campus security and LAPD have been instrumental in ensuring that the crime is not directly "ON" the campus proper. Been on the campus of Sc many,many times....beautiful place,looks and feels Ivy league, but when you walk across the street and walk into the supermarket in "the village", and see all the patrons shopping in their pajamas and bedroom slippers and young men in "hoodies" in the parking lot, you become very wary, very quickly...SC is in an Uber Bad area.

[Martin Eisenstadt]

You mean USC...the University of South Central was not chosen?? ...maybe the campus security and LAPD have been instrumental in ensuring that the crime is not directly "ON" the campus proper.

I think the campus police drag the bodies across Figueroa to Felix Chevrolet so the LAPD can find them.

Business Insider says they stand by their first list, but then recalculated the standings using Clery Act data:

We're Standing By Our Controversial List Of 'America's Most Dangerous Colleges' -- Here's Why
Gus Lubin|Nov. 27, 2012

It seems all of Los Angeles is up in arms over the Most Dangerous Colleges list we published last week.

This list ranked colleges by the number of crimes committed on or near campus, as reported by the FBI.

UCLA and UC-Riverside, among others on the list, complained about our using data that was not limited to on-campus crime. The FBI crime data on which we based our ranking is compiled from crime data submitted by colleges across the country. Some colleges probably are more aggressive in reporting crimes on neighboring non-campus areas. And some colleges do not participate in the survey at all.

The schools that complained, including UCLA, demanded that we rank college crime instead by data compiled through the Clery Act, which can be sorted to count only crimes that occur on campus. Although looking only at crimes that occur on campus seems like a strangely limited perspective--students do, occasionally, venture off campus--we agreed to crunch the numbers based on this report.

Based on this alternate methodology, UCLA and UC-Riverside are once again among the 25 most dangerous colleges in America.

In fact, the new list contains many of the same schools as the original.

We take this to suggest that both lists are pretty good at identifying dangerous schools.

The methodology: We looked at Clery's data for on-campus crimes from 2007-2009, the latest years for which complete data was available. Schools were ranked by violent crime per capita and by property crime per capita, counting murder/nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault for violent crimes, and burglary, motor vehicle theft, arson for property crimes. These rankings were combined with violent crime weighted four times higher to produce the final ranking. Our ranking based on the FBI data was similar, except that it looked at 2008-2011 and it also included the data on larcenies.

Update: We have corrected the Clery ranking, which had a few of the top 25 schools in the wrong order. We have also recalculated the numbers for New Mexico State after having been informed of an error in the FBI and Clery databases.

First, here's the ranking based on FBI data:



Note: Although per capita data was used to determine the rankings, we are displaying actual average crime numbers for simplicity.

Now here's the ranking based on Clery on-campus crime data (Note: property crime numbers are much lower because they do not include larceny):



You'll notice plenty of similarity between the lists -- which is remarkable considering that these lists involve thousands of schools, different data, different years, and different criteria.

Although UCLA dropped from #1 on the FBI list to #19, what's notable is that it remained within the top 1 percent of dangerous colleges.

Meanwhile the other most vocal critic, UC Riverside, actually moved higher from #24 to #20. Other schools appearing on both top 25 lists include UC Berkeley, Duke, MIT, Vanderbilt, SUNY Buffalo, North Carolina A&T, and Southern Illinois-Carbondale.

Other schools from the FBI list also appear relatively high on Clery:? University of Southern Alabama (#29), San Diego State (#32), Western Illinois (#33), Northern Arizona (#39), LSU (#41), Indiana State (#43), Florida State (#45), Florida A&M (#53), Cincinnati (#65), New Mexico State (#78), Rutgers (#114), Cal State Fresno (#136), Arkansas State (#155), Georgia Tech (#189), and Ball State (#252).

Why is Ball State so low? Turns out Ball State saw significantly fewer violent crimes from 2007-2009 than it did from 2008-2011. Likewise Georgia Tech is low on the Clery list because this list doesn't include the particularly violent year in 2011.

In short, the results are remarkably similar considering that they come from different years and different sets of data.

Such similar results suggest that both lists are fairly accurate at identifying dangerous colleges.

Which list is best? As the FBI and the Department of Education are both reputable data sources, and the two lists produce similar results, we believe that both are valid. At the same time both lists are imperfect for reasons discussed above, which makes it valuable to look at them together.

In conclusion, we are glad to provide a second opinion, but we also reaffirm our confidence in the original list of America's most dangerous colleges.

[Virtual Bison]

A lot of urban campuses are dangerous. My bud went to Illinois Institute of Technology, which is in Chicago across the expressway from Comitsky Park (or US Cellular Field as they call it now). He was the only person in the graduate Chemical Engineering Program who was born in the United States there. Well he was going home to his appartment and stopped in a convience store. While he was there the store was robbed and somebody held a gun to his head. Then later that same year he was hit over the head and robbed. He never told his parents that these things happened because they would have made him quit.