San Diego State ranked No. 7 on Business Insider’s list of “Most Dangerous Colleges in America.” The list included 25 U.S. colleges ranked by averaging a combination of violent and property FBI crime data from 2008 to 2011 for schools with more than 10,000 students enrolled.
The report stated SDSU experiences approximately 27 violent incidents per year. According to Business Insider, in 2011 there were five forcible rapes, three robberies and five aggravated assaults.
But, property crime is where SDSU experiences the most crime. Business Insider reported there is an average of 575 incidents per year. SDSU foods and nutrition sophomore Kelsey Wild, experienced an on-campus robbery firsthand when her iPhone was taken out of her hands last semester while walking down Montezuma Road at 3 a.m. with a few friends. “We were in the middle of crossing a crosswalk and this guy came up behind me and grabbed my iPhone 4 from my hand and ran,” Wild said.
Wild immediately reported the incident to the SDSU Police Department but he was never found.
Graphic design junior Jesika Frain, also experienced on campus criminal activity when her apartment at Aztec Campus was broken into last year. Frain and her roommate had their laptops stolen. “Our window had been closed but not locked, so the guy ripped open the screen and came through that in the middle of the day…I also had a whole load taken out of the dryer in my apartment building,” Frain said.
SDSUPD Capt. Lamine Secka said he feels strongly for campus safety although he said he feels the list is misleading in the way crime history is calculated. He advises students and parents not to take the No. 7 ranking for face value and to do their own research. “It’s important for students to have awareness of what’s going
on around them, have awareness of where their stuff is and who has access to their areas, whether it’s a commonly shared lab or the library,” Secka said. “Just be aware of what’s going on and what security precautions are in place and be smart about the decisions you make.”
