There is no question that this semester has been frightening for many on Indiana University's campus. IU has been on the local news much more than usual, and it is unfortunate that the university is getting a large amount of attention for such horrible events, instead of for the good things it does on a daily basis.

I admit that I have been a little more nervous walking around campus the past few weeks, with the deaths of Joseph Smedley and Yaolin Wang, an armed robbery not far from my on-campus apartment, and several sexual assaults on my mind. I have been more vigilant than normal when walking anywhere, even in the middle of the day. Unfortunately, I know I am not the only one who feels this way; several friends have mentioned the same “spooky” feeling around campus lately, and not just in the spirit of Halloween.

With these thoughts in mind, I decided to take a look at statistics of similar incidents at other campuses around the state. There has been so much attention focused on IU lately, but does the number of incidents on every campus even out over the course of the year?

I turned to the Jeanette Cleary Reports for IU, Purdue, IUPUI, and Ball State; the top schools in the state in terms of enrollment. The Cleary Reports document the number of incidents on campus in a given year, including murders, sexual offenses, robberies, and weapons arrests. My goal was to determine from the 2014 reports if IU truly stood out from these other institutions. Statistics are given for on-campus property (including residential housing), residential housing specifically, non-campus property (buildings associated with IU but not on campus), and public property (buildings adjacent to campus).

Indiana University

• One murder
• No weapons law arrests
• Seven robberies:
  • Six on campus
  • One on non-campus property
• 16 instances of aggravated assault:
  • Nine on campus
    • Two in residential housing
  • Three on non-campus property
  • Four on public property
• 23 burglaries:
  • 16 on campus
    • 11 in residential facilities
  • Seven on non-campus property
• 22 rapes:
  • 13 on campus
    • 11 in residential facilities
  • Nine on non-campus property

Purdue University

• One murder
• No weapons law arrests
• One robbery
  • On-campus
• No instances of aggravated assault
• 33 burglaries:
  • 21 on campus
    • 12 in residential housing
  • 22 on non-campus property
• Two rapes:
  • Two in residential housing

IUPUI

• No murders
• No weapons law arrests
• Six robberies:
  • Three on campus
  • Three on public property
• Five instances of aggravated assault:
  • Two on-campus
  • One on non-campus property
  • Two on public property
• 50 burglaries:
  • 48 on campus
    • Eight in residential housing
  • Two on non-campus property
• Six rapes:
  • Five on campus
    • Five in residential housing
  • One on non-campus property

Ball State

• No murders
• No weapons law arrests
• No robberies
• Two instances of aggravated assault:
  • Two on campus
    • Both in residential housing
• 11 burglaries:
  • Ten on campus
    • Five in residential housing
  • One on non-campus property
• 14 rapes:
  • 14 on campus
    • Nine in residential housing

Of course, everyone will interpret these numbers in their own way. In addition, many factors play into the different numbers; all of these universities are in different types of towns, and some have more of a separation between campus and town than others. After reading the reports, I do not feel that IU has insanely high numbers of any of the incidents reported on, especially for being a “typical” college campus. It would be fantastic to see any of the numbers go down, but I do not think I am any less safe than my friends at any of the other universities listed here.

The important thing to remember is to stay alert, no matter what has been happening lately on campus. IU does an excellent job of notifying students of any safety threats and providing resources to help a student who feels they may be in danger. It is our responsibility as students to take advantage of these resources and gain knowledge that could help us in any situation we may come across. It is inevitable that some unfortunate, and sometimes outright tragic, incidents will happen on any college campus, but I believe that IU does its best to keep its students safe at all times.