Newspaper Page Text
The Panther
March 7. 1994 P3
AUC Campus Security... Continued From P 1
Number of Crimes At Clark Atlanta University
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Murder
Rape
Forcible Sexual Assault
Non-Forcible Sexual
Assault
Robbery
Aggravated Assault
Simple Assault/Battery
Burglary
Motor Vehicle Theft
Property Theft
Arson |
Alcohol Violations
Drug Violations
Weapons Violations
The Public Safety Crime
Statistics Report is
designed to inform the
Atlanta University commu
nity about reported current
criminal activity on campus
and within approximately
500 yards of campus.
Total Property Loss $ 17,930.94
Recovered Property $ - 50.00
Net Loss:
$17,880.94
These Crime Statistics were taken from Clark Atlanta University's Department of Public Safety's Crimes Statistics monthly report for February 1994.
thisalarming trend places new
emphasis on the effectiveness of
the institutions within the
Atlanta University Center.
Presently, all four institutions
release annual campus crime
statistics. They are required by
law to release such information
due to the Student-Right-To-
Know and Campus Security
Acts
Passed on July 10, 1992 by
the Department of Education,
the law provides that institutions
report to the campus community
on criminal activities that are
reported to campus security
authorities or local police agen
cies.
The CAU security depart
ment publishes a monthly report
of such activities.
The campus safety depart
ments in the AUC maintain that
they are going beyond the call
of duty to ensure the safety of
the students. “It’s very safe
given where the AUC itself is
located,” said Chief Joseph
Milligan of the Spelman College
Police Department.
Milligan said although he has
not seen any crime statistics for
the surrounding area, he
believes the various AUC secu
rity departments have been quite
effective in controlling campus
crimes.
The AUC Task Force
Until September 1989, secu
rity for all schools was provided
by a private security company,
Simms Security. But by early
1990, the schools slowly began
to branch off into providing
their own security units. Today,
all four institutions house their
own police precincts- including
certified armed police offers
with powers to arrest.
In an effort to increase the
unity and efficiency of the cam
pus security departments, the
AUC Task Force was created in
1990. The organizations holds
monthly meetings for the heads
of the campus and AUC security
departments to discuss issues
concerning campus safety.
“There is still some sense of
separation but we all come
together for unified front,” said
Chief Davis of Morehouse.
Contributing Factors
Chief Dana Scott, head of
CAU Security, said a key factor
when evaluating crimes within
the center and other historically
African-American institutions,
is the location of the schools,
“Most black colleges are usu
ally in high-crime and low-
income areas. We don’t have a
lot of people coming out of the
housing projects and commit
ting crimes against the students.
The campuses are relatively
safe.” Chief Scott said more
crimes are committed within the
surrounding area as opposed to
the actual campuses.
Another rising concern is the
increase of sexual assaults and
rapes on college campuses.
According to an article featured
in the February 17, 1993 issue
of The Chronicle of Higher
Education, many higher-educa
tion officials say a number of
institutions nationwide appear to
be underreporting rapes. Being
one of the most underreported
crimes in the country, some offi
cials said many colleges dis
couraged women from reporting
sexual assaults.
“We don’t do that here,” said
Chief Scott, “With the passing
of the Student-Right-To-Know
Act, we are required by law to
report all crimes.” According to
statistics published by CAU,
there have been three rapes
reported on the campus since
July 1992. Morehouse had no
reported rapes since July of
1993.
However, Chief Scott said
most incidents are date or
acquaintance rape that usually
occurs away from the campus.
“A girl will get in the car with
some guy and go over to his
apartment and things will get
kind of heated,” she said.
According to statistics, an
alleged rape occurred on CAU’s
campus in May of 1993 but the
charges were later dismissed in
court. Chief Scott asserts that
due to a number of circum-
s'tances-embarrassment, fear,
lack of information, and intimi
dation most females usually do
not report such attacks.
She also said most students,
after being attacked, will go to
the school’s nurse. At that
point, she said it is up to the vic
tim to report the crime to the
campus and Atlanta police
departments for further investi
gation.
Available Services
To prevent such attacks, the
security at all four institutions
provide an escort service to dis
courage students from walking
alone. The service is provided
after 6 p.m. Spelman’s security
transports students from the
AUC parking lot to the campus.
CAU takes students to destina
tions within the immediate
vicinity of the campuses includ
ing the West End and Five
Points MARTA stations.
The AUC shuttle provides
transportation to an from the
four institutions to the Robert
W. Woodruff library. However,
many students complained that
the shuttle’s schedule is too
unpredictable and time-consum
ing to accommodate their needs.
“I’d rather walk than to sit in
front of the library an extra 30
or 35 minutes to catch that shut
tle. Then they take forever and
a day to take you where you
need to go,” said Morris Brown
junior, Christopher Harris.
Many students said they
opted to walk instead of waiting
for the escort or shuttle services.
Chief Scott said this raised an
issue of concern for the safety of
the students.
Another issue of concern is
the presence of alcohol and
drugs on campus. A Harvard
study released last year of 1,669
college freshman found a radical
increase in students’ drinking to
get drunk since 1977.
According to the study, many
women now binge-drink as
well. One college student in
three today drinks primarily to
get drunk.
On the campuses of all four
AUC undergraduate institutions
it is against the law to posses or
consume alcohol or any other
illegal drugs. “We take ‘em
straight to jail,” said Morehouse
College Chief James Davis in
regards to capturing students
with illegal substances.
“There have been maybe
about three instances where
we’ve actually caught students
with alcohol and drugs,” he
said. Chief Davis said the
majority of the incidents
involved freshman students and
non-students on the campus. He
also said that most cases are
reported by resident assistants
after checking the dormitory
rooms.
Other Measures
By trying outreach and pre
vention programs, by offering
safety education for students,
the AUC schools are facing up
to campus crime. Monthly
crime awareness seminars are
held on all of the campuses.
Spelman offers two self-defense
and crime-awareness groups,
Rape Aggression and Defense
(RAD) and the Public Safety
Posse. Both groups consist of
volunteers and students and pro
mote active prevention of crime.
Head of the “Fight Back”
seminar, Sgt. Toni Mack said,
“We welcome off-campus stu
dents, faculty and staff, and oth
ers within the community to
come....It’s very physical we do
drills and teach actual tech
niques,” she said.
Another prevalent measure
taken within the AUC are cur
fews. CAU practices a weekday
curfew of midnight curfew and
3 a.m weekend curfew for all
freshman. Spelman, an all
female institution, does not
enforces a curfew on its stu
dents, but all males must be off
the campus by 11:45 p.m. With
the exception of cross-registered
students, male-visitation is not
allowed until 6 p.m.
Student Complaints
Many students interviewed
said they felt that Spelman’s
security was unnecessarily rude
to male visitors on the campus.
“They treat you like the crimi
nal. I’ve seen them be very dis
respectful to males on the cam
pus. They talk down to us and
try to throw their weight
around,” said a Morehouse
College senior who wished to
remain anonymous.
Elgin Klugh, a junior at
Morehouse agreed, “They are
pretty rude to male students who
try to get on the campus. I’ve
seen (the officers) on the verge
of fighting one of the students.
They seem to go out of their
way to get you off the campus.”
Klugh said he had no other
problems with the security at the
other schools.
Another Morehouse student,
Jamal Caliste, said he felt
Spelman’s security simply
“hates” Morehouse students.
“We don’t take any unusual
measures. We just do our job,”
said Chief Milligan. He feels
that most students just have the
wrong attitude toward security
in general.
Other students interviewed
said they felt the security guards
were so preoccupied with the
female students, they were
unable to do their jobs effective
ly-
“They’re so busy flirting
with the students, I don’t see
how they could enforce any
kind of safety,” said a female
student who wished to remain
anonymous.
However, many other stu
dents said the campus security
had been effective in their time
of need, “I lost my school I.D.
in the library. And when I went
back to look for it, the security
had it. I was so relieved,” said
CAU freshman Kimathi Lewis.
She said she had many positive
experiences with campus securi
ty •