College housing - - toxic residence?

Drudge Report ^ | 9/7/04 | Drudge

[Blue_Ridge_Mtn_Geek]

LINKS FROM DRUDGEREPORT: ---------------------------------------------

NYU student jumps to her death; 6th this year...

Princeton Student dead in dorm room...

Woman found dead at Colorado State sorority...

19-year-old Montreal student dead in dorm...

[Blue_Ridge_Mtn_Geek]

With all of the hoopla associated with casulty figures from the war in Iraq, perhaps some attention to the casualty rate on US campuses might provide some healthy balance. Somewhere there is a tabulation of campus related crime stats (mandated by one of the intrusive regulations associated with Federal funding of higher education). This could be put to good use in carrying out such an analysis.

[Rubber_Duckie_27]

We had 6 students die in one year while I was in college (a few years ago). Two dropped dead suddenly due to undetected heart defects, two committed suicide, one was hit by a drunk driver, and the last one overdosed on heroin in his dorm room. This was at a small-ish state university with approx. 10,000 undergraduates.

[hawkish76er]

Data on homicides and suicides at school show there were 32 school-associated violent deaths in the United States between July 1, 1999 and June 30, 2000, including 24 homicides, 16 of which involved school-aged children. In each school year from 1992 to 2000, youth ages 5-19 were at least 70 times more likely to be murdered away from school than at school. Trends in school crime over time are also of interest to researchers, educators, and families. Data show that the percentage of students being victimized at school has declined over recent years. Between 1995 and 2001, the percentage of students who reported being victims of crime at school decreased from 10 percent to 6 percent. This included a decrease in theft (from 7 percent to 4 percent) and a decrease in violent victimization (from 3 percent to 2 percent) over the same time period.


Excerpted from here:
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2004/crime03/index.asp

[GovernmentShrinker]

Trouble is, most student deaths are accidental or suicides -- neither of which would appear in the crime stats.

[Lunatic Fringe]

Drudge Healine should read:

"People Die, study finds"

[formercalifornian]

Exactly. Drudge tries to sensationalize everything.

[OldFriend]

Are you going to include suicide in crime stats?

[finnman69]

Too much MTV.

[aft_lizard]

This is just like the annual shark attacks, they happen every year but the media trys to make a story out of a few that happened close together.

[aft_lizard]

You sure about that? I know in Colorado suicide is put under the homicide category.

[GovernmentShrinker]

I thought the college crime reporting was a federal mandate, subject to federal, not state regulations. And since it's purpose was to enable parents and students to evaluate the crime rate on various campuses, before choosing where to attend, I wouldn't think suicide would be included.