Report ranks NC college campuses unsafe

CHAPEL HILL Administrators from the school say the data is old and comparisons are clumsy, but some students are taking note. "That is really surprising, because it doesn't seem like that," UNC Grad Student, Seku Gray said. "But it is a big campus, so you really never know." /*Readers Digest Magazine*/ sorted federal crime data reported by 285 colleges for major crime – murder, rape, robbery, assault and burglary. Sweet Briar College ranked the number on safest, while /*Duke*/ was near the bottom at 245 and /*UNC*/ ranked twelfth from the bottom at 273. "It's too easy to extrapolate a bit from the survey," UNC Public Safety Representative, Randy Young said. "There is a danger in reading too much into reading what is a snap-shot in time." The /*crime data*/ is from the years 2004 and 2005; which includes the slaying of a university employee, three miles off the main campus. The school has made major changes since --in the event of a major emergency, campus police will send out text messages and alert students with a siren system. However, the data also includes rape – a silent crime which often goes unreported. Over the two years, both Duke and UNC received 20 reports of rape. "Unfortunately, I feel that rape and sexual assault do happen at a pretty high rate on college campuses in terms of different social scenes," Lindsay Guge, an UNC undergrad student said. Readers Digest also noted most campus crimes occur between students who know each other and alcohol is often involved. /*North Carolina State University*/ was also listed in the campus safety ranking at 121. Of all the North Carolina college campuses, Appalachian State was listed as the safest.