Parents and students looking to gauge the safety of American colleges have fresh data to pore over, thanks to recent studies published by Academic Influence and Alarms.org that aim to rank the nation's safest campuses. Academic Influence, a Denton, Texas-based think tank, employs machine learning algorithms to sift through online crime data for its rankings. By contrast, Alarms.org, affiliated with the National Council for Home Safety and Security, relies on the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting and the Campus Safety Security Survey from the U.S. Department of Education.
As universities strive to offer not just stellar education but also assurance of security, these rankings have begun to steadily garner attention. Purdue University clinched the top spot in Academic Influence's list, with Oakland University, notably the sole Michigan institution on the list, following in seventh place. According to AcademicInfluence.com, these institutions not only comply with The Clery Act, aimed at transparency in campus crime policy and statistics, but they also adopt a range of safety programs ranging from SAFEwalk escorts to emergency phones.
Oakland University Police Chief Mark Gordon doubled down on this commitment to safety in a statement, noting, "True safety can only be achieved when community members partner with the police to make a community safe." This sentiment echoes across the Great Lake state as nine Michigan colleges, with Oakland University leading, were appraised by Academic Influence through their campus safety measures and past crime stats, as reported by the Detroit Free Press.
The rankings issued by Alarms.org paint a slightly different picture with Brigham Young University-Idaho at the pinnacle, followed by Oakland University, and Northern Kentucky University rounding out the top three. Their methodology, though exclusive of colleges with enrollment under 10,000 due to data constraints, factors in violent and property crime rates of the locales these institutions inhabit, and the size of the campus law enforcement relative to the student population, as per the College Media Network.
The collective findings from these studies are meant not as definitive verdicts but as resources for those who seek to make informed decisions about college safety. Each study provides insights into how universities are investing in preventative measures and fostering a secure environment. More detailed information on Oakland University's safety initiatives can be found on their official website, where Chief Gordon elaborates on the collective role in maintaining security: "We are very fortunate that our community takes safety so seriously."
