By
Jose Ceja
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Parents and students can research schools nationwide
Before strolling down any dark alleys around campus, it may be wise to consult a new Web site offered by the U.S. Department of Education.
Crime statistics for more than 600 colleges, universities and career schools are available at ope.ed.gov/security, which can help parents and students evaluate colleges.
Various crime statistics - from liquor violations to hate crimes - are accessible under the amendments to the Higher Education Act of 1965 that require the Department of Education to collect crime data from colleges and make the data publicly accessible.
Katherine Mills, a studio art freshman who came to the University of Arizona from Illinois, said the information would have been helpful in choosing a college.
Mills said she took a tour of the University of New Mexico and later found out about the school's high crime rate.
"They didn't tell us anything about that on the tour," she said.
Mills said the information would have been useful for her in deciding what college to attend and was surprised she had not heard about the Web site before.
The UA averaged 5.7 liquor-law arrests, 3.17 drug arrests and .14 weapons arrests for every one thousand students. The UA also averaged 1 vehicle theft, .32 assaults and 3.76 burglaries for every thousand students, according to the Web site.
Mills said the figures reflect her impression of the UA being a low-crime campus, but she would have liked to have had access to such information before deciding on the UA.
Jane Glickman, spokeswoman for the Department of Education, said the Web site is not meant to provide comparisons between schools because of factors such as the location of a school.
"Obviously a student going to Columbia (University in New York City) would expect a higher crime rate," she said.
Nonetheless, Glickman said the Web site can be helpful for students who are undecided or unaware of the potential college's surroundings .
"This Web site is meant as a useful tool to see what is reported and ask more questions of the school," she said.
Yui Umehara, a journalism sophomore, said she feels safe at the UA and the data doesn't surprise her, but would have been interested in learning about the crime statistics of surrounding areas when choosing a college.
"I don't want to live in some slummy city," she said.
