Students Perception of Safety in Campus VIS A VIS Crime and Violence- A Case Study of ECU

Abstract

The issue of student's perception of safety on their college campus has been a recurring problem. Students have been concerned about their safety on campuses because of the crime and violence that have been occurring on college grounds and in surrounding areas. Some of these crimes include the following: rape, robbery, burglary, dating violence, stalking, sexual assault, and gun violence. Some examples of tragedies that have occurred on college grounds include the Virginia Tech tragedy and the rape of Jeanne Clery at Lehigh University. Lawmakers showed their concern of campus safety by creating and enforcing the Jeanne Clery Act. This research employed the use of a survey and face-to-face semi-structured interviews to determine East Carolina University students' perceptions of safety in campus in relation to crime and violence. The classes where the survey was distributed include ART 1910-Art Appreciation and ITEC 3292-Industrial Safety. The objective of this research work was to identify campus safety issues that were of concern to ECU students as well as students' perceptions of campus security services vis a vis the impact of its presence in the campus. It was understood from the results that students generally believe that ECU is a safe campus. Also, the survey and interview results show that few students use the campus security services. The results also show that females view the campus as less safe when compared to males. Freshmen view the campus as less safe when compared to upperclassmen.