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Outside Criminals
To a burglar, a dorm can look like a treasure trove. After all, the typical student is likely to have between $5,000 and $10,000 worth of electronic gear stashed in his or her room. And, as both the University of Cincinnati and Eastern Michigan examples show, gaining access to a dorm isn't as difficult as one might think."When I do college inspections," says Robert Siciliano, a Boston-based college-security consultant, "I often find fifty percent of windows in first- and second-floor dorm rooms unlocked. The front entrance may be guarded by an attendant who checks IDs, but it's likely the back door is propped open with a brick, because kids forget their keys."
And students aren't necessarily any more mindful when they're out and about, hustling between dorms, classes and parties, especially at night. Anthony Dariano, a 22-year-old San José State University student, was walking his girlfriend to her car after leaving a frat party at 3 a.m. when two men in hooded jackets approached. One whipped out a gun, and the other grabbed the girl's purse and Dariano's wallet and cell phone. "I never thought it would happen to us," he says. "Now I'm a lot more careful about where I am and how late it is."
Best Practices: Some schools are going high-tech to fight crime. At Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, more than 100 so-called smart cameras (they use a computer algorithm to detect suspicious activity) keep a constant eye on campus -- and beyond. The system recently spied a man in an alley behind an off-campus residence peering into sleeping students' rooms. A campus command center was alerted. When the man got into a car, a camera zoomed in on his license plate and then fed the number to police. Minutes later, when an armed robbery occurred nearby, the description of the suspect matched that of the would-be Johns Hopkins intruder, and the police made an arrest.
It's not just outside forces that can harm students. Sometimes psychological issues can wreak havoc on a young man or woman. Seventeen years ago, says Connie Horton, PhD, director of Pepperdine University's counseling center, students at the California school wanted to talk about missing home, love woes or test anxiety. Not now, she says: "At least half of the students we see are struggling with depression. We also deal with bipolar disorder, psychotic breaks, and eating and anxiety disorders."
The numbers back her up. One 2003 study found that the rate of depression among college students seeking mental-health services more than doubled between 1989 and 2001. And suicide is now the second-leading cause of death among students (after accidents), claiming up to 1,100 lives a year.
To counter the trend, many schools have beefed up counseling. "The kid may say 'My grades are so bad, I don't see a way out of this' or 'I can't imagine tomorrow,'" Horton says. Frequent crying, agitation, insomnia or sleeping excessively, lack of energy and loss of enjoyment can also signal depression. Horton suggests parents "listen for a sense of hopelessness" during calls home.
Ask if a college can handle such issues, says Gregory Eells, PhD, Cornell University's director of counseling and psychiatric services. Is there at least one full-time counselor per 1,300 to 1,500 students? How long does it take to get an appointment? "At Cornell, the ratio is one to eight hundred," he says. "And any student can speak to a counselor the same day by phone for 20 minutes."
Also, parents should ask whether they'll be told if a child breaks down. Some schools don't share such news, but, Eells says, "our lawyers say we can assume kids under 21 are dependents of their parents, which gives us more flexibility in what we can tell families."
Best Practices: Cornell is working to reduce what has historically been a high suicide rate. Staff from faculty to janitors are trained to spot and report signs of emotional illness. A sharp-eyed custodian recently helped a young woman get treatment for her bulimia. Since the training program began three years ago, Cornell hasn't had a suicide. In the prior 15 years, there were two a year on average.
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