The Brown & White

Lehigh was ranked 35 and received a grade of A for campus safety in a recent publication of Reader's Digest.

Reader's Digest invited 291 American colleges to participate in the survey, 135 agreed. The survey was part of a special feature, "Is Your College Student Safe at School?," which also included ranks of college crime rates. In the campus safety survey, each school was judged in 19 different categories.

Many of the statistics for the survey were received from the U.S. Department of Education.

Although Lehigh was ranked high in some categories compared to other universities, dorm safety results were much lower.

Lehigh reported that residence halls do not have surveillance cameras or attendants.

Johns Hopkins University, which has a similar amount of students to Lehigh, has surveillance cameras in all dorms and 99 percent of students lived in residence halls with attendants, according to the survey.

However Lehigh did report that residence halls have full-time security. The term "full-time-security" was not clearly defined, leaving it up to the reader to determine what constituted this status.

"I always see local people walking around. Anyone can just walk into the buildings," Stephanie Naylor '10 said. "Even with the dorms, you do need a card, but there are other ways to get in - and there you go."

Tom Dubreuil, residence life coordinator, said Lehigh has not considered putting surveillance cameras in or around dorms at this time.

"I feel that our measures are sufficient but a great deal depends on students," Dubreuil said. "Students need to not let people they do not know into their building, whether they be other students or pizza delivery people. While Lehigh is a pretty safe environment, it takes students partnering with us and being vigilant to make it even safer."

Muhlenberg College in Allentown reported that 25 percent of students live in dormitories with surveillance cameras.

Other safety precautions on campus were also looked at in the survey.

The blue light system, a safety telephone for anyone who feels in danger on campus was also mentioned in the survey.

The device is connected directly to the Lehigh University Police Department. Lehigh reported 100 percent of the campus was protected by the blue light phone, in the survey.

"I have never felt unsafe walking at night to my dorm from the library," Kate Joseph '11 said. "We are close to a community that doesn't seem pretty safe, but I've never heard of confrontations on campus."

Safety is not just a matter of systematic precautions, the university also focuses on educating students during freshman orientation about at-risk actions.

The discussion of binge drinking, drug use and rape were the three categories in the survey.

Binge drinking and drug use are also discussed in the online program AlcoholEdu a required program for first year students.

Almost all the schools on the list showed they have an emergency response plan, including Lehigh.

Lehigh reported their mass emergency notification system, LU-ALERT.

According to the Web site, LU-ALERT enables Lehigh administrators, in the event of an emergency, to send a short text message to all students, faculty and staff who have subscribed to the emergency message notification system. The text messages will only be sent out in cases of imminent danger, or when an emergency situation will impact a significant number of people.

Many schools on the list reported having this system.

Lehigh reported having an emergency lock-down plan as well.

According to the survey, there are 21 full-time police officers at Lehigh with firearms.

"I see cop cars, but I feel like they are just looking to stop drunk people," Naylor said, "rather than looking out for our well being."

Following the Northern Illinois University shooting last week and the Virgina Tech shooting last April, campus safety is a growing concern at many universities and colleges across the country.

"It's really scary and it could happen here." Joseph said. "But, it really depends on the students, and I think Lehigh has a great student body. I don't even have to worry about people stealing, let alone shooting."