Newspapers / St. Andrews University Student … / Oct. 3, 1990, edition 1 / Page 8
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COLLEGE SCENE Violent Acts Increasing (CPS) While the murders of five college students within three days in Gainesville, Fla., the last week of August were unusual, crime watch ers say murder is a more common crime on campuses nationwide than most people think. Hard statistics are hard to find, but crime observers say they've been surprised by the results of several recent studies of the problem. "The rate of victimization is higher than anyone had known," says Jan Sherrill of the Campus Violence F*revention Center, based at Mary land’s Towson State University. Though people have not been studying the phenomenon for long, some statistics seem to "show an increase" in murders and other violent crimes at colleges across the country, added Clarinda Raymond, Sherrill's colleague at Towson. Moreover, Raymond said, the murderers are often other students. "I guess we cannot rule out that the Florida murders were commit ted by a student," Raymond said. On September 1, police arrested Edward Lewis Humphrey, 18, a Uni versity of Rorida (UF) freshman, for questioning in the case. Police added they might have other suspects in the off-campus murders of three UF and two Santa Fe Community College students. Police found the bodies of 17- year-old Christina Powell and her roommate, 18-year-old Sonja Larson, in their apartment Aug. 26. Both were UF freshmen. Both were partially nude, and had been stabbed. Eight hours later police found the stabbed, decapitated body of Christa Leigh Hoyt, a Santa Fe student, at her apartment. The next day, Aug. 28, Santa Fe student Tracey Inez Paules, 23, and her roommate, UF senior Manuel Ricardo Toboada, 23, were found stabbed to death. The brutality and timing of the killings prompted widespread student panic on the UF campus. Many apparently left for home just as classes were starting. Some who stayed held large slumber parties for protection. Still others bought weapons. They could find weapons readily on Campuses advertised in the Independent Florida Alligator, the campus paper, which suddenly found itself with an influx of ads for mace, tear gas and stun guns, said an Alligator advertising representative, who didn't want her name used. Some campus leaders nevertheless said UF is a relatively safe place. "I think security on campus is incredible," said Michael Browne, UF’s student body president. "Campus crime has been down." Multiple slayings are in fact rare at rare at colleges. The most notable instance occurred in December, 1989, when a gunman killed 14 female students and wounded another 13 people at the University of Montreal. Some 1,990 violent crimes were committed on campuses in 1988, the most recent FBI census of crime in America found. While the FBI re port is notoriously misleading, the number probably did not represent all the violent crimes because colleges were not required to report them. In January, 1990, Raymond's group released a survey showing that 36 percent of the nation's stu dents had been victims of violent crimes. Yet students typically don't think of their campuses as dangerous. "They naturally want to believe it's a safe place," noted Jeanne Morrow, housing director at Champaign-Urbana, where a student was murdered in her off- campus apartment in mid-August. Montana State, Ball State, St. John's, Louisiana State, Northeastern, Wesleyan and Oklahoma State universities, the University of California at Berkeley, and Ithaca,, Stephens, Hunter and Carroll colleges, among others, have been the scenes of violent crimes recently. Another reason students may be shocked to hear of violent crimes on their campuses is that schools them selves mislead them, Morrow added. "It is constantly reinforced (to students) what a friendly, warm en vironment the campus is," she said. Students, moreover, may not know about campus crimes because theircampus newspapers don't report them. Campuses, worried about the school's image and protecting victims' privacy, often refuse to reveal campus crimes to reporters. Editors at Southwest Missouri State, West Virginia, Oakland and Southem Arkansas universities have sued during the past year to force ad ministrators to give them informa tion about crime in their communities. Whatever the reasons for the false sense of security, students often in advertently contribute to the campus crime rate by leaving doors unlocked or taking ill-advised nighttime walks around campus alone. "It's important to make students realize that propping open a door could endanger other students," Raymond said, adding that adminis trators also are often lax about pre venting crime. "Schools must real ize that more important than hiring Dr. Wonderful is to provide as safe a campus as possible." OVERHEARD ON CAMPUS The Graffiti Watch I don't know if I’m going to heaven or hell. I just hope God grades on a curve. Andrew Hay University of Texas-Austin Great Moments in Soviet IHumor Allegedly heard on a collective farm in the Soviet Union, v^ere the latest fad is poking fun at the work ethic under Communist rule: Q: Which is better? Individual sex or group sex? A: Group sex. it gives you more time to goof off. Jack Jolly New York University Great Moments in American Humor Q: What do you call someone who knows three languages? A: Trilingual. Q: What do you call someone who knows two languages? A: Bilingual. Q: What do you call someone who knows one language? A; An American Eric Van Bezoolijian University of California- Berkeley SUBS-N-CREAM join us for MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL All Fall Term in the GATHERING PLACE From 8.30 till 12.30 am or when the game is over. GOOD FOOD + GOOD FRIENDS =A GREAT TIME!! Students and Parents Don’t Know Financial Aid (CPS) Students and parents don't know enough about financial aid, the federal General Accounting Office (GAO) says in a new report. The misinformation, the report says, may be effectively shutting the door to college for some. Most families also have serious misconceptions about the cost of a college education, the office said in an August 29 report reviewing several studies on student aid and college costs. "Many students and parents misunderstood aid requirements and thus believed incorrectly that they were ineligible for aid," GAO said in "Higher Education: Gaps in Parents' and Students' Knowledge of School Costs and Federal Aid." For example, the GAO cited a 1980 study that found only 12 per cent of all high school sophomores knew Pell Grants were available to students in their school. Only 8 per cent knew student loans were avail able. Later studies turned up similar results. A 1988 Gallup Poll conducted for the Council of Ad vancement and Support of Educa tion found that almost half the high school students surveyed thought they wereineligible for Pell Grants to attend a high-priced private col lege if their parents could afford to send them to a state college. Pell grants, the largest aid program, are availble to all who qualify. College financial aid directors generally agree. "Most of our parents are very unaware of what's available or how to prepare," observed David Perk ins, aid director at the College of Southem Idaho, a state-run two-year school. Even more confused, Perk ins said, are older students who didn't even have a high school counselor. "Those people are really in the dark." "Very few parents are familiar with the specifics of financial aid, although they all know there's fi nancial aid out there," added Richard Toomey, financial aid director at Santa Clara (Califp University. ST. ANDREWS BUSINESS CLUB. HURRY!!! Only 15 left!! IF YOU WANT ONE CALL EDDIE BROWN AT 277-8955. Student Excused From Dissecting Cat >; (CPS) i In a compromise with her school^! Community College of Rhode Island nursing student Rosann Charron won an 18-month-old fight to avoid, having to dissect a cat in a class sheC’ needed to get her degree. On Aug. 29, the college agreed tOj let Charron, who contended raising, cats for the purpose of being dis->' sected is immoral, take an alternative; human anatomy class at the^ University of Rhode Island instead; Anti-War : Student Protest ' (CPS) ; About 50 University of Colo-- rado at Boulder and about 300 Uni versity of California at Berkeley students separately protested the U. S. military buildup in the Middle East- Aug. 30, among the first such cam pus demonstrations since Iraq in vaded Kuwait. Students on both campuses spoke against "dying for oil profits" and called on Americans to solve the cri sis by decreasing their energy con sumption. In Philadelphia, the American Friends Service Committee, a paci fist Quaker group, reported it has been "flooded" with 500 calls from ' soldiers asking how to become an official "conscientious objector" who would be excused from combat duty. COLLEGE REP WANTED to distrlbuts "Student Rate" subscrition cards at this campus. Good incom©. For information and application write to: COLLEGIATE MARKETING SERVICES 303 W. Center Ave Moorsville, N.C. 28115 tel: 704 / 663 - 0963 (
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