Campus Crime: Be Aware

Award-winning investigative reporter Peter Karl produced this tape which seeks to educate students about the increasing, and often unreported, number of crimes on college campuses. Although some of the observations seem strange (i.e.--" Every student who goes to college this fall will be the victim of a crime or will know another student who will be the victim before he or she graduates."), much of the evidence presented is hard-hitting. On-camera hostess Deborah Norville, a television reporter, narrates the program, which is divided into three sections: in the first part, we are given statistics about crime on-campus and the numerous crimes that go unreported by colleges which happen off-campus. Occasionally, the examples given seem to fall into "the context of no context." For example, one incident we are told about concerns a student who was killed by her boyfriend (who then took his own life) off-campus. The college did not report the crime in their campus statistics. The story is presented as if, ipso facto, it means something. But what, precisely, does it mean? It sounds like a tragic tale, but what does "on-campus," "off-campus," or for that matter, campus itself have to do with it? The second part of the program examines rape, citing more statistics of rapes reported on campus, as well as speculations from rape crisis centers on the number of unreported rapes. In the final section, the tape offers suggestions for protection which are mostly common sense ("plan ahead," "avoid dark areas," "don't talk to strangers," etc.) Since the program as a whole does indeed serve the function of alerting prospective students to the very real dangers of campus crime (it would certainly make college bound kids think seriously about the problem), it is recommended. (Available from: Karl Productions, 316 Addison, Elmhurst, IL 60126.)