It's sort of a campus murder mystery: Washington State Universityin Pullman and the University of Oregon in Eugene, Ore., are listedas murder/manslaughter sites in a recent release of college crimestatistics. Yet, no member of either campus community actually wasmurdered.
The reasons? A WSU student died of an accidental heroin overdosein 1998.
"It was listed as a manslaughter because WSU attempted to chargethe suppliers of the drugs with manslaughter," said Hugh Imhof,director of the WSU news bureau. "The county prosecutor didn't goalong with the idea," but that's still how the death is listed.
The University of Oregon murder/manslaughter incident happened in1997.
"The university owns some property near the railroad tracks, anda transient was murdered by two other transients," said Tom Hicks,the university's associate director of public safety.
The two incidents are part of a recent campus safety profilecompiled by the U.S. Department of Education and posted on theInternet recently. Although the numbers sometimes need a littleinterpreting, they are intended to give parents, students andfaculty a picture of campus safety.
The statistics are a result of what is sometimes called the CleryAct. In Bethlehem, Penn., a 19-year-old Lehigh University freshmannamed Jeanne Ann Clery was murdered in her dorm room in 1986. Herparents discovered that students hadn't been told about 38 violentcrimes on the campus in the prior three years. They helped persuadeCongress to pass the Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act of1990.
About two weeks ago, all the information was posted on a Website, www.ope.ed.gov/security /search.asp.
This state's statistics include 115 schools, ranging from MountVernon Beauty School (34 students) to the University of Washington(35,000 students.) Most job-training schools have little in the wayof violent-crime statistics, although in 1999 a student assaulted ateacher in of all places Seattle's Court Reporting Institute.
In addition to the more eye-catching categories of violentcrimes, other listings include car theft, burglary and arson. Mostschools also have categories for drug- and alcohol-related arrests,as well as campus disciplinary action for drug and liquorviolations.
Clark County's two public colleges have pretty clean lines in thefour major categories: no incidents at all on Washington StateUniversity's Vancouver campus, while Clark College had twoaggravated assaults in 1997 and one in 1998. One of those assaultcases didn't even involve a Clark student or faculty member.
"Three people were in a car that was driving through our parkinglot at 2:30 a.m. one morning. It's a common shortcut," said WalterHudsick, head of Clark's safety office. "They got in a fight in thecar."
The closest thing to a crime wave at Clark came in 1997, when thecollege reported nine car thefts.
"That was the winter a car theft ring was stealing Toyotas aroundthe county," Hudsick said. In one instance, Hudsick said, the thiefstole the car so he could drive to a court appearance.
As far as the overall crime information goes, "We don't get a lotof requests, because it's not much of an issue," Hudsick said.
WSU Vancouver is not on the Department of Education's Web site,although its crime statistics are available through the school. Lt.Ed Owens, head of the campus police department, said he's tried toget his numbers into the system, but "the Department of Educationdidn't even know there was a Vancouver campus."
"I am more than happy to brag about how safe we are," Owens said.
WSU Vancouver benefits from its setting and its students, saidLynn Valenter, campus director of finance and operations. Allstudents live off campus, so there are no roommate squabbles,boyfriend-girlfriend disputes or keggers.
"The average age of our students is 30," Valenter said. "You seemore mature behavior from 30-year-olds."
The Pullman campus, on the other hand, has gotten tagged for somecrimes committed 350 miles away. WSU offered a program in hotel-restaurant management at a Seattle site for several years. Onereporting system included crimes committed around that site in WSU'stotal, Imhof said. In 1998, WSU had 52 thefts, six burglaries andnine assaults in that set of statistics. Then WSU moved the programaway from the Seattle site.
"On that same list in 1999, the highest number of anything wasfour," Imhof said.
The University of Oregon knocked its arson rate from 30 in 1997to nine in 1998 by redefining the crime. They excluded dormitorypractical jokes that involve setting stuff on fire and leaving iton, or just outside, somebody's door. That's now categorized asreckless burning. It's still not something students want to see whenthey open their doors, but it's not arson.
ON THE WEB
www.ope.ed.gov /security/search .asp
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