Campus Connection

UWL No. 1 in UW, No. 9 nationally according to survey

Parents dropping their college students off at UW-La Crosse this fall have something extra to feel good about. UWL is getting praise for being a safe campus from a national company that helps college students find a good place to live. Rent College Pads ranks UWL No. 1 in the UW System — and No. 9 nationally — for its campus safety. The organization praised UWL’s emergency telephones located throughout campus, along with its professional police force. Rent College Pad’s summary of the campus: UW-La Crosse ranks ninth on our list and first in the UW System for safest college campuses. Due in large part to a fully-sworn police presence and an abundance of emergency telephones scattered throughout campus, only 12 on-campus crimes were reported from 2010-2014, which is fairly impressive considering an enrollment size of almost 11,000 students. “We’re happy to see that our campus is being recognized for the hard work of our police officers and campus community,” says Chris Schuster, a Police Detective with UWL University Police. “University Police continue to work with our students, faculty and staff to help ensure that we have the safest campus possible.” Rent College Pads analyzed more than 500 four-year public and private colleges and universities with 5,000 or more students. To establish its list, it used information and statistics from the U.S. Department Education’s Campus and Security database. Criminal offenses on-campus from the 2010-14 were analyzed and compared with the institution size to determine the school’s Crime Index (Crime Index = Institution size/number of criminal offenses on campus). Schools with a majority of students enrolled online were not included in the study. Other universities in Wisconsin on the “25 Safest College Campuses in 2016” list included: Concordia University in Mequon, No. 2, and UW-River Falls, No. 22. See the complete list of colleges at: http://www.rentcollegepads.com/blog/25-safest-college-campuses-in-2016/