Quantifying Campus Safety: Lessons From One University’s Homecoming Disaster

• In Event: Topics in Race and Class

Abstract

Background: Between 2005 and 2022, students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in North Carolina experienced 4.074 times more robberies, 2.931 times more aggravated assaults, 2.066 times more burglaries, and 2.301 times more motor vehicle thefts than students at predominantly White institutions (PWIs). Random effects models suggest HBCU status is significantly associated with higher robbery (2.41, p = .000), aggravated assault (4.34, p = .030), burglary (27.63, p = .030), and vehicle theft (1.94, p = .026) rates, though these models assume no omitted variables are correlated with HBCU status. Hypothesis: We posit that elevated crime rates at HBCUs are driven by neighborhood crime rather than institutional characteristics. Methods: Using zip code-level crime data from the UCR and campus crime data from the U.S. Department of Education, we constructed an institution-year panel of 346 universities over 18 years (N = 6,228). An event-study estimator with an indexed measure of neighborhood crime will assess whether local crime rates, not HBCU status, drive these disparities. Policy Implications: Results will guide policy efforts to enhance safety at HBCUs through targeted safety measures and resource allocation strategies.

Authors

• Danye Medhin, Georgia State University

• Michael D. Tucker, North Carolina Central University

• Nate Juda, University of Mississippi

• Sabrina L. Staples, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

• Qierra Paige, North Carolina Central University