Student Precautions Extend Beyond Residence Halls

By: Amy Saramago
Posted In: News

Most Salve students can’t wait for the junior year; finally, they’ll be able to live completely on their own. Off campus housing is like the reward after living two years on campus dealing with roommate drama, those meddlesome RA’s, sharing bathrooms and cramped closet-sized rooms. Students look forward to the benefits and freedom of living off campus, being able to live without authority figures is a fantasy come true.

The reality is some of these students might be getting more freedom than they can handle. With about 700 juniors and seniors, living off campus in about 150 different households, it is impossible for Salve to protect them as they could on campus. When you move off campus and into a city like Newport, you have to protect yourself and house, or else you’ll just become another crime statistic.

In 2005, according to CrimeNumbers.com, Newport had 100 violent crimes including 16 cases of forcible rape, 13 cases of robbery and 81 cases of aggravated assaults. Property crimes were even more common totaling 1157 in all, 241 cases of burglary, 861 cases of larceny or theft and 55 cases of motor vehicle theft. Salve students need to realize that these numbers could apply to them if they don’t use common sense and safe security measures.

“Newport is a city, it has a lot of the same problems other cities have, crime, violence, students need to know that off campus living is safe but brings the challenges of living in an urban environment,” said Gerry Willis, associate dean of students at Salve. Although he believes all students need to be safe while walking downtown late at night, he acknowledges that because these students are living off campus they are easier targets for crimes. Willis encourages students to lock their doors because there have been a number of break-ins this year due to students not keeping doors locked. Students become targets of break-ins because the community knows when students go to classes during the day, or leave for breaks, they leave their valuables in the house. Therefore, it is smart for Salve students to leave lights on when they leave, to take valuables with them if they leave for extended periods, and to lock doors and windows when they go out.

Another off campus issue often neglected is fire safety. “A number of years ago we lost a student, David Bullman, he died in a fire because he didn’t get out,” explained Willis. He cautions students, warning that fire hazards do exist, students need to make sure smoke detectors work, that they have exit plans in case of an emergency and that fire escapes are accessible through working windows.

One advantage of being an off campus student at Salve rather than other schools, is the excellent working relationship between Salve and the Newport police. Recently, in October of 2005, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention honored the university’s partnership with the Newport police as one of the best in the nation. The perk of this relationship is that students can get help from Salve, the police or both. In most cases, students should notify the police first for emergency help, and then the police will contact Salve with any information they might need to know. In regards, to Salve’s assistance to off campus students, “Anything that we could do to help students we would do. In the past we have had students assaulted by non-students in Newport and we’ve helped transport them to the hospital, gotten them to health services, or notified their parents, we try to help the students that way,” said Willis.

According to Newport police officer, Kevin Parsonage, the biggest role they play in helping Salve students is by educating. He often speaks to students in both off campus houses and in residence halls, hoping to make them understand that their decision could have dire consequences. “I hope I can hit every freshman and sophomore and give them as much advice as I can before they head into the adult world. Often these students are fooled and blinded to the outside world,” said Parsonage. In efforts to keep Newport safe, the police station is currently putting together a free four-week course on women’s self-defense. Parsonage encourages Salve students to participate by signing up with Sarah Kelley in the community service department.

Parsonage also wanted to advise students to be careful of fighting roommates because it’s considered domestic assault violence. “Domestic assault violence is often a daily occurrence, it is anything from pushing, shoving, throwing things, to using forks and knives, to stabbings, it is any violence between two cohabitants living together,” said Parsonage. Although this kind of violence is seldom fatal, it could wind up with other negative effects like injuries, being sued or the incident could end up on your personal police record.

Parsonage believes, however, that in a diverse community like Newport the biggest problem is personal safety. “When students are drinking, they let their awareness and guard down which makes them not protect themselves,” said Parsonage. Newport, which has more alcohol establishments per capita than most other towns, feels the effect of crimes related to drinking. It’s known that alcohol affects the brain and its ability to react and make judgments, which could cause students to do things they normally may not do, like fight.

Parsonage doesn’t believe that off campus partying contributes to the likelihood of violent or property crimes but, “Off campus partying decreases the quality of life issues like noise, trash, parking and fights.” In situations dealing with calls about fights, Parsonage admits that every situation is different. “We remain restrained and try to use the least amount of force to gain control of the situation. Most often large fights disperse when we arrive, but it is not uncommon for us to arrest 10 to 15 individuals,” said Parsonage.

Even with these safety issues, these statistics won’t keep most sophomores or junior students from moving off campus next year because the advantages of living off campus outweigh these possible problems. Off campus SGA member, Ashley Bickford, said, “Newport is a really nice community. I think we are really lucky to go here because Salve has good relations with Newport and has established a good support system for students living off campus.” Bickford’s advice for off campus students is to check smoke detectors, have batteries on hand and talk to roommates about locking doors and windows at night and when leaving. SGA has a specific committee about Safety and Security and their number one priority is to take care of any concerns students have. Students can voice their concerns either by emailing their SGA member or by attending the open SGA meetings Mondays at 8:45 p.m. on the first floor in Wakehurst.