My family lived on or near the Idaho State University campus during several recent years.
We felt safe - a particularly wonderful feeling for us - after moving west from urban areas in the northeast.
Our second daughter was born in Pocatello, so the community will always have a special glow for my family.
In fact, we were living and teaching at ISU when the tragic Virginia Tech shooting happened. Vigorous discussion of that massacre, especially on campuses across the nation and world, made the incident a striking contrast to Pokey's mellow social climate.
Looking back to ISU, that rests in a town where everyone smiles at you when you walk by, I wasn't too surprised to read that ISU has been ranked the seventh safest campus in the United States by The Daily Beast, a national news website.
This is the second consecutive year that ISU was ranked as one of the 10 safest campuses in the nation.
According to ISU University Relations, this is the Daily Beast’s second-annual ranking of the safest and most dangerous colleges in the U.S. It used the "three most recent calendar years of campus security and crime data (2006-2008) compiled by the U.S. Department of Education, as well as the FBI and the Secret Service, in conjunction with the Clery Act, the federal mandate requiring all schools that receive federal funding to disclose crime information annually." The report reflects incidents reported to campus or local police, not convictions.
Different crimes were weighted again each other. For example, murder carried more importance than burglary. Incidents both on-campus and nearby were considered.
"We have great support and assistance from the Pocatello Police Department, their officers and their Neighborhood Watch program," said Stephen Chatterton, ISU director of public safety. "Our Public Safety staff is dedicated and works hard at keeping the campus safe. Our students, staff and faculty are the best, their support and attitude toward campus safety makes the difference in the quality of our campus atmosphere."
The Daily Beast ranked Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, Wisc., as the safest University in the United States. For a complete list of the 50 safest colleges visit the website listed below.
The Daily Beast has also ranked the 50 colleges with the worst safety rankings.
To view the report go to www.thedailybeast.com and type "safest colleges" in the site’s search engine. The complete website address is http://www.thedailybeast.com/...