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NYU Uses Magic Accounting to Fudge Dorm Crime Stats
By
John Del Signore
Published Nov 18, 2008
Modified Nov 18, 2008
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By
John Del Signore
Published Nov 18, 2008
Modified Nov 18, 2008
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The Washington Square News, NYU's student paper, has a juicy article showing how their university artificially deflates campus crime stats by classifying 87% of its residence hall population as "off campus." The exposé sensationally notes that if you're a student who "gets murdered in Rubin residence hall, you were killed off-campus. You missed the cutoff by three blocks." Because it receives federal funds, NYU is required by law to publish its annual crime statistics, but only three of NYU’s 21 undergraduate dorms are technically classified as on-campus. Looking at NYU's report, you might think the school ranks a modest 61st out of the largest 180 universities for substance abuse violations. But when campus and "non-campus" incidents are compiled together, NYU is #2 in the nation (which sounds more like it). Professor Dennis Jay Kenney tells the News, "It clearly sounds to me that they’re trying to circumvent the reporting requirements." Now NYU officials say they'll change the way they present the stats, but it's unclear if this will affect their recent announcement that it would cut back on security.
Tagged
crime
dorm
NYU
off campus
on campus
residence
Stats
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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