I wandered through the Founders Hall basement after discovering I was one of the few students that did not receive a pamphlet in my mailbox giving directions on how to look at Guilford’s yearly posted crime statistics. I did not have to go far, however, before finding hundreds of them spilling out of a trashcan five feet away. It did not surprise me that these pamphlets were barely read before being thrown away because, frankly, I most likely would have done the same thing. But it does accurately exemplify our society’s habit of ignoring negative truths.

Every college or university across the world is a tiny community, containing a proportional quantity of our society’s crime. In 1990 the Jeanne Clery Act was passed, which is named in honor of a 19-year-old Lehigh University freshman who was raped and murdered while asleep in her dorm in 1986. This is a federal law, which requires every college or university in the country to keep a publicly accessible yearly crime log, displaying the crime statistics of the previous year.

I assume that each year Guilford’s crime log remains unread by most students. Crime is something our society typically learns about through rumors and an entertainment-biased media, rarely relying on actual facts.

Before coming to college, I had become accustomed to hearing endless advice about how to stay safe and what to be scared of. After arriving at Guilford, the dangers on campus were immediately brought to my attention: rumors of sexual assault, abductions and fighting drunks. Guilford had seven reported sexual assault cases in residential buildings in 2005, whereas other Quaker schools, Earlham and Haverford, both about half the size of Guilford, each had 4. I’m sure the rumors of sexual assault and harassment I repeatedly hear around campus are justified; yet the actual facts show that we aren’t too far from average. When we rely on media and rumors for most of our information, it makes me wonder if we are spreading too much fear in our society, creating false realities, making it more difficult to find the actual truth.

In comparison to other schools of similar size, Guilford’s only statistics that do seem on the high side are drug and alcohol violations. Elon University, for example, which is almost double Guilford’s size, had 33 reported drug violations in 2005 whereas Guilford had 39. Elon made up for it, however, with 351 liquor law violations in 2005 in comparison to Guilford’s 174.

Schools have various ways of enforcement policies. Dorm searches, random drug testing of sports teams, and the number of public safety officers all have an impact on these numbers. The fact that Guilford’s statistics are higher than other Quaker schools, such as Earlham and Haverford, which posses the same values makes one wonder if Guilford is entrapping students in a drug and drinking driven culture? Or are the students simply more frequently caught?

According to Aaron Fetrow, Guilford’s dean for campus life, the only thing making Guilford look bad in comparison to other schools is its honesty.

“I think the positives relate to transparency and the overarching idea here at Guilford that we don’t have anything to hide,” Fetrow said. “The only negative I can see relates to regulation of reporting. For example, we are vigilant about our statistics and they may make us look ‘more unsafe’ than another school who is not so vigilant about recording and reporting.”

It’s impossible to decide how many wrongs a school can rightfully have, but after living within the Guilford community I honestly can say that the only thing about it’s crime culture that has been in the realm of intimidating would be the constant advice and rumors floating through the air. It’s important to find a balance between living in apprehension of what could go wrong and staying safe and aware. Having devices such as the Clery act at our finger tips gives us one more opportunity to do so.