Behind the numbers

Stephanie Hsu’s eyebrows arched in a look of surprise as
she found out UCLA’s crosstown rival boasts a lower crime
rate and a safer school environment than UCLA.

“Look at the area,” Hsu, a second-year economics and
international studies student, said. “It doesn’t seem
right for them to say that.”

But that’s just what a group of people aiming to attract
future Trojans are saying ““ that their school, already
catching up with UCLA in terms of incoming students’ grade
point averages and test scores, has caught up as far as campus
safety is concerned, as well.

Printed under the headline “Interesting USC Facts,”
in the 2002 football media guide, USC said “statistics show
USC’s crime rate is lower (one-third less) than that of
UCLA.”

But according to Nancy Greenstein, UCPD press aide, USC’s
report of having a lower crime rate than UCLA is misleading.
Greenstein states that USC compared the 1999-2000 raw data without
taking into account the faculty, student and visitor population
and, thus, was able to show that it has a lower crime rate.

“Basically, they are comparing apples to oranges instead
of apples to apples,” Greenstein said.

Besides disregarding the size of the campus population,
Greenstein said the report did not include local statistics, which
means that any crime a USC student reported to the LAPD instead of
the campus police will not be included in the data.

USC also did not include the numbers from the county hospital,
while UCLA included the numbers from the Medical Plaza in its
report. According to Greenstein, taking into account all of these
factors would drastically change the numbers.

Mary Beth Murrill, USC press aide, acknowledged a computational
error had indeed been committed and said USC is now in the process
of verifying and double-checking all of the information.

“Somebody dropped the ball,” Murrill said.

According to the memorandum sent out by the UCPD, during the
1999-2000 school year, UCLA reported 4.5 crimes per 1,000 people,
whereas at USC, that number is 5.3 per 1000 people. The number
includes aggravated assaults, rape and attempted rape among other
crimes. When it comes to car thefts, USC reported a 1.43 crime per
1,000 people, while UCLA reported a 0.69 crime per 1,000
people.

All of the crime statistics are available to the public under
the 1998 amendment to the Higher Education Act.

The amendment mandates all postsecondary institutions receiving
federal aid to provide statistics on criminal offenses, hate crimes
and arrests that occurred on campus, in residence halls, in some
non-campus buildings, and on nearby public property.

Named after Jeanne Clery, a freshman from Lehigh University who
was assaulted and murdered in her dorm room, the Clery Reports
allow prospective students to view the crime rates in the
universities of their choice.

The information provided in the Clery Reports was used by USC to
show it has a lower crime rate. It was printed in the media guide,
a collection of player rosters, game summaries, biographies,
statistics and other information.

Michael Sondheimer, the UCLA athletic department’s
director of recruiting, said it is typical for schools to attempt
to make themselves look good in order to attract athletes.

“It’s interesting that USC would use campus safety
to make themselves look better,” Sondheimer said. “But
it’s the nature of the game.”

Gretchen Davis, a lecturer in the UCLA statistics department,
cautioned that while “it’s a natural thing” for
any school to try to make itself look good, students need to be
skeptical about any information.

“They can easily be fooled by the presentation of the
material,” Davis said. “Students need to be able to get
a fair picture of what’s going on.”

According to the University of California Web site, crime rates
have increased by 19 percent university-wide. The number is up from
95 crimes in 2000 to 113 in 2001. The percentage of car thefts has
also increased university-wide by 9 percent.

Sara Lopez, a nurse at the UCLA Medical Plaza, said she has no
qualms about walking through campus at night. She said she is more
fearful walking along the basement of the Medical Plaza where no
one is usually around.

“It’s spooky. Nobody is asking what I’m doing
there,” Lopez said. “But, here, I feel safe. I have no
problem walking around campus.”