Jonathan Barnhart feels safe at Ball State.
Barnhart, a junior, said although the shooting death in March of Ball State student Karl Harford has made his parents worry about his safety, he has not felt in any danger on campus.
Barnhart is like most students who responded to the Student Speak survey: 80 percent said they feel safe on the Ball State campus. However, once students venture into Muncie, they are inclined to have less of a feeling of safety, the survey suggests. The differences, experts say, make sense. People tend to feel safe when they know their surroundings and see police officers present. Young people, like college students, tend to believe they are immune to acts of violence. But many students can feel uncomfortable in Muncie because they are not familiar with the community.
College campuses often are seen as a safe haven for students because they are surrounded by people their age, said Catherine Bath, program director of Security on Campus Inc., a safety consulting firm for universities.
"It creates an illusion that you are safe where you are," she said.
Robert Fey, associate director of the Department of Public Safety, said when students are on campus, they feel a sense of community and belonging. They feel students are looking out for each other and will not harm each other, he said.
In addition to a familiarity with people, students also can feel safe when they know their surroundings.
Michael Stevenson, interim chairman for the Department of Psychological Science, said people can gain a sense of safety through the physical things around them such as well-lit paths and parking lots.
Barnhart said seeing officers in his residence hall makes him feel safe.
University Police Chief Gene Burton said when he became chief two years ago, his goal was to increase officer presence on campus. Since then, officers on duty, whether on bike, car or foot, have increased 15 to 20 percent, he said.
Some of students' feelings of security starts with parents who try to assure their children that the world is a safe place, Stevenson said. Students hold onto that belief through young adulthood.
"Young people usually have an invincible, 'bad things are not going to happen to me' attitude," Bath said.
However, even as they try to instill a sense of safety on their children, parents do worry about their child's safety. The Students Speak survey showed that 64 percent of students say their parents have shown concern for their children attending Ball State.
Bath said it is normal for parents to be concerned for their child's safety, but she also said it is common for people at the age of 18 or 19 to have not yet realized the world is not a safe place.
Stevenson said college-age people have the ability to ignore what is going on around them, so they see no need to change their behavior.
But sometimes events can cause students to change.
Senior Kristin Spence changed her perspective on her safety when she stopped consuming alcohol after receiving a ticket for driving under the influence.
When she entered Ball State, she didn't have any concerns for her safety because she was too preoccupied by her sudden freedom, she said. When she went out on the weekends and drank alcohol, she wasn't worried about her safety. Today, Spence is concerned about the dangers partygoers can present, she said.
For most Ball State students, the safety they feel on campus fades when they leave campus. Respondents to the Students Speak poll were almost split on whether they felt safe in Muncie.
Stevenson said when students travel into Muncie, they feel less safe because of an unfamiliarity with the area. Students who do not travel off campus much tend to stereotype Muncie residents as lower class and uneducated, he said.
However, Stevenson said students don't have a reason to travel into Muncie much. If students don't know about businesses off campus, they are not going to use them, he said.
Muncie Mayor Dan Canan wants to change that. Canan said he wants to get students more involved in the community so that they gain the familiarity that breeds a sense of security.
Barnhart said when he does travel through Muncie, he often finds himself checking to make sure his doors are locked.
"It's human nature," Barnhart said. "Some places are always going to make you worry about your safety."
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