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SNOW DAZE
List proves WSSUNOT dangerous campus Katrina Robinson Editor-in-Chief @krobinson110
Photo courtesy of Jasmine Bragg
Photo courtesy of Lilyanna Sum
Campus was closed and classes were delayed because of inclement weather throughout February. Winston-Salem got up to 6 inches of snow.
The website StartClass.net listed Winston-Salem State among the 25 most dangerous colleges Feb. 3. However, 16 days later StartClass.net revised the list — removing WSSU in the process — and issued an apology on their website. “…We identified an error in the original analysis of the data used in the Feb. 3, 2015 report on dangerous colleges in the United States, which resulted in an incorrect ranking of college. We’ve reached out to the various publications that ran stories using the original data to provide them with the updated rankings.” The first list included three universities from North Carolina, with WSSU ranking the highest at No. 10. The other two schools on the first list were North Carolina Central at No. 11 and Wake Forest at No. 23. State University of New York at Plattsburgh was ranked at No. 1. The new list excludes WSSU, NCCU and WFU, but added three North Carolina HBCUs: Shaw at No. 7; St. Augustine at No. 9; Livingstone at No. 19. A representative at FindTheBest, the company that owns the website, emailed the Argus. “We sincerely apologize for any confusion and inconvenience this data issue has caused.” The representative also said to direct any concerns to FindTheBest’s director of public relations, Hillary Foss.
Campus Crime Blotter Tuesday Feb. 3 Communicating Threats At 3 a.m. a female student needed a campus police escort from Gleason-Hariston Terrace Hall to Martin-Schexnider Hall. She said she was afraid of her roommate because she threatened to kill her. The parents of the threatened student are in the process of pressing charges against the roommate. The case is pending.
Wednesday Feb. 4 Harassment by Phone At 3:57 a.m. in MartinSchexnider a female student told campus police that she was getting harassed by a male student through text messages from unknown numbers. She said she and the male were study partners, but he wanted to do more than study. She did not feel the same way, so he harassed her. The case was sent to Student Conduct.
Wednesday Feb. 18 Disorderly Conduct At 4:37 p.m. in Hall-Patterson during class male student called a female classmate “slow” as she walked out of the classroom. When another female student defended her classmate about the comment. He then started yelling at her, and she responded, “Oh, you going to fry me now?” The argument escalated. The professor called campus police. The case was sent to Student Conduct.
Foss could not be reached for comment. Virgil Lessane, the person responsible for compiling the list of all the criminal activity at WSSU, said the report was absolutely false and the site should not be considered credible because it does not state clearly what classifies a university as dangerous. “The list says ‘most dangerous’ but our crimes aren’t violent,” Lessane said. StartClass.net measured the crime rates per 1,000 students at universities with an enrollment of at least 1,000. WSSU enrollment is approximately 6,200. Neither lists included an criminal activity. The data used for the list is from 2011 to 2013. StartClass.net said they retrieved their data from the Office of Postsecondary Education, which Lessane said really means they logged onto the WSSU website and collected data from crime logs. The most common criminal offenses at WSSU are petty thefts and simple assaults. Anyone can access that data from the crime logs by clicking under the administration tab on the website. “We got things like stealing parking decals and throwing Dr. Pepper bottles at [one another],” Lessane said. “But we’re a violent campus?”
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Sunday Feb. 22 Communicating Threats At 2:56 p.m. in MartinSchexnider Hall two males, one a student, were in the lobby yelling and being disruptive. The RA told them to be quiet. One male responded, “I’m going to drop your b*tch a**.” The other male said, “You heard that. That was a threat.” Campus police was called. The case was sent to Student Conduct.
Monday Feb. 23 Affray At 12:03 a.m. in Wilson Hall female suitemates were trying to have meeting about issues that were going on in the suite. During the meeting a female said something that made her upset. She ran to her room and closed the door. Another female ran behind her and asked, “What is the problem?” They argument escalated, and the female hit her in the face and pinned her to the bed. The case was sent to Student Conduct.
Source: WSSU Department of Police and Public Safety Compiled by Dysheada Reid