Category Archives: Uncategorized

Long-time EMUTalk.org commentator “Alum” sent me some crime statistic data a while ago, and I am just now procrastinating long enough from the work I should be doing during finals week finding the time to make this available here. It’s interesting stuff.

Here’s a chart that breaks down the data, comparing EMU to other state universities in Michigan:

Here is a link to a slightly bigger version of this chart (in case it’s not as easy to read as would be ideal).

Here is the “fine print” Alum provided with this chart:

Burglary is the unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or a theft.

Illegal Weapons Possession is defined as the violation of laws or ordinances prohibiting the manufacture, sale, purchase, transportation, possession, concealment, or use of firearms, cutting instruments, explosives, incendiary devices or other deadly weapons. This classification encompasses weapons offenses that are regulatory in nature.

Robbery is the taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of force or violence and/or by putting the victim in fear.

Larceny is the illegal taking and carrying away of personal property belonging to another with the purpose of depriving the owner of its possession. Note that several of EMU burglaries were classified as larceny prior to the Dickenson Murder.

Reliability of the above data: 99% of the Criminal Offenses for 2007 is taken from the U.S. Dept. Education Web site. The arrest data is from University Web sites.

In looking at all of the data sets there are multiple sites, multiple tables, and subsets of data that become very confusing. Other than the Cleary Reports, which are sometimes difficult to find (Wayne State’s is either not there, or it’s buried somewhere), crime data and how it’s presented does not appear to be uniform. I have the same for minority/racial data, which also seems to lag behind one to two years. The best source of racial/minority data is the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). Please be aware that there are many crimes that are classified as being reported to other authorities on campus, rather than the police. I have not researched every U. in regard to this, however, U of M’s Student Affairs Office handles sexual harassment issues that could also be considered sexual criminal conduct.

Besides the obvious argument of this data– that is, crime at EMU is for the most part lower or comparable to other institutions– I’d like to make two other observations:

• This all seems pretty reliable to me, but I am presenting this as data that hasn’t been collected and/or verified by me personally. Take with some grain of salt.
• The biggest crime problem on campus is clearly burglary. This brings up two other issues that we’ve talked a great deal about in the recent past on EMUTalk.org. First, there is the infamous missing/lost keys issue which clearly contributes to this high number. Second, there is also clearly a problem with people forgetting to lock their doors to offices, dorm rooms, and (I guess this counts for this) cars. Now, I don’t know the percentages here, but I do know that an unlocked door makes for a pretty easy petty theft. So lock ‘em up, people!

More or less in this chronological order, here are some of my favorite posts of 2008 (after the “Read More” break). I have to say that I think that my favorite headline for last year was Does the EMU student center smell like poo? But feel free to take a look through these and the archives and nominate some favs of your own.
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Now that everyone’s turkey/Emu omlettes have settled:

EMUTalk.org regular Public Crabgrass sent me a link to a provocative story very worthy of sharing here: “Transformation 101,” which was in the Washington Monthly and written by Kevin Carey, who is a researcher at a D.C. education think-tank. I’m not entirely sure I agree with the basic premise of the article, that technology has “transformed” education, thus making it possible to teach “better” with fewer teachers. But Carey makes a lot of intriguing observations in a complex piece that deserves to be read.

One quote about sports and buildings that I will share for now that connects to some of what we’ve been talking about at EMUTalk.org lately. Carey’s argument that the cost of instruction is going down, and colleges/universities are spending the money on increased tuition in other places, including sports and building projects:

The NCAA recently revealed that among 119 Division I-A universities, the typical athletic department lost $9.3 million in 2006. That’s up from $6.1 million in 2004, a 50 percent jump in just two years. The growing deficits have to be made up from other sources, like tuition. And construction spending is always popular; new libraries, buildings, and student centers with climbing walls are good for marketing purposes—and they create plenty of blank space on which to engrave the names of generous alumni.

But like I said, read the whole thing– a very good article. And thanks for the link, PC!

EMUTalk.org regular Mark Higbee sent me a link to an interesting article in the most recent Chronicle of Higher Education, “Studies link use of part-time instructors to lower student success.” Here are the opening paragraphs:

At a time when colleges are under increasing financial pressure to rely more on part-time faculty, three new studies suggest that doing so erodes the quality of education many students receive.

Part-timers’ inability or unwillingness to devote more time to students outside the classroom, the research suggests, results in the denial of important support services to many students—including, often, those who need the most help.

And in a finding that breaks new ground, one of the studies concludes that heavy reliance on part-timers can actually hurt the performance of full-time, tenure-track faculty members.

It’s well worth reading; three quick thoughts for now:
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They’ve called it. It’s that one.

This kind of crosses over into more of the political than I usually go here at EMUTalk.org, but I couldn’t resist:

As I noticed via the Ypsi City Desk this afternoon, for the upcoming presidential campaign, the Ann Arbor News has joined the ranks of the firmly uncommitted. Or, more accurately perhaps, “For president: flawed candidates, no endorsement.” Not to spoil it too much, here’s the last few paragraphs:

These are both good men at heart. Both, we are sure, are well intentioned.

Yet both have indulged in campaigning that is beneath them. Each has distorted the record and the positions of the other. This campaign – which held the promise of, for once, possibly remaining civil and grounded in issues – has sunk into the mud like the rest of them. All four candidates on the major-party tickets have participated in that, to varying degrees. And all four should be embarrassed.

Our political endorsements aren’t really meant to tell people how to vote, but rather to add to the public discussion on important issues. In this race, some will surely see this lack of endorsement as a cop-out or a lack of courage. So be it. For us, it’s simply a reflection of reality.

One of these two men will win on Election Day. Whoever he is, here’s hoping he proves us wrong.

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For better or worse, the bailout passed and was quickly signed into law last week. What does it all mean? Well, if you get a chance this weekend or remember to download it Monday for free, take a listen to this episode of This American Life that explains the whole Wall street mess in language even a non-money person like me can understand. I think it was on WEMU yesterday, and I think it is on Michigan Public Radio today. But on Monday, you can download a podcast version of it for free from the link above.

And, according to the article on the CHE’s blog/web site “Bailout Bill, With Benefits for Student Lenders, Passes Congress,” this will help student loan borrowers too.

I heard the story yesterday on WEMU, and now it is available here as an MP3. As I understand it, the Ypsi city council formally approved the first reading for an ordinance that would make the big LED billboard possible. It would be owned/operated by Adams Outdoor Advertising and the city would make around $35,000 a year in the deal.

As reported in the story, I very much agree with council member Brian Robb who thinks that since EMU is going to be getting a fair amount of free advertising on the sign owned by the city that EMU ought to give something back. Robb’s suggestion was that EMU pony up to pave College place and/or leave the College of Business parking lot open on the weekends to help out downtown.

I’m not sure how much difference opening the CoB parking lot will make– it isn’t exactly hard to find a parking spot in downtown Ypsi right now. But College Place is in pretty horrible shape, and as one of the thousands of EMU folk who drive on that road on a nearly daily basis, I wish the university and the city would sort that out and fix it.

I should have checked my sitedad email yesterday:  rumor/reasonably good source has it that VP for Enrollment Services Tom Green has resigned.  According to the email, Green is resigning because his wife found a better job and he is following her, but I also have to think that with enrollments down as much as they are, there might be some other complicating factors.