How Students Feel in Terms of Safety at Frostburg State University

With all that his been going on lately, such as the stabbings at a high school in Murrysville, Pennsylvania (near Pittsburgh) just yesterday, the death of Frostburg State University student Lateef Gazal only a few months ago, the fatal stabbing of Kortneigh McCoy (also an FSU student) in 2011, and with it being Sexual Assault Awareness Month, it is not unreasonable to wonder how safe students feel on campus at FSU.

Freshman International Studies major Persephone Kline says she sometimes feels safe, but "other times, not really." She says this is due to "not a lot of well-lit areas, and sometimes the attitudes of certain people." Kline is from Pylesville, Maryland. Fellow freshman RaQuon Edwards says that he rates how safe he feels on a scale of one to ten (with ten being the most safe, and one being the least safe) with a 6. "I don't feel like there's enough security on campus. Like at night, it's really dangerous," he says. Edwards is a Marketing and Social Justice major, with a minor in Women's Studies. His hometown is Annapolis, Maryland.

Junior and Social Work major Stephanie Billard from Waldorf says that on a scale of one to ten (in reference to how safe she feels), she gives Frostburg State's campus a 7 or 8. She says "I don't ever feel threatened while walking around campus," and that she feels "pretty safe." Senior Wildlife Major (and Ethnobotany minor) Becca Hiller from Middletown, Maryland, says she feels "pretty good" in terms of safety. She adds that she feels slightly more vulnerable than normal due to having an injured right hand, but that it doesn't make a major difference, because she still feels like she can defend herself sufficiently.

 Sophomore and Mathematics major Chris Colwander says "As a 6-foot-3, 300-pound man, I feel pretty damn safe." He rates on campus safety with an 11 on a scale of 1 to 10. He is from Rockville, Maryland, which he says is less safe than Frostburg. Finally, junior Wildlife and Fisheries major Sarah Pesi, from Arnold (Maryland), gives her views. She rates safety with an 8, and says "I feel safe", but that "at night it can be a little iffy... Just at night I feel like I need to be more cautious." Overall, students seem to feel relatively safe, except for at night.