FOCUS SIDEBAR: Admissions says crime does not deter students

Admissions officials said yesterday that although applicants are concerned about security, it is not foremost on students' minds during the application process. They added that they do not think the University is losing students because of worry over crime. "It is hard for us to qualify -- it is hard to get the pulse of people who you don't know," Admissions Officer Eric Furda said. "But I don't think we are losing out." Officials said students interested in attending college in an urban environment seem prepared to accept crime in exchange for the cultural activities that a metropolis like Philadelphia offers. Furda, who covers the five-county Philadelphia area, said the prospective applicants he encounters understand what life in an urban area entails. "They see the positive aspects of the city, but see crime as one of the negatives," Furda said. Furda said high school students and their parents tend to be concerned that the University is being progressive in its approach to crime. Admissions officers tell the students about security measures like Escort Service and the 75-person campus police force, as well as crime education programs that the University offers, Furda said. "They have to decide whether they want an urban environment or not," he said. "And they should be making choices like that because the city isn't for everybody." Admissions Dean Willis Stetson said yesterday that campus security is a bigger national issue and a bigger concern of applicants than it was five or 10 years ago. Some suburban institutions have higher percentages of crime per student on campus than the University, Stetson said. "This will allow the reality of the situation to come more cleary into focus," Stetson said. He said though students in the area immediately surrounding Philadelphia are more aware of crime at the University, students have not indicated more concern about crime in the light of several highly publicized crimes this semester. The October 19 robbery of a College junior in which two men in a van grabbed the student's bag, dragged her 30 feet and ran over her, was publicized by media across the city. Stetson also said that students in urban areas are more worried about campus crime because they know about security problems in a large city.

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