Clemson has prided itself on its standard of excellence branching beyond academia and athletics and into student safety, with only .002 crimes per 1,000 students. With such a low crime rate, Clemson was named Safest College in the Nation by collegestats.org last August.
“I feel pretty safe,” Freshman Annie Tinsley said. “Those little blue light things [emergency phones] make me feel safe because I know I could run to one if I needed to. Nighttime is tricky sometimes.”
Tinsley feels that despite the emergency phone stations around campus, some students would still benefit from carrying some sort of personal safety device on their person around campus.
“I don’t think people should carry whatever they want, I think a taser would be okay, but that could be kind of hard to control when people use though,” Tinsley said. “Pepper spray I feel would have the same effect.”
While some students may agree with Tinsley, the Clemson University Police Department (CUPD) does not recommend that students carry weapons.
“No police department I know of recommends that people carry firearms or safety devices because of the liability entailed in that,” Lt. Chris Harrington of CUPD said. “We do encourage people to take an active interest in their own safety and the safety of others, that may take the form of taking a self defense class, and the department offers one.”
Regardless of police recommendations or personal opinion, however, weapons on campus are very much prohibited licensed or not.
“A lot of the regulations on restrictions on what you can and cannot be in possession of is determined by Clemson housing,” Harrington said.
According to University Housing rules and regulations, residents are prohibited to be in possession of or store firearms, explosive devices or weapons of any kind in campus housing. Such weapons may include, but are not limited to, guns, swords, rapiers, BB guns, air pistols, pellet guns, rifles, bows and arrows, knives or martial arts equipment.
According to Lt. Harrington, this regulation is not in place to keep students from protecting themselves, but rather to prevent accidents that may cause harm to the residents of clemson housing or the dormitories themselves. All the same, some students still find themselves in danger.
“I always felt like I was being watched,” said Brittney*, a senior at Clemson.
Brittney was being stalked by a fellow student last year, and only managed to resolve the matter by taking a series of precautions.
“I always carry pepper spray, I always travel in groups, I changed my locks and also made sure people watched me safely get into my apartment at night,” Brittney said. And her stalker only relented after she threatened to call the police if they didn’t stop.
Clemson appears to take an active interest in student safety to ensure incidents like Brittney’s happen as infrequently as possible or not at all, and recommends that students take precautions such as varying their nightly routine, knowing who is at their door before opening it and using the escort and transit services.
*Names of some individuals have been changed to protect their identity.
