Boston University’s Annual Security and Fire Safety Report was released Sep. 30 describing BU as having a “comprehensive safety and security program” with university websites, a security council and crisis management team.
BU publishes a crime log every year by Oct. 1 in compliance with the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act of 1990, which requires all universities that receive federal funding to disclose information of crimes and sexual violence in an annual report including the last three years of data.
The report stated there were two fires in April 2021 in West Campus — one in Rich Hall caused by “smoking materials” which caused $100 to 999 in damages and a report of arson in Claflin Hall causing $10,000 to $24,999 in damages.
On the Charles River Campus in 2021, there were eight reports of rape, eight reports of burglary and 17 reports of stalking. There was one hate crime reported as “intimidation based on race on public property.”
BU Spokesperson Colin Riley said BU is a “very safe campus.” He said the BU Police Department is trained to attend to the common issues in the community.
“They’re all professionally trained, especially skilled in dealing with issues of the vast majority of the population that they deal with daily,” Riley said. “They’re trained in sexual assault response, dealing with trauma victims.”
Faye Cattel, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, said with a few exceptions, she generally feels safe on campus.
“Even walking at night between classes, I feel fine,” Cattel said. “It’s pretty safe, just BU students only around here, no creepy people that I see that much.”
Freshman CAS Samantha Blackstein said the BUPD does a good job at notifying students of what is happening on campus and updating when situations have been resolved.
“It’s really good that we’re always aware of the situations, even when Questrom was evacuated for the thing about the packages, like it made me feel safe that they took that precautionary step to evacuate the students,” Blackstein said.
