Keeping students and staff safe is one of the priorities of Eastern’s administration.

Dan Nadler, vice president for student affairs, said Eastern is a safe campus and has done impressive things in making sure technology and staff members are up to date.

“There is nothing more important than the safety and security of students, faculty and staff,” Nadler said. “That’s our number one goal.”

The 1992 Clery Act requires every public university to put together a campus security annual report. The Clery Act requires public colleges and universities in the United States to disclose information about crimes on and around campuses. All reports must be available to students and staff on line through the school’s Web site or through the Clery Web site.

Within the last year, Eastern has had an increase of burglaries on campus from 11 in 2006 to 17 in 2007. Arrests for liquor violations and liquor law violations, however, have declined by half from 2006 when there was 17 arrests for liquor law violations. Disciplinary referrals for liquor law violations totaled 687 in 2006 as well.

Weapon possession has also decreased in past years. In 2006, there were four weapons reported to be on campus. In 2007, there were no reports.

“Crime stats are increasingly important when you’re in an area that is really open to crime,” Nadler said.

“It is certainly helpful to the community as well as the university.”

University Police Chief Adam Due also believes safety is important.

“I think it’s important that crime statistics be reported so that current students, faculty, staff and prospective students can look up and see how safe our environment is,” Due said.

Due said prior to the Clery Act, there really was no requirement to report any crime statistic in an organized or public fashion.

He added the requirement is “a little over done.”

“I think it’s a little over done because students just don’t come here for low crime rates,” Due said.

He added the reports include arrest, violations and referrals from the University Police Department, Office of Student Standards and the Charleston Police Department.

At Western Illinois University, the burglary rates for on campus and in residence halls remained about the same with two additional reports added to the amount in 2006. Violations of the liquor laws on campus increased from 163 reports to 176 reports in 2007.

Bob Fitzgerald, Director of Public Safety at Western Illinois University, said most burglaries are not from students breaking into a location, but rather from students leaving their residence doors open.

He added other items such as iPods are stolen.

“We do a lot to keep our students safe on campus,” Fitzgerald said.

In the past years, WIU has created emergency alert systems and public address speaker systems.

“Our police are trained for rapid responses and they try to keep it in the forefront for our students and staff,” Fitzgerald said.

At Northern Illinois University, the arrest rates for liquor and drug violations have decreased during the years.

However, NIU’s burglary rate increased from 44 reports in 2006 to 58 reports in 2007.

Both Nadler and Fitzgerald said they are impressed with their university police departments.

“I’ve been impressed from my advantage point how effectively and efficiently our UPD has been able to get necessary details and solve a crime,” Nadler said. “The institution historically has been aggressive in looking at campus safety crime prevention.”

Brittni Garcia can be reached at 581-7942 or at bmgarcia@eiu.edu.