Most UNC Assaults Not Serious

Campus crime statistics indicate that most reported assaults at UNC are not as serious as an incident that occurred this summer.

In July, a female student was assaulted near Coker Arboretum, prompting University police to caution students to take common-sense safety precautions.

Forty-six assaults reportedly took place on campus between Jan. 11, 2000, and July 30, 2001, according to incident reports provided by the Department of Public Safety Records Division.

Among the assaults reported, 40 were classified as simple assaults, three as aggravated assaults and three as assaults on females.

Capt. Mark McIntyre, spokesman for the DPS, said simple assaults can range from any unwanted touching of a person to extreme physical altercations.

Assaults on females are defined as simple assaults with female victims, and aggravated assaults are incidents involving weapons or associated with crimes, such as armed robbery.

Despite evidence that assaults occur on campus, many students say they feel safe.

Clarissa Santos, a junior exchange student majoring in linguistics, said she usually takes typical safety measures at night but has never felt in danger of physical harm. "With emergency call boxes and everything ... it's much easier to tell police what's happening," she said.

Many of the past year's assaults happened near or in residence halls on North and South Campus. But McIntyre said the data does not necessarily mean that residence halls are dangerous areas.

These sections of campus have the highest concentrations of people, McIntyre said, and most incidents were domestic assaults, in which either couples, friends or roommates got in arguments that resulted in physical assaults.

"I think dorms are a safe place to live. ... We don't have a whole lot of stranger attacks," McIntyre said. "Normally, something drives an assault -- people know each other, and they get in a fight and someone gets hurt."

Elements of each incident seem to correlate, McIntyre said. While most assaults occurred near residence halls, most also took place in early morning or evening hours. "I think that goes for when people are home," McIntyre said.

McIntyre also offered a possible explanation for why 36 of the incidents occurred in the spring semester and during the summer.

"I guess in the fall you have a lot of people that are coming back to school. ... They're just getting to know people," he said. "You don't have as many people that could get into a conflict."

Twenty-seven of the reported incidents had male victims. McIntyre said male-oriented assaults are usually the result of arguments, and females are usually subject to more violent assaults. McIntyre said nine times out of 10, females are the target of sexual assaults.

But that statistic doesn't scare Cali Schmitt, a junior international studies major. "It doesn't seem like it happens that often, and generally there's enough security," she said.

Schmitt said stranger assaults seem distant when it doesn't happen to someone close to her, although, being a female, she understands that she is at greater risk. "I think if I were a guy, I wouldn't have as many worries being alone."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.