‘Trust your instincts’ on safety

A year after the murder of freshman Taylor Behl, VCU students are more aware of online and physical safety issues.

“The whole situation made us more aware of all the tools and vehicles that students use to communicate and for us to think about our responsibility to educate people,” said Henry Rhone, vice provost for student affairs and enrollment services.

He said former Student Government Association president Eddie O’Leary showed administrators the ins and outs of Facebook.com and MySpace.com, including the dangers of adding too much personal information.

Rhone said he hopes students are taking precautions.

“It really is the individual’s responsibility. You can’t monitor and control what people are doing, so you hope they are learning a bit from all that’s happening and govern themselves accordingly,” he said.

Tammy McKeown, who works with victims of sexual assault and domestic violence in the Office of Health Promotion, said millions of people can see what students post on the Internet. She encourages students to perform an “ego-search” by typing their own name into search engines to see what comes up. That way, they know what potential employers, family and others might see about them.

Recently, an ego-search turned up a data leak in the School of Engineering. In August, a student Googling herself discovered a security leak that left the names, social security numbers and e-mail addresses of 2,100 students exposed. VCU has since removed the information and contacted affected students.

But, networking Web sites can be positive, Rhone said. Students got a jump on discussing a book assigned to all freshmen.

“I just heard this morning that a lot of students used Facebook or MySpace, developing social groups before they got here and discussing the book ‘Freakonomics.’ That’s a good thing. You want those kind of things to happen,” he said.

As for physical safety, McKeown said students should trust their gut instinct.

“Trust your instincts. Get out of any situation as soon as it makes you uncomfortable,” she said.

Students need to take precautions, including moving in groups, keeping an eye on their drinks at parties and using the buddy system.

“Use the buddy system and follow through,” she said. “Agree to leave together, which is probably the most important part of the buddy system.”

Few sexual assaults are by strangers, McKeown said.

“There’s this misperception about the stranger behind the bushes, when you’re actually much likely to be assaulted by someone you know. Ninety percent of sexual assaults in Virginia are by someone known by the victim.”

Behl had a months-long relationship with Benjamin Fawley, who told police he accidentally killed her during erotic asphyxiation.

Rhone said the University Police are aware of suspicious people.

“On campus, I think our VCU police are pretty alert to people floating in and out of the community that may be involved in illegal activities.”

Police are balancing a presence that tells people they can get help but not that things are unsafe, Rhone said. He cited the T.I. and Yung Joc back-to-school concert as an event that went well.

“The police were there. The students had a great time from all I’ve heard. It wasn’t as some students would say to ‘harass people,’ but just to be there to make sure nobody misbehaved,” he said.

VCU’s renewed focus on cutting down on student misbehavior led to an increase in reported crime.

“There were 630 violations of the rules and procedures over the last year, this from around 379 from the previous year,” Board of Visitors member Michele Romano said at the group’s meeting Aug. 24.

Romano, who has a doctorate from VCU School of Medicine, said it wasn’t an increase in violent crime.

“They attribute that to more students on campus, everybody being a little bit more watchful. Most of the violations were for alcohol and drugs, and most were by freshmen.”

Rhone agreed.

“A lot of it is underage drinking. Somebody with a can of beer or whatever it might be. That’s what’s pushed ours up,” he said.

Rhone is optimistic, he said, because new students are bolder about seeking answers and resources.

“Students are not shy about seeking out things,” he said. “That’s a good thing. There’s more of a feeling of community here, so people are asking each other questions.”