College and universities are great for learning, partying and making friends as well as hot spots for theft, scams, cheap labor and cult recruitment.
Being away from home for the first time can be scary for those from sheltered lives.
The isolation is hard on some people and they can fall prey to bad company and predatory criminals.
Despite the brilliance and talent that some students have, they can be completely clueless when it comes to the unfriendly, outside world.
Few of them have lived outside of the Mom and Dad Hotel and fewer have ever been outside of their own country.
It makes one flinch when you realize that this is where the future policy makers are coming from.
While attending university, our faculty was constantly broken into after fund-raiser parties.
Most of us figured that it was someone's scummy boyfriend knowing where to find and take the loot.
Sure enough, when certain counsel members graduated, the break-ins mysteriously stopped.
Despite what the universities like to preach, crime still happens on all levels.
Theft is a constant problem.
Aside from the thieves who moonlight as students (and staff), most break-ins are from visiting thieves.
A store detective buddy of mine once nabbed a check counterfeiter at a Sears Inc.
store.
The thief, who was dressed in a suit, turned out to be a local university student.
He was carrying all sorts of stolen university ID cards in his wallet and had a trunk load of stolen property in his car.
No one likes to talk about it, but assault and rape still occur on campus, regardless of what the public relations people claim.
To admit any kind of problems on campus is to disgrace the college/university.
This might sound unfair to the hard-working, hard-studying student-athletes, but male student athletes have a bad rep for sexual assault.
In a study (Benedict, 1997) of 10 institutions of 69 reported sexual assault complaints, 13 (19%) were against athletes.
These athletes were only 3% of the male population on these campuses.
The problem is not someone with sports ability, discipline and dedication, but rather someone with status and wealth, who lacks normal human empathy.
Everyone remembers the natural athletes from high school days.
The 12-17 year old guys who suddenly spring up in size, speed and strength.
Some become the alpha wolves at school.
Other males look up to them and the girls are attracted to them.
They are excused if they come in late, because they were training for the school team.
If they skip a test or miss a report dead line, they often get extensions or even a girlfriend to get them the test or write their report.
The young super stars can get into the habit of being helped along by others.
They miss out on the work, perseverance and sacrifice.
When they enter college or university, they can get the scholarships to pay tutors to get them through.
This is not putting down school athletes.
Sports do not make criminals.
But when someone from a rough background is suddenly in a position of status and influence, he can believe that he is untouchable.
That includes assaulting other students, especially someone of lower status.
A typical target is a young girl, away from home, totally awed by an athlete or class spokesman or any high profile male.
She can get into the groupie mentality, which leads her to think that this celebrity can do no wrong.
So, she ignores her own instincts rather than might offend this campus big-shot.
Like the attack from a stranger, there is a selection process.
Before making the assault, the attacker "tests the water" by pushing his or her limits.
(Her limits are mentioned as lesbian sexual assault has been reported at university.
) He will try to make all of the decisions for something as simple as a meal at a restaurant.
He will push alcohol and drugs.
Next, comes the isolated place away from friends and then assault begins.
Threats can include physical violence or character slurring in front of others.
Physical assaults that take place on campus, generally happen at social gatherings, with alcohol present.
According to a former university cop, these assaults are kept pretty quiet.
But, when a university student is severely beaten (or killed) in a public place, it often makes the local headlines.
Sometimes when the details of the assault or murder come out, there are often certain circumstances involving the victim, such as the victim who picked fights when he was drunk.
Higher learning does not mean higher morals, anymore than a Phd is a sign of sainthood.
Every student is going to experience some form of theft.
If the reader does not believe this, just check out the price of text books and the wages of professors who cannot teach.
In many ways, colleges and universities are small reflections of society.