Northwestern’s Annual Security Report revealed significant increases in theft and motor vehicle burglary for the past three years.
NU released the report, published Monday, in accordance with the Clery Act, which requires universities receiving federal funding to publish annual safety statistics and information on security practices by Oct. 1. The report accounts for data on all U.S. NU campuses, including Chicago, Miami, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
On-campus motor vehicle theft jumped from 16 reported offenses in 2022 to 101 in 2023, continuing a trend of rising theft on the Evanston campus since 2021.
Motor vehicles like mopeds and electric scooters are a common method of transportation among athletes.
Weinberg freshman and football player Cam Russell uses an electric scooter to get to class. He said he knows multiple athletes who have experienced vehicle theft since the beginning of this school year.
“I’ve heard about people leaving them outside the library for an hour or two and they come back and they’re just gone,” he said.
Russell noted that all the scooters in these instances had been properly locked.
Burglaries on campus also skyrocketed from zero cases in 2022 to 18 in 2023. On public property near NU’s Chicago campus — defined in the report as areas and walkways excluding University-owned buildings — robberies almost doubled from seven to 13 cases.
Bienen senior Phillip Suwandi said he has commuted to campus by car for the past three years. Despite the recent uptick in burglary and vehicle theft cases, he said he has not witnessed any suspicious activity in the campus parking lots.
“I’m not too concerned because I haven’t seen or heard of anything near the garage that I park at or the lots,” he said.
NU liquor law violations referred for disciplinary action on campus decreased from 243 in 2022 to 201 last year, reflecting a decrease from the 2019 report of 229 violations. There were four reports of NU drug violations referred for disciplinary action on campus in 2023 after two years with no cases in 2023.
According to the report, the University increased the frequency of fire drills at residential facilities, jumping from 78 in 2021 to 116 in 2023 despite no increase in yearly residential facility fires.
Reports of rape and fondling both declined by at least half. Rape cases decreased from eight to three instances in 2023 from the previous year, while fondling decreased from four cases to two. Stalking cases also declined to six cases after a three-year high of 19 cases reported in 2022.
The Annual Security Report outlines that residential halls with more than 150 students are assigned Community Service Officers while contract security officers are assigned posts at smaller residential halls.
Bienen freshman Tyler Shaver said he has felt safe during his first couple of weeks on campus, largely because of the presence of security in his dorm at night.
As someone who takes regular walks in Evanston, Shaver said he sometimes feels uncomfortable beyond campus.
“As of right now, I think Evanston is pretty safe,” Shaver said.
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