Newark Advocate...
Denison hosts Summit on Ohio Campus Safety and Security
By Charles A. Peterson
Aug 18, 2011 

GRANVILLE -- During the late 1960s and early ‘70s, many college campuses were fearsome places because of violent student protests occurring at the time. 

Today, the challenges are much different for campus security and safety officials who instead face mounting prescription drug, mental health and sexual harassment issues. 

On Wednesday, more than 200 college security professionals from Ohio colleges convened at Denison University for the fifth annual Summit on Ohio Campus Safety and Security, sharing ideas about how to address those trends. 

Hosted for the first time by Denison, the conferences began in 2007 after the fatal shootings in April that year at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg, Va., where 32 were killed before the gunman, a senior student at the university, committed suicide. 

Rick Amweg, director of Campus Safety and Security for the Ohio Board of Regents, described the meeting as an opportunity for campus security and safety officials to network and discuss issues affecting their realm. 

Speakers included Dr. Mark Munitz, a psychiatrist who is the clinical director of the Department of Psychology at Northeast Ohio Medical University; Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Jim Petro. 

Denison Provost Dr. Bradley Bateman said with students coming to campuses from around the world, students on college campuses today, including DU, are “in every sense of the word, vulnerable. 

“Our campuses are open, as an educational institution needs to be,” he said. 

He described the most vexing issues as sexual assault and sexual harassment, incidents which, he said have cropped up in recent years at Denison. 

Garrett T. Moore, director of Safety, Security and Risk Management Services at Denison, who was involved with the summits from the start, said those issues have been the bigger problem for Denison. He said drug issues are present to a much lesser extent. 

“But we’re not immune from these issues,” he said. 

Munitz said students today are arriving on campus with more mental health issues and medications than ever before. 

“You hear that more students are asking for help, more with acute or serious disturbances, more with mental disorders,” Munitz said, adding that campus administrators are turning more to mental health services for, as an example, binge drinking. 

Munitz said according to a recent survey of college student behavior, incidents of depression have doubled, suicidal behavior has tripled, sexual assaults have quadrupled and 45 percent of students had self-reported bouts with depression. 

“As wonderful as the college years are, there’s lots of issues students are facing, he said. 

He cautioned an “extremely small portion” of the 18,000 homicides per year in the U.S. occur on college campuses, but there are 1,100 suicides per year. 

DeWine said his office has found two significant campus trends: a spike in prescription drug abuse and the proliferation of heroin. 

DeWine described the former issue as “a huge problem in the state of Ohio today,” with an average of four people dying daily from overdoses, and two-thirds dying from use of drugs not prescribed to them. 

“There’s no place in Ohio where we don’t have a prescription drug problem,” he said of all 88 counties. 

Said Moore: “We are aware that students come to (Denison) with all kinds of prescription drugs. If you don’t have that kind of condition (for which the drug is prescribed), it’s going to make you high.” 

Heroin, DeWine said, is cheaper, more available and no longer confined to cities. It’s often marketed as a prescription drug, he said. “It’s a question of availability.” 

DeWine said his office is developing more training for security and safety personnel to deal with college campus problems. 

“We want to tailor that to what your unique problems are,” he said, inviting professionals to contact the attorney general’s office with their suggestions. 

Petro said campus security and safety will be an “utmost necessity” for all colleges and universities because of its importance to the economy. 

“We need more and more education,” Petro said. “Ohio’s needs are particularly acute when we think of things like more ‘attainment.’ 

“Today in Ohio there are 65,000 to 75,000 good jobs that Ohio employers are seeking to fill -- very good jobs,” he said. “In more than half of those jobs they are looking for a baccalaureate degree,” or a substantial school attainment beyond high school graduation. 

“Ohio’s current level of attainment is 26 percent,” he said. “The national average is 31 percent. We’re in the bottom 12 of the states. As Ohio expects to grow, we need to have more and more attending and completing degree programs in colleges and universities all over the state.” 

Petro said each percentage of attainment growth means $2.5 billion per year in new economic activity. 

Read it at the Newark Advocate