<p>You would have a hard time finding a safer campus than Swarthmore’s unless you go a hundred miles away from the nearest city out in the sticks. Although not detailed in the Phoenix article, it’s pretty obvious reading between the lines that the “attempted kidnapping” was probably a gay pickup, solicitation scenario. I can only recall one confirmed mugging that made the Phoenix in the last ten years – a late night attempted wallet snatching in the tunnel under the railroad tracks about eight years ago. Ironically, the other violent attack was a high school kid who was (allegedly) beaten to pulp by Swat frat boys after crashing a party and hitting on somebody’s girlfriend.</p>
<p>As for Philadelphia: crime stats are, more than anything, a function of the denominator. Where are the city limits? How much population is in the city limits? What are the demographics? If the city limits include a lot of fancy neighborhoods, the crime stats look better. If they are drawn tightly to just include urban urban, they stats look worse.</p>
<p>Crime in big cities is mostly taking place related to activities and neighborhoods that don’t involve Swarthmore students. You just don’t have any reason to be hanging out in unsafe neighborhoods after dark unless you are clueless or shopping for crack. Anywhere you would want to go – downtown, South Street, etc. – is perfectly safe in a group of people at night. No different than Seattle. There are places in Seattle that you wouldn’t want to walk around alone at night.</p>