Hobart and William Smith Colleges

June 4, 2024

Recently, Hobart and William Smith was placed on a list of schools created by a personal injury attorney that misrepresents the safety of college campuses.

Hobart and William Smith vehemently disagrees with the flawed conclusions of this personal injury attorney who has misled readers with an incomplete and inaccurate review of campus life. Deceptive “research” like this does a disservice to higher education and to families and students by showing no understanding of how Clery reporting works. For whatever publicity gain they seek, the law firm has ill served students and families already burdened by a complicated college admissions process.

For example, this personal injury attorney misrepresents all disciplinary actions as violent or dangerous. Clery data, when reported correctly, includes things like a resident assistant asking a fellow student who is underage to discard an alcoholic beverage. This personal injury attorney does not acknowledge that survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence are encouraged to obtain resources through college and university Title IX offices, regardless of whether an incident occurred on or off campus, or in a student's hometown, or if it happened a week ago or years ago. This personal injury attorney neglects to make clear that partner violence happening in one relationship over many months or years could result in multiple incidents being reported. 

In a recent article titled “Why the List of ‘Ten Most Dangerous College Campuses’ is Dangerous,” Campus Safety magazine reports that it called on this personal injury attorney to immediately take down the report, to apologize to institutions on the list it created, and to clearly explain why the statistics used are incorrect.  Inaccurate reporting “puts students, faculty, and staff in more, not less, danger,” they state. We agree and find this misuse of statistical reporting irresponsible. 

Hobart and William Smith has put significant effort and staffing into making certain that survivors of violence are comfortable coming forward to receive support and services. A campus that is appropriately documenting violations of campus policy and that empowers students to get resources through reporting, should not be classified as dangerous but rather as serious and purposeful in its approach to student wellbeing.