With crime continuing to be a prominent issue on Rowan’s campus, students have voiced their concerns and suggested actions to stay safe.
While the Annual Security and Fire Safety Report for last year has not yet been revealed, the most recent one shows an almost 41% increase in crime in 2024. Across the years 2022-2024, domestic violence was by far the most common crime committed, with 171 cases reported. Stalking and rape closely followed, with 131 and 44 cases respectively.
Lt. Cmdr. Rachel Baum, Interim Chief of Police at Rowan, believes that there could be several possible reasons for this increase in crime, including an increase in enrollment and more encouragement to report crimes.
One measure the university has taken is the implementation of timely warnings, which are emails that notify students of recently occurring crimes on campus.
Timely warnings exist because of the Clery Act, which was passed in 1990, and requires all universities to publicly share information about crimes that have taken place on campus. It was named after Jeanne Clery, who was raped and murdered in her dorm room at Lehigh University in 1986. The culprit was a fellow student who was a complete stranger to her. The purpose of this act is to bring more awareness to crime in order to maintain safety on campus.
According to Baum, timely warnings are released after a crime is reported, ahead of any subsequent investigations.
“Timely warning numbers are often a better indicator of reporting trends rather than crime trends,” Baum said.
In the month of March 2026 alone, there have already been a handful of timely warnings sent out to the Rowan community, including reports of sexual assault and a motor vehicle theft from Holly Pointe Commons that has since been recovered.
Alanah Fennen, a sophomore chemistry major, agreed that Timely Warnings don’t necessarily reflect the scale of crime rates.
“With my job through the orientation staff, I’ve met with the people who run the Clery Act, and they’ve talked about how a lot of the crime increases because they’ve been doing their due diligence in reporting better. And so it’s not that exactly crime has gotten a lot worse, but our staff has gotten a lot better at reporting it,” Fennen said.
Shawn Stratz, a freshman finance major, stressed the importance of staying out of harm’s way.
“It’s kind of scary, but you just have to be smart and remove yourself from the situation and don’t get involved in stupid stuff,” said Stratz.
Joseph Nonnemacher, a junior biomedical engineering major, described how people should constantly be observant.
“I would say it’s just about being more aware when you’re out at night, especially cause it’s a lot easier to get taken advantage of and get things stolen from you,” Nonnemacher said. “It’s important to utilize the resources that Rowan has available, and just make sure you know the risks, especially when you’re walking alone at night on a college campus.”
The university has several resources available to protect students at night, such as its shuttle and walking escort services. In addition, they have an entire safety training program called Rape Aggression Defense (RAD), and an app named RowanSafe. The app provides students with many ways to ensure their safety, which include being able to send their location to Rowan’s police department as well as directly report a tip.
“Stay vigilant, recognize where all the blue light-like indicators are, never walk alone, make sure to just know where you’re going, and alert people when you’re leaving,” Fennen said.
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