University of South Florida

Student Outreach & Support

Group Two
Student at University of South Florida
4202 E Fowler Ave
Tampa, FL 33620

April 24, 2022

Mr. Joseph Contes, LMHC, MCAP, NCC

Director, Student Outreach & Support
John & Grace Allen (ALN) Building
4202 E Fowler Ave
Tampa, FL 33620

Dear Mr. Contes:

I submit here with a proposal in support of protecting students from crime in the University of
South Florida.

I am requesting the help from your department. The proposal is to establish more counseling
services at USF to help with the mental health, mainly peer pressure, of students. I am also
suggesting adding more safety training classes to students’ requirements so students will be more
aware of crimes.

If you have any questions relating to the proposal, I am more than happy to provide answers in
detail. Please contact me at GroupTwo@usf.edu

Your consideration of my proposal is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Group Two

Enclosure: Proposal
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA
CAMPUS SAFETY
Campus Safety in USF is Important to all Enrolled Students.
 Table of Contents

Table of Contents 2
Executive Summary 3
Introduction 4
Problem 4
Figure 1: Types of Crimes in 2021 4
Peer Pressure 5
Alcohol Abuse 5
Blind Spots and Staff Responsiveness 5
Figure 2: USF Tampa Campus Map 6
Recommendations 6
Increasing and Encouraging Counseling Services 7
Adding Safety Training Classes 7
Implementation 8
Timeframe 8
Figure 3: Timeframe Starting April 24th, 2022 8
Budget 9
Time to Take Action 9
References 10
Appendix A: Survey 12

2
 Executive Summary

The University of South Florida campus is not a completely safe place for students. Safety
system needs to be improved in order for all students to attend the university without any
worries. This proposal lists some problems that contribute to incidents across campus and some
recommendations that may improve the situation.

Problems that caused crimes to happen in USF are:

● Peer pressure that causes students to make wrong decisions.
● Alcohol abuse makes students lose the ability to judge what is right or wrong and do
illegal acts.
● Blind spots on campus that help crimes occur easily.
● Delays in staff responsiveness that cannot detect criminals.

Recommendations that can prevent crimes to happen in USF are:

● Increasing counseling services to help students maintain a healthy mental status.
● Adding more safety training classes, at low costs, to students’ requirements as they begin
their academics.

The details of the implementation of the project are planned as the following:
● The time that takes the project to be implemented is around one year.
● The budgeted cost is around $10 million dollars with the plan of $4 million for
counseling services and $6 million for new training classes.

Safety on campus is really important to every student who attends the university. In order to
improve the safety on campus, we need help from our community as well as the university
corporation. Without any of those things, no changes can be made and students will remain at
risk.

3
Introduction
Crimes happen every day and if it’s around the area, it is important for people to stay away from
it. According to the Campus Safety Guide, “In 2019, of the nearly 28,000 on-campus crimes,
burglaries accounted for over 9,000 and forcible sex offenses accounted for almost 12,000. Other
crimes reported that year include robbery, aggravated assault, arson, and murder” (Upson, 2021).
These data were collected from all campuses of the United States, and many of them have made
changes to protect students from crimes. Crimes will never be completely stopped, but new
changes to University of South Florida (USF) can keep them at bay.

Problem
Campus safety is important to every student. According to the USF Crime Alerts 1 report, there
are 20 reports of crimes in 2019, 19 reports of crimes in 2020, and 15 reports of crimes in 2021
for USF campuses. The data showed that most of the crimes in USF are sexual battery and
robbery and thief in 2021 (see Figure 1). Another news article in 2019 indicated that USF's
campus, ranked 382 out of 490 schools when ranked nationally, is one of the least safe
universities (FOX 13 Tampa Bay, 2019). No student wants to attend an unsafe campus for their
school life. This problem has to be improved in order to provide a safer environment and protect
all students.

Figure 1: Types of Crimes in 2021

1
Crime Alerts: https://www.usf.edu/administrative-services/university-police/avoid-crime/crime-alerts.aspx

4
Peer Pressure
One of the many causes for campus crime is peer pressure. According to The Shapiro Law Firm,
“When others pressure them to do illegal activities — shoplifting, theft, using illegal drugs, etc.
— they often do things they never would have done on their own” (The Shapiro Law Firm,
2019). People do not want to feel left out of the group they are in, so they will try to act the same
way as others in the group, which causes an implicit peer pressure. Sometimes, people do not
want to reject others' requests in order to maintain the relationship, even if it is an illegal act.
This type of relationship can be an explicit pressure. When these types of pressure lead to
questionable choices, people may pick the wrong decisions and cause an impact for the rest of
their life.

Alcohol Abuse
Alcohol abuse is another of the many causes of campus crimes. According to Augusta
University, “Alcohol consumption by perpetrators and victims tend to co-occur – studies show
that in anywhere from 81% to 97% of alcohol-related sexual assaults, both the victim and
perpetrator had consumed alcohol” (Augusta University, 2018). Victims' stories are told to spread
awareness and most people say wrongdoers know that they are wrong, but these cases sadly still
happen.

Everyone knows drinking will become a problem when consumption is high, but still
alcohol-related crimes happen every year. Many research show that a great amount of sexual
assault and alcohol consumption coincides with each other. These problems have continually
happened, so there is a problem that is not being addressed enough. The biggest questions are
“How to improve it?” and “When will the change(s) happen?”. When someone makes the wrong
decision in abusing alcohol consumption, it is already too late. The wrong decisions they made
will impact themselves and others for the rest of their lives.

Blind Spots and Staff Responsiveness

Criminals only commit crimes when they feel potential benefits are more easily achieved than
potential costs. With that being said, campuses with lots of open spaces like USF campuses are
easy targets for these people as they can come in and out without being questioned (Fernandez,
2005). Additionally, structural design of our campuses create barriers for clear visuals. See figure
2 to have a better view of building locations on the USF Tampa campus map. A criminal can
hide in bushes to prey on his/her victims without being detected by any faculties or other
students, therefore, delays in staff responsiveness.

From the survey about the safety of campuses (See Appendix A), it asked participants whether or
not they feel safe in USF. Sixty percent responded positively. The other forty percent responded
otherwise. In those forty percent of negative responses, one hundred percent are females. When
the survey asked why or what makes them feel unsafe, the most received answer is that because
anybody can have access to USF campuses, and these areas are surrounded by many trees
making it hard to detect threats in the evening.

5
Additionally, the survey asked participants about what USF should do to level up its security
system. They suggested that USF needs to have more spaces where students can take refuge
when they sense threats. These spaces need to be private where they can only be accessed by
USF faculties and students. Moreover, in the survey, it asked them if they think creating free
self-defense classes for USF students would be a good idea to combat criminals in the area. One
hundred percent answered “Yes”.

Figure 2: USF Tampa Campus Map

Recommendations
The situation won’t get better if the community takes no actions. It requires people’s attention if
we want a better and safer environment. One of the useful recommendations is increasing and
encouraging counseling services at campuses. Another recommendation will be adding more
courses like self-defense classes and social competency skills related classes to students’
required courses at the beginning of their education.

6
Increasing and Encouraging Counseling Services
One of the proposed recommendations is to increase and encourage counseling services at
campus. Sometimes peer pressure from a group is too much for an individual to take, so
counseling with others can help with the situation. Here’s an interview from a student who
successfully dealt with peer pressure from Simpson College, “They gave me tips on how to
maintain healthier relationships with peers. I would highly recommend counseling services at
Simpson.” DeVorah said (Hirsch, 2016).

Counseling service can be useful to students who cannot make the first step to the right path.
Counselors take their time to hear stories from students, and give some helpful suggestions to
address the problems. Not only suggestions, they also give students courage to step out of the
situation and not make any poor decisions like crime.

Adding Safety Training Classes

Another proposed recommendation could be adding more safety training classes, at low costs, to
student’s required classes as they begin their academics. Changing structural design can be
challenging and does not deal with the problem right away, however, adding training classes that
show how to protect oneself in social situations can be beneficial to all current USF students. For
example, in these classes, instructors can teach students how to stay safe from blind spots by
learning layouts of campuses, so they will have a better understanding of their surroundings.
Studies have shown that students who attend these classes are more likely to make better choices
in not committing crimes than those who do not (Cook,et al., 2005).

Enforcing more sexual assault preventions to every student can be useful, however, more
self-defense classes for them, both men and women, can teach them how to protect themselves
from being harmed. “When women learn that their bodies are more capable than our culture has
given them credit for and learn the tactics that can help them get out of a dangerous situation,
they not only stand a good chance of thwarting the attack, but they send a message to others that
women are not objects for men’s abuse” (Appalachian State University, 2014). The USF Police
Department at USF currently only offers a self-defense class for women and it must be paid.
There needs to be a push for more talks in implementing a male and female class that is
affordable for all students and staff.

Educating students about the dangers of alcohol consumption is something that has been widely
considered by campuses in our modern time due to its direct attachment to an increased crime
rate. Most colleges require students to go through such a program at the beginning of their
pre-academic career, hence their freshman year to be fully aware of the precautions before being
able to engage fully towards their assigned degree work. To make this an engaging experience,
some have even decided to involve this idea in the form of a game, online quizzes or even a
video.

7
Furthermore, a study conducted by the journal of consulting and clinical psychology aimed
strictly to combine data results collected from three different alcohol intervention studies with a
total of 1,000 students involved that had gone through such programs, which had the results
shown proved the program was in-fact working in reducing the crime rates on campus. “Up to 82
percent of students were reported to be drinking less” (Singh, 2015). This is a great statistic
provided the solution serves its purpose in achieving the overall goal, for that reason, USF
should take the initiative to utilize such ideas to be able to control alcohol-related crime.

Implementation
There are many things needed to complete in order to protect students from harm. It takes time
and budget to start something new or enhance existing solutions. It also needs people to work
together to make it succeed. In addition, a detailed plan would be helpful at the beginning of
projects.

Timeframe
The timeframe may take up to one year to process a solution. If the project starts on April 24th,
2022, it can be finished on April 5th, 2023 if everything follows the plan as shown in figure 3.
Approximately it takes up to a month to research and prepare proposals for budgets. Depending
on the approver, it may take up to two months for proposals to be approved. Once budgets are
approved, departments can start working on necessary set up to improve the department, which
was planned for another two months. After the department is ready, they should start hiring
professionals. However, due to the COVID-19 virus, it takes a longer time to hire new staff, so it
is planned for 150 days. Finally, newcomers should have about a month of training to adapt to
the USF system.

Figure 3: Timeframe Starting April 24th, 2022

8
Budget
Based on the USF’s 2019-20 Operating Budget2, requesting $10 million to protect USF’s safety
from the Legislature will help to decrease the crime rate. USF should use part of the $10 million
to fund mental health support programs and increase self-defense and social competency classes.
According to the report, the budget for counseling service is about $2.8 million, which is
unfortunately low compared to the number of appointments, 23,000 scheduled appointments
fulfilled, in 2019-2010 (Pilcher, 2021). Increasing the fund to $4 million for counseling service
will help the department to establish more services to help with students' mental health. Another
$6 million can be invested into setting up new training classes, hiring professors, and lowering
the tuition of these classes for students. The extra budget is really helpful in order to make a safe
environment for every student.

Time to Take Action

More research and recommendations are still needed to ensure maximum security for USF
students. However, the proposed recommendations can be used as a temporary measure to keep
crime rates under control. Both counseling services and safety training classes have been proven
successful by the news from University of Chicago (Harms, 2018). In short, these programs and
services have helped troubled youths to stay away from doing illegal activities. The longer the
wait, the more students will be harmed by crimes, therefore, actions must be taken as soon as
possible.

2
USF’s 2019-20 Operating Budget:
https://www.usf.edu/business-finance/resource-management-analysis/documents/operating-budget-19-20
.pdf

9
 References
Appalachian State University. (2014, May 7). Self-defense training should be part of a college's

sexual assault prevention, education programs, expert says. ScienceDaily. Retrieved

April 16, 2022, from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140507114659.htm

Augusta University. (2018, April 10). Alcohol-Related Sexual Assault. Augusta University.

Retrieved April 16, 2022, from https://www.augusta.edu/shs/sex-alchohol.php

Cook, P. J., Gottfredson, D., & Na, C. (2005). School crime control and prevention. Crime and

Justice, 39. The University of Chicago Press Journals. https://doi.org/10.1086/652387

Fernandez, M. F. (2005). Crime prevention and the perception of safety in campus design. LSU

Master's Theses, (1483). Retrieved 4, 2022, from

https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/1483/?utm_source=digitalcommons.ls

u.edu%2Fgradschool_theses%2F1483&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverP

ages

FOX 13 Tampa Bay. (2019, April 18). Study: USF Tampa is the least safe college campus in

Florida. FOX 13 Tampa Bay. Retrieved April 15, 2022, from

https://www.fox13news.com/news/study-usf-tampa-is-the-least-safe-college-campus-in-fl

orida

Harms, W. (2018, May 25). Study: Chicago counseling program reduces youth violence,

improves school engagement. UChicago News. Retrieved April 15, 2022, from

https://news.uchicago.edu/story/study-chicago-counseling-program-reduces-youth-violen

ce-improves-school-engagement

10
Hirsch, M. (2016, November 9). Dealing with peer pressure in college – The Simpsonian. The

Simpsonian. Retrieved April 15, 2022, from

https://thesimpsonian.com/25000/lifestyles/dealing-with-peer-pressure-in-college/

Pilcher, M. (2021, October 28). OPINION: $50 million from the BOG is an opportunity for USF

to invest in mental health. USF Oracle. Retrieved April 15, 2022, from

https://www.usforacle.com/2021/10/28/opinion-50-million-from-the-bog-is-an-opportunit

y-for-usf-to-invest-in-mental-health/

The Shapiro Law Firm. (2019, July 12). Is peer pressure going to lead to teen crime? The

Shapiro Law Firm. Retrieved April 15, 2022, from

https://www.theshapirolawfirm.com/blog/2019/07/is-peer-pressure-going-to-lead-to-teen-

crime/

Singh, M. (2015, March 4). College Help For Students Cuts Drinking, But Not For Long. NPR.

Retrieved April 17, 2022, from

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/03/04/390725494/benefits-of-efforts-to-re

duce-student-drinking-wear-off-fast

Upson, M. (2021, August 30). Campus Safety Guide. BestColleges. Retrieved April 15, 2022,

from https://www.bestcolleges.com/resources/campus-safety-guide/

USFPD | Avoid Crime, Self Defense for Women. (n.d.). University of South Florida. Retrieved

April 16, 2022, from

https://www.usf.edu/administrative-services/university-police/avoid-crime/self-defense.as

px

11
Appendix A: Survey
1. Are you male or female?
a. Male
b. Female
c. Other

2. Do you feel safe when you go to your campus?

a. Yes
b. No

3. Do you think USF security measures need improvement?

a. Yes
b. No

4. If yes, why?
a.

5. Do you think if USF offers free self-defense classes to its students, would that make you
feel safer?
a. Yes
b. No

6. Would you attend those classes?

a. Yes
b. No

7. Do you think if USF offers free counseling services to its students, would crime rates
decrease?
a. Yes
b. No

8. If there is one thing you can change around campus to help fellow students have a safer
environment, what would it be?
a.

12