Early Friday morning, Indiana University student Lauren Spierer went missing. The sophomore apparel and merchandising major was last seen around 4:30 am heading home after spending time with friends. According to the Herald Times Online, nearly hundreds of people volunteered Monday to help police search for clues on her whereabouts. Searches will continue today.

The CollegeCandy staff is extending our thoughts to Lauren and her family — and as a college-centric blog we thought we ought to do more than that. While we can’t travel to Indiana to help with the search, we can remind everyone, especially college females, the importance of staying safe on campus.

Yes, you’ve probably heard these before, but it can never hurt to reiterate some safety tips that all college women should follow. Here are five important tips:

Walk With Somebody: It’s so easy to find a friend to walk you home. So do it. Often you don’t want to inconvenience others, but Lauren’s situation is a terrible reminder of why women should always walk in groups.

Walk In Well Lit Areas: It might be tempting to take the short cut home but walking through well-lit and populated areas can keep you safe

Yell For Help: If you are being followed make noise. It can both garner attention to help you and scare off a potential attacker.

Limit Distractions: When walking by yourself, especially at night, resist listening to music and spending time on your phone. This will help you become more alert to your surroundings.

Take A Self Defense Class: These classes teach a variety of different things from how to spot dangerous situations and how to intimidate attackers, to the physical moves that can help save your life.

For more information on the search for Lauren Spierer check for updates on Herald Times Online and the twitter page dedicated to the story. And remember, while you may feel completely safe in your college campus bubble, you’re still living in the real world and need to take real precautions.

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This past Friday, 19-year old Seton Hall student Jessica Moore and several of her friends left campus to check out a party about a mile away. As they enjoyed the company of their fellow students in a privately owned house, a man attempted to enter the party without paying the cover cost.

Partygoers watched a fight erupt, which led to the man being thrown out. He returned moments later to the party with a handgun. That is when the gunman, who has yet to be identified, began shooting with no intended target. He proceeded to injure four other party-goers and kill honors student Jessica Moore.

The area in which the party was located, South Clinton Street, is no stranger to bloodshed. With at least five shootings this summer, neighborhood resident Rabu Anderson claims hearing gunshots is not an uncommon occurrence. But the story of this off-campus party turned crime scene is a frightening and tragic reminder that violence of extreme proportions can, and does, occur near and on college campuses.

Whether your campus is located in the middle-of-nowhere or in the middle of a city, it’s important to remember that you are still part of the real world. Oftentimes, the bubble-like atmosphere that so many campuses boast creates a false sense of safety for their students. But it is just that: false. Read More »

Study hard, play hard – right? College is a major balancing act. It’s delegating what needs to get done and when, setting priorities and holding yourself to deadlines. And after a long week of working hard (attending class, writing papers, and staying ahead in the reading, just to name a few tasks), it is no wonder that college students have a reputation of wanting to party.

No one should be expected to sit in the library or stare at their dorm room walls every day of the week with their nose in a book. Everyone needs something that helps them unwind, especially on the weekends.

Sometimes finding something to do – especially on a campus where parties are a rare occasion -  is hard. I knew when I signed my life away as a Hollins woman, I was going to be living in Roanoke, Virginia,and that I wouldn’t have a big city as my playground on the weekend. I knew I wasn’t attending a huge state school where fraternity parties are the social factor and that club activities would be endless. As a prospective, I remember asking about the student life on the weekends only to hear the same fib that my fellow peers heard themselves as prospective students: “Don’t worry about it, you will always find something going on.”

Oh, but that is very far from the truth. Options on campus are very bleak. From the first weekend as a first year, I realized as no one was around on the weekends I would have to be entirely responsible for finding something to do Friday and Saturday nights. While not feeling bogged down by having too many social activities planned, I like that Hollins has a sleepy atmosphere (especially for those weekends I need to do a lot of work), but for the most part – I don’t understand why we can’t have some sort of decent entertainment when the weekend rolls around.

Read More »

College campuses seem like these small, safe little bubbles. And we like it that way. We always feel safe leaving our windows open, talking to strangers at the bar, and walking places alone. We never question when our friends leave the party with someone we don’t know, or leaving that same party ourselves and stumbling home alone.

But maybe we should.

Last night a USC student was stabbed and killed after leaving a party on campus. Police are reporting that he got into a screaming fight with another student on the street that quickly escalated. The student, 23 year old Bryan Richard Frost, was stabbed in the chest before the suspect ran off. Frost was rushed to the hospital where he could not be saved.

It goes without saying that just because you are on a college campus, it doesn’t mean you are safe. Please think about this when you head out tonight and this weekend. Do not go home alone, remain aware of your surroundings when you are walking home with others, and do not do anything that might provoke someone to harm you.

Be safe, ladies.