Google “Safest places to live in Iowa,” and Orange City will be highly ranked on multiple lists. So it may come as no surprise that when Googling “safest college campus” NW can be found.
NW is ranked in Iowa as the safest college campus according to Niche.com. The website ranks each college on campus crime rate, freshman retention rate, graduation rate (6-year), local crime rate, alcohol-related arrests and drug-related arrests.
According to Niche.com students on NW’s campus respond with a 4.1 out of 5 on how well they feel safe. Some of the items campus security ensures on campus are making sure the buildings are secure each day and night, monitoring with the increasing number of security cameras installed in buildings and always looking for better ways to protect the students.
Another factor relating to the safety on campus is the readiness of the resident directors and resident assistants if there is an emergency.
“We currently have six professional resident directors who live on-campus,” Marlon Haverdink, director of residence life, said. “Each of them are trained to respond immediately to any number of emergency situations.”
RDs and RAs also often lead programs to educate students on how to keep themselves safe in a variety of situations.
One of the jobs students who work for campus security have is to make sure all the buildings are locked up by midnight.
“We lock up all the buildings and make sure all the students are out of the classrooms so nothing gets vandalized or messed with at night,” said student security worker, Conner Ubben. “It’s not really a big issue. Usually we will have to kick someone out because they are doing homework.”
Ramaker is the one building on campus where students can be 24/7. At midnight it does lock up, but a student ID card can be swiped to get into the building.
The policy that has an important role as to why NW is so safe is the dry campus policy.
“Because we don’t allow alcohol on campus and we don’t allow intoxicated individuals to be on our campus, our students are much safer than students who are on campuses that allow alcohol consumption,” Haverdink said.
Another contributing factor to why NW is the safest college in Iowa is the size of Orange City.
“In a smaller tight-knit community, there is a higher sense of safety,” Ubben said.
Orange City has historically been a safe town which benefits students greatly.
“Having a police station less than one mile from campus also helps keep our campus safe because police can be on our campus in a very short amount of time,” Haverdink said.
If students ever feel unsafe students can call campus security in case of emergency, 712-707-7475.
