The University Parents Program may collaborate with University police and the Office of the Dean of Students in jump starting an off-Grounds housing safety evaluation program.
Parents Program Director Molly Bass said planning still is in preliminary stages, but that the three parties probably will meet before the end of the semester.
One potential approach to the project would involve compiling a comprehensive list of off-Grounds housing options and their safety features, Bass said.
The listing would not label housing "good vs. bad or develop a rating system that would cause friction within the community," she said.
Instead, the program probably would note which safety features are "present vs. not present," she added.
But the Parents Program also must decide whether the housing safety project is feasible or practical, she added.
University Police would help the Parents Program in its efforts to promote student safety in off-Grounds housing, University Police Capt. Michael Coleman said.
"If they do decide to do this and make something like this, certainly ... we would work with them," Coleman said.
Police probably would contribute by evaluating the safety levels of the off-Grounds housing areas, Bass said.
Members of the Parents Program "are not safety experts," she said. But police effectively could "evaluate what is out there and what should be out there."
Many parents' concerns about student safety have heightened this semester in light of several recent attacks that occurred on and around Grounds, she added.
Two University students were victims in an armed break-in and rape in the Venable neighborhood Aug. 26. An attempted sexual assault also occurred in Azalea Park Aug. 30.
Then a University student was robbed at gunpoint outside Courtenay House Oct. 31.
By developing an off-Grounds housing evaluation program, the Parents Program hopes to alleviate some parents' concerns, Bass said.
"The intent ... is that parents and students better understand what is available to them in terms of safety," she said.
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