Specialized studies, sports teams and organization options are some aspects of Oakland University that draw students, but Golden Grizzlies are also recognized for the safe community. The campus has maintained its ranking as the safest in Michigan and has risen to the third-safest in The United States. 

The 2020 campus safety records were compiled from a combination of statistics from the U.S. Department of Education’s Campus Safety and Security and the FBI’s 2018 Uniform Crime Report. These records then gave light to a “crime score” for every school with an attendance of at least 5,000 students. 

The crimes that were considered in this study were violent crimes, property crimes, hate crimes and violent acts against women. Collectively, Oakland received a score of 6.42 crimes per 10,000 people. This translates to roughly 14 people experiencing one of these crimes on campus. 

In a more tailored statistic, the lowest individual score was violent crimes — .61 per 10,000 people. To put this in perspective, students have a greater chance of being struck by lightning in a lifetime (1 in 3,000 compared to 61 in 1,000,000) than experiencing a violent crime on Oakland University’s campus. 

Brigham Young University (Rexburg, ID) and Eastern Illinois University (Charleston, IL) also presented notable data and narrowly ranked above Oakland University this year. 

Although Oakland University’s position in Michigan has been static since 2018, its national ranking advanced ahead of seven other campuses since last year. Following recognition of exemplar safety in 2018, OUPD Chief Mark Gordon acknowledged that Oakland was “…steadily ascending a number of campus safety lists,” but has continued to set further goals. 

“The Oakland University Police Department is very proud of the safe campus rankings,” Gordon said. “The entire police staff take the safety of our community very seriously and work tirelessly to create a positive, safe learning environment. This approach, along with strong community partnerships, increases the likelihood of a safer community tremendously.”

Choosing to attend a university can be based upon many personalized preferences, but safety factors into the entire student body’s experience. Oakland University upholds a lucrative safety standard with the help of its students, faculty and OUPD.