Dr. Jeff Hale, NEO president, Tom Robertson, NEO police chief, and Amy Ishmael, NEO vice president of student affairs and enrollment management
Miami, Oklahoma – Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2013 – Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College (NEO) was recently ranked as one of the safest colleges in Oklahoma by StateUniversity.com using a new ranking system based on campus crime statistics.
“NEO has implemented a safety committee which is led by NEO Police Chief, Tom Robertson. Faculty, staff, and students bring all types of safety concerns they have to the safety committee,” said NEO President Dr. Jeff Hale. “One of our top priorities since I was appointed in 2008 was to create the safest environment possible for our students and employees. As a learning institution, safety is a fundamental condition.”
StateUniversity.com, the leading website for college information, released its annual list of the safest colleges and universities in the U.S. In this year’s list, StateUniversity.com introduced a new ranking system for the safest schools by the following categories: Safest Four-Year or Above Schools, Safest Public State Universities, and Safest Private Colleges and Universities.
To compile the list, StateUniversity.com utilized Cleary and FBI data to analyze 1,407 colleges and universities to assign safety ratings. The assigned ratings are based on the following criteria: number of weapon occurrences, drugs, burglary, vehicle theft, arson, larceny, robbery, forcible and non-forcible rape, murder and non-negligent manslaughter, and aggravated assault.
“It is our goal to ensure we provide a safe, friendly environment for our students,” said Amy Ishmael, vice president of student affairs and enrollment management. “We want the students to feel secure, and the parents to trust that they have sent their student to the right place.”
The safest schools in rank order are listed below:
1 University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
2 Saint Gregory’s University
3 Gordon Cooper Technology Center
4 University of Tulsa
5 Platt College-Tulsa
6 Oklahoma City University
7 Oklahoma Baptist University
8 Mid-America Christian University
9 Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College
10 Francis Tuttle Technology Center
11 Metro Technology Centers
12 Southern Oklahoma Technology Center
13 University of Phoenix-Oklahoma City Campus
14 Oral Roberts University
15 Tulsa Welding School-Tulsa Campus
16 Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology
17 Heritage College-Oklahoma City
18 Cameron University
19 Oklahoma City Community College
20 Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City
A full rank list is available at http://www.stateuniversity.com/rank/safety_score_rank.html.
The safety rankings are the latest in a series of rankings and “best of” lists compiled by StateUniversity.com, including Top Ranked Schools Overall, a Most Popular Schools by Program listing, and rankings of everything from faculty salary to ACT/SAT score to average student loan and total cost of attendance.
“NEO campus police officers average three times the state-required training hours per year,” Robertson said. “Campus police have dedicated one officer to drug interdiction. This officer is focused on all types of illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia on the market.”
Robertson added, “NEO’s campus police have also dedicated an officer to be on the domestic violence task force, as well as assigning an officer to emergency preparedness, where the officer stays on top of all types of emergency situations.”
Safety trainings are taught by campus officers for faculty, staff, and students to be better prepared for any type situation that may arise.