A news website that ranked two Tallahassee universities among America’s most dangerous college campuses has published an alternate list that doesn’t include either school. Business Insider made its new list after several schools on the list criticized the site’s grading methods.
Business Insider used FBI crime data to compile its original list of the 25 most dangerous schools. Florida State University was No. 25, and Florida A&M was No. 4. The stats showed FAMU had 15 violent crime incidents and almost 300 property crimes per year, while FSU had 26 violent crimes and more than 550 property crimes.
Both schools were among those criticizing the list, saying, the FBI cautions against using its data to rank colleges because many variables don’t get expressed in the raw numbers. Also, the website only included schools with more than 10,000 students.
FAMU spokeswoman Sharon Saunders said last week, "We are continuing our review this ranking and the data to determine how we landed in the top five. When you look at FAMU’s crime statistics in the FAMU Police Department’s Annual Report, for the last three years, the incidents of crime at FAMU have declined in many areas. Consequently, we believe this ranking is misleading and paints an inaccurate picture of our campus environment."
Business Insider’s new list is based on crimes per capita, instead of raw numbers, and is based on data the schools reported to the Department of Education. Under the new criteria, FSU dropped to No. 45 and FAMU dropped from all the way from No. 4 to No. 53.