Website ranks UTM among safest in state

UTM is among the safest of the four-year public institutions in Tennessee according to the Safest Schools ranking recently released by StateUniversity.com.

UTM was the highest-ranked public four-year institution in the state of Tennessee according to the report. It ranked fifth overall in the state with a safety rating of 94.84, and of the 450 ranked colleges in the nation, UTM placed at 128.

“Campus safety remains a top priority, and our public safety officers, faculty and staff, as well as alert students, make a safe environment an ongoing focus for us all,” said UTM Chancellor Tom Rakes.

As part of the Safest Schools ranking, StateUniversity.com analyzed crime statistics for 450 colleges and universities, and assigned a safety rating to each school. Safety ratings are determined based on the number of occurrences of aggravated assault, robbery, burglary, theft/larceny, motor vehicle theft, forcible rape and murder on campus, and then are weighed based on the probability of each incident. Violent crime is given more weight in the ranking system and has a greater effect on the safety rating than non-violent crime such as theft. The ranking system of U.S. public and private educational institutions is statistical and based on U.S. government surveys and reports