Campus fires are a hot issue. In 2007, seven individuals died in fires in student housing nationwide. One occurred in Illinois at Bradley University, where an Aug. 12 prank involving alcohol and explosives cost one student his life.
Since 2000, 101 students have perished in campus-related blazes.
But Northwestern doesn't play with fire, at least according to the Princeton Review's fire safety ratings.
On a scale of 61 to 99, NU earned a score of 98, making it the safest school in the Big Ten and one of the safest schools in the state.
It's come a long way since 1979, when Evanston officials threatened to take the university to court over what The Chicago Tribune called "scores" of fire code violations.
The change is a consequence of actions by both the city and the university to improve student safety - a program that Garth Miller, director of university housing and food services, estimated has cost more than $20 million.
NU's rating is impressive, said Mike Halligan, president of the Center for Campus Fire Safety in Newburyport, Mass.
"What a school with a 98 tells me … is that Northwestern is doing a pretty good job of building in fire safety features into their buildings and doing a tremendous amount of effort to try and reach out to students to promote fire safety as well," he said.
NU's score falls within the top 5 percent of schools that submitted data nationwide, said Ben Zelevansky, the director of data collection at the Princeton Review.
"A 99 is the best rating, so basically there aren't a ton of schools with a 99," Zelevansky said.
The Princeton Review began measuring fire safety three years ago, Zelevansky said. Its rating is a measure of how prepared an institution is to prevent campus fires and how efficiently it would respond if one occurred. Factors such as malicious and unwanted fire alarms, the percentage of student housing equipped with smoke detectors and automated fire sprinkler systems, and the banning of certain hazardous items and activities are all taken into consideration.
"Currently all residence halls are equipped with sprinklers and are covered by both building fire alarm systems as well as in-room smoke detectors with battery back up," Miller said in an e-mail. "Several Greek units have also completed this work, and others are currently working to come into compliance with the city regulations."
Be the first to comment on this story