Making the top of the charts
Liberty housing and on-campus safety get recognition in online surveys
Liberty University was named 12th in the nation for on-campus housing and eighth in the nation for overall safety in recent polls and surveys published by college database and ranking organization Niche.com.
According to the website, which based their ranking on a poll of 471 students, the average cost of living comes to $8,200 with the housing capacity at 30 percent.
Student Housing crime rate averages 0 per 1000 students, and student surveys on campus housing average 4.1 out of 5.
FUTURE — Work crews and trucks make progress on the construction of Commons III to prepare for the fall 2017 semester. Photo credit: Jonathan Husker
“It is exciting that Liberty is getting recognition for student living on campus,” Jamey Sublett, the director of Residence life, said.
“When we started building our newest residence halls, we weren’t doing it to gain national recognition. We were doing it to give students a good environment to live in.”
While the intent was not to rank at the top of the list, Sublett says that it is nice to see Liberty being nationally recognized for the achievement.
“I would say it’s really great because the gap between the best or most expensive housing and the cheapest housing really isn’t that big of a difference,” James Carignan, a junior economics student said, “By that, I mean, regardless of where you are living, (the on-campus housing) has really good community and really great student leaders. Everyone invests in each other.”
In order to get to this level, departments such as the office of planning and construction, field operations and the IT department had to come together.
“… They all played a part in making the on-campus living experience the best for students,” Sublett said. “Sometimes we (had) workers who were here 24 hours a day, 7 days a week trying to make sure everything was complete.”
The building of the Commons I, which began in fall of 2012 was a groundbreaking step and vital to setting things in motion.
Since the completion of Commons I in fall 2014, Liberty has also opened Commons II and is in the process of building Commons III.
Along with improving its on-campus housing, Liberty has upgraded its security and has increased its safety standards.
Over the summer safety policies were either improved or implemented completely, beginning with Liberty Convocation.
All students are now required to present their flames pass when entering the Vines Center and visitors are permitted to enter only through the visitor’s entrance.
“I think it’s a little much, it takes much longer to get into Convo now,” Maurice Jordan, senior said. “It might be better if they implement card scanners inside the doors similar to the dining hall.”
Another policy change involves all visitors and students only using clear bags when attending football games.
This policy will allow only specifically sized clear bags to pass through security for all visitors of football games, increasing the safety of both students, players and visitors alike.
Liberty is also one of the only schools in the United States to allow students access to guns, and as of last year, keep them in their dorms.
Amidst controversy and displeasure among the general public, most students and faculty agree that access to guns could be the thin line between safe or injured students in an emergency.
Kehrman is a news reporter.
Schwager is a news reporter.