Tri-Towers is the residence community with the most crime, and the Honors dorms have the least amount of crime, according to the campus police blotter.

From August 2010 to January 2011, 85 counts of crime occurred in Tri-Towers, and five counts of crime occurred in the Stopher-Johnson dorms. Koonce Hall tallied 33 crimes, the most out of any residence hall. Johnson Hall had one crime reported. The four residence halls in The Quad had 32 counts of crime total.

Michquel Penn, the community resource officer for the Kent State University Police Department, said these numbers change every semester depending on the population of each hall.

“One of the factors I can think of is the number of people associated with each building,” Penn said.

There are significantly more residents in Koonce Hall than in the other dorms, Penn said. More residents means more visitors and more potential for crimes. Rosie’s also attracts more people to Tri-Towers.

“The more people associated with a building, the greater the potential for the crime to increase,” Penn said.

Dave Taylor, assistant director of residence services, said Koonce Hall is the largest residence hall and that it houses over 550 students a semester. He said though Koonce Hall has keycard access, nonresidents often get into the hall.

“Unfortunately, sometimes an individual is let in the building who is not a residence if someone holds a door or sees someone waiting outside in the vestibule and wants to be friendly,” Taylor said. “Tailgaters can occur in all locations.”

Anthony Rossetti, freshman exploratory major, said he doesn’t like living in Wright Hall. He plans to move into the Sigma Chi house next year because it’s cleaner, more spacious and he trusts his brothers more than random strangers in the dorms.

He said he’s not surprised that Tri-Towers has the highest count of criminal activity because of the recent burglaries in Wright Hall.

“There are so many people in Tri-Towers—not just residents but also people visiting or coming to Rosie’s,” Rossetti said. “I think Rosie’s plays a major role in why there’s so much crime in Tri. Rosie’s is always open, and people come to eat there after they’ve been partying.”

Gessica Flasco, sophomore pre-nursing major, said that she likes living in Olson Hall better than any other dorm she’s lived in. She said everyone is friendlier, and the students tend to be more studious.

“All of the people in Olson have intense majors, so they don’t have as much time to party. We just don’t have time to get in trouble or start anything,” Flasco said. “A lot of freshmen and underclassmen live in Tri-Towers. Underclassmen tend to do stupid things and get in trouble because it’s their first time on their own.”

Contact Maura Zurick at [email protected].