Perceptions of Safety at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Abstract

We investigated patterns in the perceptions of safety among various demographic groups for undergraduate students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. We collected heat map data and qualitative responses from 62 students by email survey. Our data showed that Langdon Street, State Street, and Lakeshore Path were the most common locations perceived to be the least safe among all undergraduates, but that the reasons for those selections slightly differed between demographic groups. We concluded that students’ identities played a significant role in their perceptions of safety, which resulted in vastly different perceptions of the same locations. Additionally, we found that certain aspects of some locations, such as isolation, were considered unsafe by virtually all demographic groups.