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Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Thode: Is "Interpersonal Violence" Really a Problem at LU?

Blogger's Note: Dr. Stephen F. Thode has been director of the Murray H. Goodman Center for Real Estate Studies since the center's creation in 1988. From time to time, he makes the mistake of sharing his thoughts with me.

Yesterday, the entire Lehigh community (students, faculty and staff) was informed that all must complete mandatory training on interpersonal violence. The training is entitled, "Not Anymore." Let us all agree that any violence against persons is a terrible thing.

But, how big a problem is interpersonal violence at Lehigh?

Today, the Lehigh Police Department released its annual report on crime at Lehigh. I have reproduced the Federal Campus Crime statistics from that report below:


As you can see, for all of calendar year 2017, the Lehigh community experienced a grand total of five (5) reported violent crimes against persons (2 rapes, 1 fondlings, 1 robbery, and 1 dating violence). Additionally, the "Hate Crimes" data is on the same page. Not a single "hate crime" has been reported in the last 3 years. Given the report also says that there are more than 8,400 persons in the Lehigh community (students, faculty and staff), that means that less than one-tenth of one percent of persons in the Lehigh community were the victims of violent crime, and, even if every perpetrator was a member of the Lehigh community, less than one-tenth of one percent of persons in the Lehigh community were perpetrators of violent crime.

Put another way, 99.9%+ of the Lehigh community was not a victim of a (reported) violent crime. And, 99.9%+ of the Lehigh community was not a perpetrator of a violent crime against a member of the Lehigh community.

Even if violent crime is underreported by a magnitude of 10 (doubtful it's that great), 99%+ of the Lehigh community was not a victim of a violent crime (reported and unreported). And, 99%+ of the Lehigh community was a perpetrator of violent crime against a member of the Lehigh community (reported and unreported).

Those of you old enough may remember The Great Swine Flu Scare of the mid '70s. The Federal Government urged everyone to get vaccinated. Some got vaccinated. Most did not. Turns out, far more people got sick from the vaccination than from the swine flu itself.

Johnny Carson aptly observed that the vaccine was, "a cure for which there is no known disease."

Looks like we haven't learned much in the past 40 years.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe Mr. Thode has been around to long. So he thinks this is all a waste of time? Maybe he should tell that to the three rape victims. How about students victimized that do not comer forward. It is easy for an old white guy to blow off these important trainings but he isn't worried about anyone else.

Time to retire or get out of the way for people who care.

Anonymous said...

So if the Swine Flu analogy is correct, Thode thinks more violence, not less, will result from this training. Blowhard.

Agent 99 said...

Is there any evidence whatsoever that teaching someone about interpersonal violence makes them less likely to commit such crimes? This strikes me as more politically correct naivety, assuming that criminals only commit crimes out of ignorance.

Anonymous said...

I disagree with the specifics of Dr. Thode's position because I have found that specialized workplace training has been very helpful to me in dealing with situations that unexpectedly occurred long after the training. I never had the time to consider the importance of overall statistics when confronted with an issue of major importance to an individual human being who needed my help or guidance. Training involving violence, addiction, or mental health can be as valuable as first aid or CPR when something serious actually occurs. That said, I also disagree with those that want to blow off Dr. Thode's opinion because he is allegedly old or has been around too long. I have always considered him to be a man of high intelligence who has been correct about many things. I believe he is worth listening to even when I believe he is wrong.

Bernie O'Hare said...

". It is easy for an old white guy to blow off these important trainings ..."

Sounds like you could use some training on interpersoanl ageism. 66% of seniors who apply for jobs are rejected. That is pure age discrimination and far worse than the other "isms."

Anonymous said...

It's funny that there is no need for that training, but we need gun control when the statistics are nearly identical percentage wise.... hmm.

Anonymous said...

Bernie, the young it's that are wet behind the ears know nothing of wisdom!
It's there age of the "isms";that are filled with more interpersonal violence than any other in history.

Anonymous said...

"Not a single "hate crime" has been reported in the last 3 years."
so the report is saying that it does not happen?
not a chance.
Sounds like a hate related crime just does not get reported as such.
a person gets charged with a serious crime and plea bargains a lesser charge and that lesser charge is the one that gets reported,if at all.
the game is to make it appear that the serious crime is being reduced.

Anonymous said...

try
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/bs-md-campus-crime-reporting-20120903-story.html
"When reporting campus crime to the U.S. Department of Education, Morgan State downgraded many burglaries to thefts, following a federal directive that crimes not be reported as burglaries without evidence of unauthorized entry. And thefts — there were more than 100 reported at Morgan State in 2010 — are not included in the federal data on campus crime"

or
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/09/30/campus-insecurity.html

Peter j Cochran said...

Who cares? A Great War in Middle East is about to draw this government into it.LU— dialogue is fruitless .the dumbasses that are professional educaters are not social experts and fail to understand human dinamics . Syria is going to be a battleground shortly. I mean as I type this. Lafayette College has liberal arts students that have no idea of what is going on in world affairs. Shit hits fan in about a week. I was 3 rd in my class —- from the bottom .

Anonymous said...

Google, the ugly truth on bernieohaire.

Anonymous said...

These numbers are laughable, and Dr. Thode should know that if he has even the foggiest understanding of the sort of place in which he works. I graduated from another (though smaller than Lehigh) patriot league school in the past few years, and I can say that hardly any crimes are reported to campus police because a) they are almost universally considered bumbling and incompetent, or b) there is a social cost for reporting the crimes (esp. fraternity hazing).

I am not a particularly social person, and don't get close to a lot of people, but two of my friends in college confided in me that they had been raped. So that's out of maybe 30 that could plausibly have been comfortable sharing something like that with me. So I would say you could probably multiply these Lehigh numbers by 50 and still have a very conservative estimate of what crime on campus looks like.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Peter J.Cochran said...

Anon 3:01 - it’s not about me. It’s the time spent on things like this and not bigger issues. I’m not the only one on here that thinks studies like this one are flawed. Maybe ,E&O claims and malpractice cases should be thought . Private colleges are for the private mostly and at the costs to surrounding tax payers . Ignoring issues of personal safety and not reporting like the Popes people prolongs fear and anxiety of victims 1 in 6 woman in the U.S. report an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime.20 to 25 percent of woman experience attempted or completed rape IN College. 8% of U.S. high school students report having been forced to have sex. Workplace violence is the second leading cause of death in woman here in the U.S. Not everyone can be ignorant.

Anonymous said...

^
Thank you, Mr. Cochran.

Doc Rock said...

Mr. Cochran,

If you are going to toss around wild claims, be prepared to cite reliable sources.

For example, click the link below for the CDC report on the leading causes of death of US women:

https://www.cdc.gov/women/lcod/2015/race-ethnicity/index.htm

Workplace violence is not even on the radar as a cause of death.

Anonymous said...

2.24
try
https://www.nsc.org/work-safety/safety-topics/workplace-violence

"In 2014, 409 people were fatally injured in work-related attacks, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's about 16% of the 4,821 workplace deaths that year.

While roadway incidents are the No. 1 cause of death for workers overall, violence is the third leading cause for healthcare workers, and employees in professional and business services like education, law and media, according to Injury Facts 2016®. Taxi drivers, for example, are more than 20 times more likely to be murdered on the job than other workers, according to OSHA."

or
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workplace_violence

"According to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2011 violence and other injuries caused by persons or animals contributed to 17% of all US occupational fatalities, with homicides contributing to 10% of the total.[2] From 1992 to 2010, there were 13,827 reported workplace homicide victims, averaging over 700 victims per year, in the United States.[3] Examination of the 2011 data shows that while a majority of workplace fatalities occurred to males, workplace violence disproportionately affects females. Homicides contributed to 21% of all occupational fatalities for women, compared to 9% for men"

Anonymous said...

2.24
another
https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/sv-datasheet-a.pdf

" Nearly 1 in 5 (18.3%) women and 1 in 71 men
(1.4%) reported experiencing rape at some time in
their lives.
• Approximately 1 in 20 women and men (5.6% and
5.3%, respectively) experienced sexual violence
other than rape, such as being made to penetrate
someone else, sexual coercion, unwanted
sexual contact, or non-contact unwanted sexual
experiences, in the 12 months prior to the survey.
• 4.8% of men reported they were made to penetrate
someone else atsome time in their lives.
• 13% of women and 6% of men reported they
experienced sexual coercion at some time "

Peter J.Cochran said...

See we’re tossing around figures . But they all seem to be higher than LU “study”.So, as we see this blog has insited us to look at the issue .After twice attending workers compensation and safety classes at Hershey,PA I had increased interest in this subject. I would recommend all HR people to attend this event. It will give your entity a leg up on a lot of issues . If your female and went to college ,revisite your experiences under alcohol and probably smoke . What happened? Yes I can site. Just like an attorney in court.

Peter J.Cochran said...

Domestic violence is the no.2 cause of death in the workplace. Take this to the bank. Grade schools for example are not high risk “shooter” venues. But because male teachers do not occupy the building in this class structure ,( because the Vietnam War ran in a lot of males in school buildings 40 years ago with 2-S defermites to stay out of the draft. so now they are dominated by females. Issues here now is boyfriend or spouse showing up at her work place to “off her”. This is biggest risk of workplace violence in grade school. Not like high school ,different class of risk.

Peter J.Cochran said...

6:00 Anon yes I’m correct , lots of Males jumped into teaching because they could avoid the draft. Notice I put my name here and you don’t. Take Joe Kish ,ran the EASD ,had every body thinking he was a former Marine . Well he and most of the feast of them in that hiring stage were evading the draft . They were real men too-right? Kish lived next to a Marine combatant when he was married to his first wife . So he picked up on his personna . When I went to see him directly after Collumbin he had a desk pen st of Ewow and had the flags not on correct order . He faked it ,he had a 2-s deferring from draft . So use your name and call me out ,otherwise stand still.

Peter J.Cochran said...

It’s not I went to the school district back when to help them secure their issues. My own kids were in there then. I’m a former Marine Nuclear Weapons security section And Infantrymen. You are a person that never had a rifle in their shouldermost likely like Joe Kish. If you had to guard something important ,would you hire a painter that smiles at you or a combatant that’s been down range? Your an idiosyncratic no nothing.

Anonymous said...

You need therapy. Get over yourself. We are all created equal!

Peter J.Cochran said...

“Get over yourself “”I am now .Why I was beachfront a month in S.C. I’m offering thought about abuse .of humans. You are captivated in possibly a Twp. With a mortgage. I’m free . Issue is here did LU issue the correct PR statement. I say no . What do say?

Peter J.Cochran said...

Bernie contact me 610-248-0212 I’ll help you loose weight. Remember I’m leagally deaf so send text message ,I’ll get you in shape and I m know round is a shape. Free ! I’ll evan take you to a firing range and orient you to firearms. Free.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Peter I'm sure you could help me but I like to do most of my exercising solo. Right now it is just walking. As for guns, I confess some of them are beautiful, but I never liked firing them, even in my army days. I loved firing a howitzer and grenade launcher, but there are not many opportunities to do that as a civilian. I went to tank school and can drive and fire them as well.