The Perception of Disorder in the Off Campus Environment: How Disorder Changes Perception

Description: With the recent surge of university issued public safety notices, couples with observations of litter, unkempt landscaping, and broken car windows, the need for a change in the off campus environment is apparent. These passive and inadvertent incivilities combined with active and deliberate incivilities, like graffiti or vandalism, send a message of lawlessness to not only the students, but also those who actually may commit the crimes. Such examples of environmental cues influence residents' cognitive or emotional processes related to crime. Additional environmental cues that affect those processes include poor visibility of the street, a lack of barriers on property, litter, dilapidated housing, and a loss of boundary sensing. Because college students are similar economically to those in poverty in that they have little to no financial independence, move frequently, and are more likely to consume alcohol or other drugs socially, they are more likely to see physical disorder when they live off campus. Neighborhood social structure, such as economic disadvantage, in combination with casual cues such as those above, cause higher perceptions of disorder. Concentrated disadvantage also positively relates to physical incivilities. All of these factors combine to create an environment of apathy for the off campus environment and a breeding ground for crime.