Students might examine a college’s safety record right after they know what the school’s tuition is if state legislators mandate colleges to publish crime statistics.

Sen. Doris Karpiel, R-Roselle, said she introduced Senate Bill 1515 that would force colleges to publish their crime statistics after a rape task force at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana recommended abolishing the pompon squad as a means to diffuse sexual attacks.

“I thought, ‘That’s so silly,’ so I decided to introduce the bill I had already written,” Karpiel said.

NIU Judicial Officer Larry Bolles said campus safety is the “new variable” used by parents and students when choosing one college over another. Bolles said that as a parent, he would want access to campus safety information.

However, Bolles said he has mixed feelings about the idea because “numbers are dangerous” and must be put into context to be fully understood.

“People would be alarmed” by NIU’s crime statistics without knowing the specific circumstances of each reported incident, he said.

Karpiel said she wanted to wait to introduce the bill until she got responses from state universities after sending them copies of the proposal, but received none.

She said she will meet this spring with security officials from state universities, including NIU.

“Most people think the worst” when presented with any statistics on campus crime, Bolles said.

Comparing colleges by crime statistics would be unfair because smaller rural colleges might not have the same crimes as schools in or near large cities such as NIU, he said.

The bill will go to the Senate Rules Committee by April where Karpiel said “a lot of politics are played.” If the committee and both houses pass the bill by the end of June, it will be a law, she said.

The proposed bill also requires public and private Illinois colleges to tell applicants, students and employees their drinking and weapon policies and outline on-campus residence hall security procedures.

Bolles said NIU made alcohol and weapon policies public for the last 10 years through ads and letters sent to students.