NIU Vice Provost Earl Seaver said NIU won’t know until the start of the spring semester how campus safety concerns have affected student retention, but said he has not seen a lot of student withdrawal during the course of this semester.

Regardless of recent incidences on campus, he said, NIU will reach out next semester to those students who have transferred or left NIU to see why they left and what they would need to return and graduate.

Brad Hoey, team leader of Media Relations and Internal Communications, said it’s normal for students and parents to have a “knee-jerk reaction” to a high-profile crime like Keller’s murder, but that they should step back from the situation and evaluate NIU as a whole.

Hoey said that most of the concerns he has heard from parents are about where to find campus safety information.

Parents and family members of NIU students recently received a letter from President John Peters regarding campus safety and the Antinette “Toni” Keller homicide investigation.

The letter, dated Nov. 3, provides information about the NIU Police and DeKalb Police, campus security resources such as Late Night Ride and the Huskie Patrol, and Prairie Park, where human remains believed to be Keller’s were found Oct. 16.

Hoey said the letter was a formal way for Peters to let every parent know what security measures are in place on campus.

The letter is a follow-up to the other communication Peters has extended over the last several weeks, Hoey said, such as messages on the NIU Today website, Peters’ appearance on WGN radio, and his personal conversations with parents and students.

A similar letter was also sent to faculty and staff on Monday, Hoey said.

According to the letter, the Feb. 14, 2008 shootings and Keller homicide are two major events that have “drawn a lot of negative media attention” to NIU.

“The biggest misperception is that NIU is an unsafe campus,” Hoey said. “NIU is not alone in having these types of tragedies.”

According to the letter, major crime in DeKalb is at a 10-year low and on-campus crime rates are comparable to those of other universities in Illinois.