Georgia College placed eighth in the ranking compiled by The Daily Beast.

“While I am obviously very pleased and honored to hear that we are ranked well in overall safety, I am not totally surprised,” said Dave Groseclose, Assistant Vice President for Public Safety & Administrative Services. “We take a very proactive approach to the safety of our students, faculty, staff, and property.”

Bruce Harshbarger, Vice President for Student Affairs said the ranking should reassure parents that the university takes student safety seriously.

"I hope that the ranking adds to parents' comfort in sending students here, but I hope that they feel good about GCSU for more reasons than just the safety,” Harsbarger said. “While the smaller size of the campus adds to the safety of the campus community,
it also enhances the overall quality of the educational experience. As a college parent myself, I've always encouraged my children to consider smaller universities."

Daily Beast Reporter Clark Merrefield collected from the U.S. Department of Education the two most recent years of raw data from almost 9,000 schools and then further analyzed more than 4,000 over more than 50 different criteria, weighing different crimes against each other and factoring in incidents both on-campus and nearby.

“For the past two decades, most colleges and universities nationwide have been required under the federal Clery Act to report annually to the U.S. Department of Education about crimes on and near campus, including murder, assault, sexual offenses and robberies,” Merrefield said.

Georgia College works to prevent crimes against students, faculty, staff and property, Groseclose said.

The Public Safety Department offers students alcohol and drug awareness programs, self-defense training and other crime prevention initiatives.

“A great example of proactive safety is the student volunteers in our Student Night Auxiliary Patrol (SNAP) that provides late night golf cart escorts upon request,” Groseclose said. “SNAP has provided 563 escorts carrying 1,094 passengers since classes started Aug. 17. I’m very proud of the fine men and women that make up our Public Safety Department.”

The majority of the top 25 safest universities are located in rural areas or small towns.

“While that’s not surprising, more telling are the techniques many of the winners are using to keep their campuses safe,” Merrefield said. “Lessons abound.”

To learn more about The Daily Beast rankings, visit www.thedailybeast.com.