University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee named among America's safest universities

SARASOTA -- University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee is one of the nation's safest universities, according to a ranking by home security company ADT.

ADTsecurity.com ranked USFSM No. 18 on a list of America's 32 safest colleges and universities. It was one of four Florida colleges to make the list.

The ranking is based on data from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Postsecondary Education. All postsecondary institutions that participate in federal student aid programs are required to provide information to the office's database.

To calculate its so-called "Danger Scores," ADTsecurity.com used a weighted system that assigns higher values to violent crimes compared with non-violent property crimes. Enrollment size also helped determine the scores.

"At USF Sarasota-Manatee our No. 1 priority is the safety and well-being of our students, faculty and staff," USFSM Regional Chancellor Sandra Stone said in a statement. "This ranking shows that we are an excellent option for high-quality higher education in a personal, safe learning environment."

This story was originally published September 29, 2015 at 12:59 PM with the headline "University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee named among America's safest universities ."