More than 65% of Ohio State students live off-campus, with hundreds of them residing within the University District.
Yet, Ohio State's Buckeye Alerts and public safety notices are not issued for situations occurring beyond its bordering streets.
In a statement, Ohio State said its alerts comply with the Clery Act, a federal law that requires colleges to disclose campus crime.
Other Ohio universities take a slightly broader approach. Kelly Cantwell, senior public information officer for the University of Cincinnati Public Safety Department, said in many situations police can be unsure about the suspect's whereabouts and potential victims. For that reason, alerts may be sent out for situations unfolding a couple of streets away.
According to the University of Cincinnati's "Timely Warnings" policy, additional notices beyond what is required by the Clery Act may also be distributed for crimes that occur off campus "if the crime is deemed to pose an ongoing threat to the campus community."
"We have a lot of students who end up living in the areas surrounding campus," Cantwell said. "We pay attention to those areas too, because that's where our students are."
Case Western Reserve University goes a step further. Its alerts include neighborhood safety advisories, which include off-campus criminal activity that may not pose a direct threat to campus.
"These advisories are an important part of our emergency communications system, which also includes our emergency and security alerts, to help keep the Case Western Reserve University community safe," said Megan Koeth, Case Western's executive director of public safety, in a statement.
In 2016, Ohio State implemented neighborhood safety notices similar to CRWU, however these notices were replaced by the Lexis Nexis Community Crime Map in 2022.
Two weeks ago, Columbus police were searching for a man reportedly committing sexual acts in a car around Greek housing. Students were not informed about the incident.
Luke Lesterhuis, president of Phi Gamma Delta at Ohio State, said crime is common in the Greek Row area, but the university does not address it.
"Greek Row is made up of entirely student organizations, pretty much, and students, and we should be hearing about things that are threatening our safety from the university first, and not having to hear about it through outside sources," Lesterhuis said.
Ohio State stands firm that crime occurring near Greek housing does not fall into Ohio State police's jurisdiction, therefore it does not constitute a Buckeye Alert.
Lesterhuis said it is frustrating to hear the university say Greek housing is not in its jurisdiction because the university oversees Greek organizations in many ways.
Ohio State recommends students to use third-party services, such as the app Citizen, or the Lexis Nexis Community Crime Map. However, Lesterhuis feels these resources aren't widely known.
"The only reason I know what [Citizen] is, is because my girlfriend has it," Lesterhuis said. "They should be promoting it as much as much as they can."
WOSU asked Ohio State if they would consider a broader approach to their alert system, but university officials refused to comment.
