Last week, University Primetime named Quinnipiac University the No. 1 safest college in America. The article, “2014 Safest Colleges in America,” explains that the rankings were based on consideration for overall violence at the schools and statistics about seven types of crime.

University Primetime is an online service dedicated to publishing information about colleges and universities across the country. Students can sign up with the website to receive information about sports, breaking news and events happening on their campus.

“2014 Safest Colleges in America” ranks Quinnipiac over the second safest college, New York Institute of Technology-Old Westbury, and the third safest college, Long Island University-Brooklyn Campus. Other schools on the list include Boston University, Texas A&M University and Cornell University.

Chief of Public Safety David Barger has received many congratulations from nearby universities for this recognition.

“Now that QU has reached a new level of national prominence … This was really something to be proud of,” Barger said.

Amber Hopwood, a freshman psychology major from Middleborough, Mass., says she is also proud of the ranking.

“It made me happy to know that we topped the list,” Hopwood said.  “But I think it made my parents even happier.”

Barger attributes this ranking to the collective efforts of the Public Safety department and the administration to enforce the various safety and security policies of Quinnipiac University.  There are plans in place to further improve these policies.

“I think, though, that we can never rest on our laurels as far as safety and security,” Barger said. “Every day there’s something new to be concerned about. Because we are [a high profile university], people start to look at us more, which certainly elevates the threat level.”

No college campus is perfectly safe, especially those that are integrated into the surrounding community, as Quinnipiac is with Hamden and New Haven.

“I was actually kind of shocked that we made that list with us being so close to New Haven,” Hopwood said.

“There is always being proactive with security and safety on campus,” Barger said.  “You always try to maintain [safety and security] at a level, but you always move forward.”