Parents of incoming freshmen have expressed concerns over recent crime on campus, said Kimberly Mauldin, director of admissions at UNA. Mauldin said both the admissions office staff and LaGrange Society members have received questions from potential students and parents visiting the campus.

“I was about 20 minutes into giving a tour (earlier this week) when a parent began asking about the recent crime,” said Taylor Pickens, LaGrange society member. “The questions dealt with many areas of campus and campus life. I think their daughter leaving home for the first time is a concern for them.”

Pickens said he explained the some of the recent events on campus to parents and followed by discussing SNAP, Not on Our Watch (NOW) and campus safety protocol with the tour group.

“Vice President (David) Shields is taking good care of us here, and the faculty have risen to the occasion and done their best to protect the students here,” he said. “I make sure I tell them that we are doing everything we can to take care of it and stop future crimes from happening. I think we are doing the right things and taking the right steps.”

Mauldin said no statistics have been collected on how this may affect freshman enrollment for the fall semester.

“It’s created some questions, but to my knowledge we haven’t had any student notify us that they aren’t interested in us anymore as a result of what’s been going on,” she said. “The true data will be revealed on Aug. 21 when (students) start (the fall semester). We won’t know what our numbers will be until August when the new freshmen show up.”

She said some parents and incoming female students have called the admissions office requesting to have their first choice in housing moved from Rivers Hall to LaGrange Hall. The admissions office always sends letters to no-shows at the beginning of the semester, inquiring if the students will be attending UNA in the future, she said.

“We could pick up some information from that, but I doubt it,” Mauldin said. “Right now (recent criminal activity has) created some questions and some concerns, but we have not felt any negative impact in terms of people calling and pulling their applications or letting us know they’re not coming because of that or because of recent crimes, not just on campus but in the Shoals area.”

Bob Pastula, chief of police at UNA, said he has not been approached directly by parents of incoming freshmen regarding campus safety or recent crimes.

“The crime rate on the campus is very low, compared to other campuses in the country, especially in the southeast,” he said. “Our efforts are going to remain the same. We still have the (security) volunteers out there, along with the regular police and reserve officers.”

Pastula said police efforts will not decrease during the summer months.

“I think (recent crime has) heightened awareness for us, not only as a campus community but also for parents,” Mauldin said. “We have to praise students for coming forth and reporting crime. You can’t respond and react by putting procedures in place if you don’t know what’s happening.”