“We are aware of a Grand Rapids Police incident that occurred off campus on Sunday, April 14. According to information provided to us by the Grand Rapids Police Department, officers were pursuing a suspect who allegedly brandished a handgun during an altercation and then fled in a vehicle. When the suspect’s vehicle refused to stop, officers initiated a pursuit and later apprehended the individual on foot on the north bound lanes of the East Beltline by Calvin’s Crossing.
A weapon was recovered from the vehicle, and no additional subjects were involved. Police quickly secured the area, and there was no threat to the campus or surrounding community.
We are grateful to the Grand Rapids Police Department for their swift response and their continued partnership in helping to ensure community safety.”
This message was sent out to Calvin’s administration, including the university and seminary presidents and vice presidents, according to William Corner, Director of Campus Safety. Students and staff were not notified of this incident, prompting some students to wonder why.
There are a few things that Corner and his team take into account when deciding how to report incidents. First, “if there was a serious or ongoing threat, we’re required to do a notification” for everyone, Corner explained. If there is no such threat, as in the April 14 incident, Campus Safety then moves on to the next round of criteria, which is about the impact the incident had on the community. They take into account who was on campus when the incident occurred and who was directly impacted. In the case of the April 14 incident, the chase happened on a Sunday afternoon, when the buildings were already locked and the on-campus population was lower, and therefore less members of the Calvin community would be impacted.
Campus Safety also communicates with the Grand Rapids Police Department (GRPD) to decide how to handle a situation. The GRPD will inform Campus Safety if they need to lock down the university or send out a notification. If there is no ongoing threat, the impact is not severe, and the GRPD does not recommend a notification, students will not be alerted to on campus incidents.
However, there are certain incidents that Calvin Students — and the general public — always have access to information about. The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, more commonly known as the Clery Act, requires Campus Safety to log all reported incidents of burglary, robbery, aggravated assault, homicides, car theft, arson, sexual assault, domestic/dating violence, stalking and hate crimes, as well as any drug, alcohol or weapon offences. Chimes publishes these incidents in the weekly Crime Blotter, but they are also published by Campus Safety directly. The law requires an Annual Crime Log to be released every Oct. 1, and anyone — students, staff or general public — can go to the office anytime and ask to see this log, which Corner says his team is “required to just give it to you, no questions asked.”
The Clery Act does not require Campus Safety to publish the Crime Log online, but they do it anyway because, “We want you to be safe. We want you to feel safe. And the best way to do that is to make you aware of what’s happening and provide you with resources,” Corner reported.
Professor of sociology and social work Elisha Marr — along with the Sexual Violence Prevention and Eduacation Ambassadors of Calvin (SPEAC) — agree that raising awareness is a good way to increase safety. With a grant from the Office of Violence Against Women, Marr put out a survey at the end of the 2023-2024 school year asking students about their perceptions of safety on campus. The data collected from the Perceptions of Safety survey was presented to students at an optional event on Nov. 18, 2024. Chimes reported on the data after that presentation, making the statistics, including that 43.9% of respondents had experienced sexual harassment, available to a wider audience.
Unfortunately, many members of the campus community are still unaware of the survey data, despite efforts for transparency. To combat this problem, Marr presented the data again to 12 faculty and staff members in order to raise their awareness as mandated reporters on April 15, 2025. She also plans to present to the Cabinet and would like to speak to the board. She said it would be very helpful to get “all the policy makers in the same room” to increase the chances that this data could incite policy change.
The problem both Campus Safety and the Perceptions of Safety survey run into is that they depend on students to inform them of incidents. Right now, Campus Safety is averaging about 300 incident reports a year, but Corner knows that sometimes students are “afraid of the process because it’s daunting” and they don’t want to “be re-victimized” and so they choose not to report certain incidents. Students can also talk to a mandated reporter who doesn’t work for Campus Safety, but Corner says he “would always prefer someone to come make a report with us, and we can inform them of the resources they can take advantage of, both on campus and off campus.”
Marr also was limited by student reporting. 424 students filled out the survey, but they could quit at any time. This means data about potentially triggering subjects could be lower than reported if students closed the survey instead of answering the question.
Marr is grateful for the data but acknowledges the need for student voices to make a bigger impact. Going forward, she hopes that speaking with staff, faculty and the Cabinet will lead to policy change around campus.
