Medill Final Project

The end of the quarter is rapidly approaching, which means it's time to write long papers, study for finals, and, of course, spend countless hours doing my final project for Medill. On Thursday, I spent no less than 6 frantic hours on my computer trying to come up with a good topic because in journalism, a good idea can make or break your story.

Today, though, after a good night's sleep and a talk with the RUF intern Randi, things started coming together. The story has to be something that is backed with numbers and something that is relevant today, an idea where I can access official studies and talk to official people. My idea? Campus crime and safety.

I hope to compare the crime rate at three universities- Northwestern, Loyola University, and University of Chicago- both with each other and with the crime rate in the areas surrounding the campuses, to see if a higher crime rate in the area around campus actually results in a higher crime rate on campus (although the logical answer is yes, my preliminary research has shown me that that is not the case, as the crime rate at Northwestern is actually higher than the crime rate at University of Chicago- and Evanston is certainly more peaceful than the south side of Chicago). I hope to interview students at all three universities, talking to them and figuring out how safe they actually feel and if their safety is proportionate to the statistical evidence.

My professor approved it, so I'm going to go ahead and go for it! Of course, some things can change along the way, as it always is with stories.. so we'll see how it goes.

So for a Saturday, today was a highly productive day. I'm off to dinner and then to see an on-campus showing of Conneticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court!