2019 Eastern Illinois University Crime & Safety Report
Is Eastern Illinois University safe? On this page, we'll examine crime statistics for the college campus and surrounding areas.
Info in this crime and safety report on EIU:
- Understanding the Stats
- EIU Crime Overall
- On-Campus Crime
- Residence Hall Crime
- Crime in the Charleston Neighborhood
- References
Understanding the Crime Stats for EIU
Types of Crime & Safety Incidents
We have compiled this information on crime statistics from the U.S. Department of Education's Campus Safety and Security data. The types of crimes are divided into the following categories: arrests for major crimes, arrests for possession, violence against women, and disciplinary actions.
The arrests for major crimes category includes arrests for things such as murder, robbery, rape, aggravated assault, and arson. The violence against women grouping includes things such as domestic violence, date rape, and stalking. The arrests for possession classification deals with things such as weapons possession, alcohol violations, and drug violations. The disciplinary actions category involves possession of weapons, alcohol violations, and drug violations in the cases where no arrest occurred but some action was taken.
Number of Incidents
It is not uncommon for a school to report zero incidents for any or all of these categories. In fact, 56% of the schools we cover reported no arrests for major crimes, 67% reported no violence against women, 70% reported no arrests for possession, and 68% reported no disciplinary actions.
Although zero incidents of reported crime is nice, it doesn't necessarily mean that the school is safer. It could indicate lax reporting. Similarly, a high number of incidents could indicate that the school is more strict about reporting and law enforcement than other institutions.
EIU Overall Crime Stats
The table below gives the number of incidents by category, and for comparision, also states the max number of incidents reported by any school in our analysis.
Category | Number of Incidents | Max Number of Incidents (at any school) | Number of Incidents per 1,000 students | Max Number of Incidents per 1000 students (at any school) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Arrests for Major Crimes | 21 | 1,670 | 2.69 | 4,000.00 |
Arrests for Possession | 2 | 880 | 0.26 | 1,352.94 |
Violence Against Women | 6 | 334 | 0.77 | 1,000.00 |
Disciplinary Actions | 54 | 2,670 | 6.92 | 4,574.85 |
EIU Overall Crime by Category
The percentage breakdown of EIU crime and safety incidents by category is shown in the following chart.

Disciplinary actions account for 65.1% of all crime and safety incidents at the school. Around 2.4% of the crime and safety-related incidents at Eastern Illinois University resulted in arrests for possession. About 25.3% of incidents were arrests for major crimes. Acts of violence against women accounted for 7.2% of incidents.
Comparison to Other Schools in the Nation
The charts below show how EIU compares to other colleges and universities in the nation when it comes to each category of crime and safety-related incidents. Note that this does not take school size into account so larger schools are likely to have more incidents.
We can factor in the size of the school and look at the incidents per thousand students as well.
EIU Overall Crime by Location
The percentage breakdown of EIU crime and safety incidents by location is shown in the following chart.

EIU On-Campus Crime Stats
The table below gives the number of incidents by category, and for comparision, also states the max number of incidents reported by any school in our analysis.
Category | Number of Incidents | Max Number of Incidents (at any school) | Number of Incidents per 1,000 students | Max Number of Incidents per 1000 students (at any school) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Arrests for Major Crimes | 19 | 1,585 | 2.43 | 4,000.00 |
Arrests for Possession | 2 | 813 | 0.26 | 888.89 |
Violence Against Women | 6 | 331 | 0.77 | 1,000.00 |
Disciplinary Actions | 54 | 2,645 | 6.92 | 4,544.91 |
EIU On-Campus Crime by Category
The chart below shows what percentage of EIU on-campus crime and safety incidents are in each category.

EIU Residence Hall Crime Stats
The table below gives the number of incidents by category, and for comparision, also states the max number of incidents reported by any school in our analysis.
Category | Number of Incidents | Max Number of Incidents (at any school) | Number of Incidents per 1,000 students | Max Number of Incidents per 1000 students (at any school) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Arrests for Major Crimes | 12 | 167 | 1.54 | 101.80 |
Arrests for Possession | 0 | 715 | 0.00 | 180.35 |
Violence Against Women | 3 | 140 | 0.38 | 53.89 |
Disciplinary Actions | 52 | 2,507 | 6.66 | 4,029.94 |
EIU Residence Hall Crime by Category
The percentage breakdown of EIU crime and safety incidents by category in residence halls is shown in the following chart.

Charleston Neighborhood Student-Related Crime Stats
The table below gives the number of incidents by category, and for comparision, also states the max number of incidents reported by any school in our analysis.
Category | Number of Incidents | Max Number of Incidents (at any school) | Number of Incidents per 1,000 students | Max Number of Incidents per 1000 students (at any school) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Arrests for Major Crimes | 2 | 67 | 0.26 | 666.67 |
Arrests for Possession | 0 | 245 | 0.00 | 1,294.12 |
Violence Against Women | 0 | 24 | 0.00 | 555.56 |
Disciplinary Actions | 0 | 137 | 0.00 | 137.93 |
EIU Student-Related Crime in Charleston Neighborhood by Category
The percentage breakdown of EIU student-related crime and safety incidents by category in the surrounding Charleston neighborhood is shown in the following chart.

References
- National Center for Education Statistics
- U.S. Department of Education Campus Safety and Security
- College Scorecard
- Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
- Image Credit: By Nyttend under License
More about our data sources and methodologies.