Wayne State University, long revered as the institution responsible for educating many in the Detroit Jewish community, is hosting an undergraduate information session for prospective students and their parents at the Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield (on the corner of Maple and Drake roads) on November 21, 2006, at 6:30 p.m.
Recently re-elected Board of Governor Eugene Driker is a key organizer of the event and a proponent of cultivating a larger Jewish presence at the university.
“Wayne State University is an educational jewel that many in our community don’t realize can afford unique experiences and opportunities to Jewish youth,” Driker notes. “In addition to having two of the best law and medical schools in the country, Wayne State offers undergraduate programs taught by world-renowned professors. At Wayne State, undergrads have the ability to engage directly in research that has global implications and, in many cases, is not being replicated anywhere else in the world.”
Students also may not realize that the Wayne State campus has changed dramatically over the past five years, under the leadership of Wayne State President Dr. Irvin D. Reid. In addition to building state-of-the-art new residence halls that house students year-round, Wayne State has made safety a top priority by introducing precautions (e.g., street lighting and emergency phones, etc.); maintaining a police headquarters on campus; conducting routine police patrols 24 hours a day, seven days a week; and consolidating student activities and services into the central part of the university. Wayne State’s crime rate is far lower than all of the surrounding cities from which it draws its students, according to the state of Michigan Uniform Crime Report, which is compiled and prepared by Michigan State Police.
Notes Lt. Dave Scott, who heads the Wayne State crime prevention section and is a member of the university’s criminal investigation section within the Wayne State University police department, “We have less crime on Wayne State’s campus than either the University of Michigan or Michigan State.” Scott adds that all Wayne State officers are certified police officers, not paid security guards. “Our authority is seamless between the university and the surrounding neighborhoods in our four-square mile patrol area,” he says.
According to Wayne State Dean of Students David Strauss, campus life at Wayne State has never been more vibrant or afforded more opportunities for the enrichment of Jewish students. Strauss notes, “Wayne State has a thriving Hillel on campus and a highly regarded Cohn-Haddow Center for Judaic Studies, which hosts Jewish speakers on a regular basis. Our students are politically active, vocal and excited to be at Wayne State, where they can experience artistic and cultural diversity firsthand.”