It was all over the cable news networks and broadcast across the nation: last November, four Lakewood police officers were shot and killed in a coffee shop in Parkland, Wash. The deaths of these police officers marked the high point of an uncharacteristically violent year for Washington state and have lead many people to question the safety of the region and, by association, the UW.

Despite the uncertainty brought on by the recent shootings, however, the UW is still an overwhelmingly secure place. It has its own police department, the excellent UW Alert system, and extremely tight key-card security for all of the residence halls.

Yet, even with the campus’s strict security, it has recently come to my attention that the UW’s newest batch of prospective freshmen, deriving their perceptions of the campus from fearful rumors and crime-obsessed headlines, may be getting a different idea.

Over winter break, my godfather told me that he had recently heard some negative rumors about my beloved UW. Apparently, a friend of his, whose daughter is planning to apply for the 2010-11 school year, expressed concern about the safety of the U-District, even claiming outright that the UW was “too dangerous” to be a suitable choice.

Though I jumped to the UW’s defense, assuring my godfather that I had never once in my three years of living on and near campus felt that my person or belongings were in danger, his comment got me thinking. Is this how outsiders perceive my school?

As much as I would love to ignore the suggestion that the UW might be “too dangerous” for the comfort of one incoming freshman, the fact is that the UW’s attractiveness to high-school juniors and seniors plays a big role in its well-being as an institution. Moving into winter quarter, UW students and faculty will be bombarded by swarms of young people on campus tours, all asking themselves whether the U-District is a place they could comfortably call home.

No matter how safe students say they feel living in the dorms and in the Greek community, or how much faith we have in the UW Police Department, we have to admit that the recent media coverage of Seattle and its neighboring counties has been far from reassuring.

While incoming freshmen are right to carefully evaluate the safety of the U-District — UW Alerts alone tell of weekly robberies and muggings ­— to conclude that the campus is unsafe is to assume that the violent (and distant) exceptions of 2009 have become the norm.

The truth is, despite the city’s association in the media with recent high-profile homicides, national publications continue to rate Seattle among the safest cities in the country. In fact, in 2009, Forbes placed Seattle fourth (tied with Boston) in their list of “America’s safest cities.” Though it is one of the most populous and reported-on cities in Washington state, nationally, Seattle doesn’t come close to being a criminal hot spot.

So, is the UW really perceived as “too dangerous?” Yes and no. Though the media may be portraying Seattle, and by association the U-District, as less wholesome than usual, national publications and current UW students still consider it a perfectly safe place to call home. While violent crime in the Pacific Northwest has certainly seen a great deal of press in the past few months, and the feelings of prospective freshmen and their parents may reflect that, the perception that the U-District has gotten more dangerous will fade with time. As it does, Seattle’s reputation as one of the safest cities in the United States will endure, and prospective students will have a greater opportunity to see the UW for the safe, prestigious institution it truly is.

Reach contributing columnist Rebecca Kuensting at opinion@dailyuw.com.