Ignorance is not bliss -- especially when it prevents students from taking precautions against crime.

Students deserve to have access to crime numbers and have a right to know what is going on around them.

State Sen. Richard Tilghman (R-Montgomery), has introduced legislation to amend the existing College and University Security Information Act to require campus security services at all Pennsylvania colleges and universities to give students access to log books to see where and what types of crime occur on their campuses.

The change would help students realize the scope of crime on their campuses. By recognizing that a campus crime problem may exist, the "it won't happen here" attitude may not take over.

And that added awareness would encourage students to take the necessary precautions to avoid becoming a statistic. Forced ignorance only hurts; it does not protect. By keeping Pennsylvania's students in the dark, campus security services are doing a disservice to their constituents.

University Park already provides an open log service to students. University Police Services' practice can provide a good example for other state colleges and universities, as well as Penn State's Commonwealth Campuses.

The Capitol Times, the student newspaper at Penn State Harrisburg, recently brought this very issue to the forefront. Students believed an undisclosed sexual assault on campus led to another incident, and that it could have been prevented had the police released the information.

The new legislation would have forced Penn State Harrisburg's University community relations and police services to release information about the assault.

By bringing the issue into the light, student newspapers can initiate a process that other students can -- and must -- take on. Students must write or call their state representatives to let them know that ignorance only compounds problems.

Open log books would most definitely help Pennsylvania's students by allowing them to keep a watchful eye out for both sugar-coated and secreted statistics. And at the same time, it would help students watch out for themselves.