Ever since the semester started, we’ve been receiving security alerts informing us of robberies and carjackings all around our campus. So far, there have been 9 Security Alerts emitted by our school’s Security Department. For this Security Alert to even become public, it requires the victim to file a complaint over at the department, which the department investigates and eventually informs the rest of the student body about. This means that there could be more than 9 incidents in our campus, but no one would know about it because an official complaint wasn’t filed. Unofficial reports of assaults have occurred around campus and, thanks to social media, the student body has found a way to keep themselves informed and vigilant around campus.
We took the liberty of asking 22 freshmen students about the situation on campus. Students who said that they felt safe around campus admitted that some of the reasons were because “nothing has happened to them yet” or that their class hours were early and there are more people on campus. These seem like positive and reasonable reasons to feel safe. On the other hand, students feel unsafe because they are aware of the higher crime rate around the area or they feel there are not enough security guards. It is also important to note that all the male students interviewed felt safe on campus versus a staggering 91% of female students who said they didn’t feel safe on campus.
It’s very common for freshmen to purchase things such as pepper spray for their first semester here. People constantly warn them about assaults and pepper spray has always seemed like a good idea because it gives one the sense that, were anything to happen, a potential assailant could be held off.
These situations have made students anxious and outraged: how is it that after so many assaults, all of them armed, not much seems to have been done? How about more lighting in the Sociales parking after 6:00pm? How about accessible security guards in the more solitary points of our campus? Or hiring more security? I’m pretty sure students and staff alike will agree with me when I say these aren’t irrational claims. Fortunately, Her Campus and the CGE agree on various points that were established earlier in the month. It is unfortunate to think that many of the people who have been studying here for years now say that they feel less safe than before. Isn’t this enough to make campus security to step up their game and protect us? Should it take one angry student voicing her opinion on a public blog, protests and this article for the administration to do something?