By Sophia Khori
Murphy News Service
Most every semester seems to include calls to increase safety on and off campus. This semester was no different
“We are not going to have an environment where students are unsafe.” Those were the words of University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler on Feb. 26 at the Campus Safety Town Hall in Murphy Hall.
The night began with a panel of presenters including Minnesota Student Association (MSA) President Mike Schmit, President Eric Kaler, Vice Provost and Dean of Students Danita Brown Young and Vice President Pamela Wheelock. A question-and-answer session followed during the audience of about 40 students was invited to participate.
Wheelock said the U’s campuses are safer, citing a 77-percent decrease from the crime peak of the past, but acknowledged the fact that during the just-past fall semester there was a higher-than-average number of reported robberies.
There has been a higher robbery rate, but Wheelock stressed that there has been progress in taking safety precautions by adding more exterior lights, more security cameras and restricting building access. Young chimed in by saying 44 arrests/citations were made or issued on and off campus since September.
Young said she, along with the Office of Student Affairs, has been working on improving three key initiatives, which ended up being the main focuses of the forum.
The first project Young discussed was about working with students to offer free services such as self-defense classes and the Gopher Chauffeur service that picks up students late at night and delivers them safely to their destinations.
When asked about other specific type of aid being offered, Wheelock mentioned an effort fall semester effort by MSA students organized a pledge signing by residence hall dwellers to agreed to not walk alone at night or let friends walk alone. And Wheelock added that work is under way to highlight for students preferable and safer paths and routes that are ideal and contain higher traffic.
Young said that the U is working on making resources readily available for victims of crimes on and near campus, whether it be for counseling support or help in recovering stolen belongings.
One concern from the audience was about whether the Office of Student Affairs had considered creating safe zones, allowing 24-hour student access to specific buildings such as Coffman Student Union. Wheelock said that suggestion would be considered, as would setting up “safe zones” for those who live in nearby, off-campus neighborhoods.
Young’s third and final point stressed the need to work with landlords of off-campus housing. And Young encouraged students who live off campus to become involved with their neighborhood board meetings.
Kaler suggested working with landlords to ensure routine maintenance awareness, such as making sure porch lights always work. He described a ride-along he went on before the now long, cold winter struck, in which he observed extensive stretches of dark roads. Fixing that will require constant conversations among residents and elected city officials.
Young said another issue her office is dealing with is that of students of color being stereotyped, which in turn spurred many questions from the student audience.
Kaler responded by saying that police officers are trained to respond when called upon and said, “They don’t know who they are dealing with; they don’t know if that individual is armed or if they are stable.” He said, from a police enforcement perspective, the motive for questioning suspicious people on campus does not about the color of a person’s skin, but to impose safety.
A Black Student Union member asked about progress on moving away from racial profiling on campus. Wheelock said the U has put together “easily accessible information on what to do if you feel you’re being profiled.” The problem, she said, is difficult to assess because the U is part of and surrounded by a large urban area.
On Thursday, Kaler, in his State of the University Address, pointed out that 7,000 new housing units have been recently added on and near campus and that another 7,000 more are in the works. He added that the distinction between on and off campus doesn’t matter and that “we need to make sure that students and the community are safe.”
Sophia Khori is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.</p>
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