Semester’s crimes raise question of campus safety
Students on campus and off check their emails only to frequently find crime alerts sent out from UNT. They find that it is another assault or theft. These crimes need to be reduced in order to assure maximum safety for students and faculty around campus during all hours of the day and night.
Last Tuesday, a sexual assault was committed on the east side of the Art Building on campus at 7 p.m. At this time, there is still light outside, and there should not be crimes being committed on campus. There is no reason why it should not be safe for students to walk at that time, because there are still classes and events going on during the evening hours.
This semester alone there have been countless reports given by the UNT Police Department. It’s obviously difficult for a police officer to be behind every building and on every corner, but it seems that there are not as many as there should be.
Texas Christian University, located 48 minutes away in Fort Worth, does not have many reported crimes when compared to UNT.
Their crime blog for November contains two non-forced burglaries, a report of vandalism of chairs and one of theft of a cell phone.
These do not even begin to compare to UNT’s report of sexual assault last week. UNT needs to up its game for public safety. TCU may be a private university while UNT is not, but that does not mean that it should be made safer for its students.
There have been other cases of assault and harassment reported in the crime blog, but a few others stand out with the sexual assault one last week.
In August, there was a man with a gun by Kerr Hall, a hall that is mainly filled with freshmen, and a victim fled the scene and was unharmed. August is right when classes are starting, and there should not already be concern for student’s safety the first week of some student’s freshman year of college.
College should be an exciting new experience for newcomers, not a time for watching where they step.
UNT is not the most dangerous campus by far, but it cannot be called safe after the multiple occurrences that have occurred during this fall semester alone.
The university needs to put students’ safety first at all times and make campus safe to walk on all day, every day.
Alison Matlock is a journalism junior. She can be reached at alimat15@att.net.
A lot of negative events get blasted in the media to the point where people think it is the norm. Just remember that.
The most recent report of assault is the only known report on UNT campus that I know of. Even then, the guy willingly got in the car with a bunch of strangers. We learned that in kindergarten: never get in a car with people you don’t know.
While UNT does need to make sure some areas are more well lit (that area near College Inn and the back of Fout’s Field for example), students can ensure their own safety by being aware of their surroundings and traveling in groups when they go out late at night. Get off your cellphone; it makes you more of a target if you are distracted. (And also shows you have something to steal if it’s a sparkly iPhone at that.) If transportation is an issue, you can call UNT’s E-Ride service and they will come get you anywhere on campus.
Prevention on UNT’s part can only go so far.