Better safe than sorry

Last month, two students were robbed within a week of one another. Although Duke continually works to prevent such incidents by employing security guards and operating programs like Duke Van Services, crime continues to be a present threat on and near campus.

One means of addressing this issue is a reshuffling of campus security forces. The University should focus attention on hot spots, such as East Campus. The fact that a student was robbed between Brown and Bassett residence halls last month with no immediate response from security guards or police is shocking. It reveals a hole in campus security, and the University should respond by moving more patrol officers to this part of campus.

Security guards alone cannot stop crime. We suggest that the University work harder to educate students about the safety resources that do exist on campus. We commend efforts to include safety education as part of orientation, but even older students need to be reminded of campus resources and safety tips.

Students, too, must take better care to act responsibly in unsafe situations. Individuals should make themselves aware of the resources that exist on campus and how to best utilize them. Students should not allow a sense of pride to prevent them from using the campus blue light system or calling a ride from Duke Van Services.

Students and administrators can also work together to increase campus safety resources without straining the University budget. Programs like the now defunct Duke University SafeWalks, which offered students a walking companion on weekend nights and enlisted 40 student volunteers, prove that students are willing to spend time to assist their peers. Although DUS emerged from collaborative effort between several students and the Women’s Center, the program went belly up as student leaders graduated. Providing walking companions to students is probably a misuse of resources—making campus walking paths safe is the task of the Duke University Police Department, not vigilante strollers. But the volunteer model has potential.

Student volunteers could extend the reach of the SafeRides program, which, as it is, fails to protect students who need late night transportation from off-campus locations back to campus. Indeed, a disproportionate number of student robberies occur between Durham and East Campus, an especially perilous journey when students have lost control of their faculties. Student-run transportation groups are not without precedent and exist at the University of Georgia and Texas A&M. Duke should consider adopting a program like UGA’s Designated Dawgs, a student-run organization that has ferried more than 60,000 students to and from campus. We could ensure the longevity of a similar program by hiring staff to coordinate student volunteers.

Ultimately, crime at Duke and in Durham will not cease to exist because of an extra security guard or an expanded safe transportation program. Although the University must pour resources into these areas, it must also continue its efforts in solving larger problems of poverty in Durham. As a partner with its home city, Duke has an obligation to work to improve life in Durham, which begins with addressing poverty.

Tackling on and off-campus crime is a multifaceted objective. Both University administrators and students have an obligation to participate in this process of making both Duke and Durham a safer, more secure environment.