By Ally Uhlendorf
Managing Editor
There have been two armed car robbery attempts on campus in Lot 7 since December. Both of these attempts occurred on the top level of the parking garage, a spot that holds mainly student vehicles.
The most recent attempt on April 17 involved suspects who were not affiliated with the College, armed with a knife, at around 8:50 p.m. One subject was arrested the next morning, and charged in connection with the robbery. Since then, students at the College have not been informed of further information.
At the College, there are designated parking lots for students depending on where they live — on or off campus. Lot 7, specifically, is designated for undergraduate and graduate commuter students, Pennington College Houses and student apartments resident assistants, visitors with a permit, and, on the top floor only, Campus Town residents. If residents do not park where they are assigned, they are at risk of being ticketed.
Campus Town residents, if not assigned to the Campus Town parking lots, can only park on the top level of Lot 7, where these crimes are occurring. On the top level, there are no safety features, such as security cameras or bright lights. Simply parking your car after the sun goes down should not be something to fear or worry about, especially at a college campus.
Although the campus community receives an alert via text message and an email when these incidents occur, it is becoming increasingly difficult to feel safe parking in these crime hot spots. Because some classes go later than 9:30 p.m., it is hard to feel secure with no security systems in these dimly lit parking lots due to these recent circumstances.
To ensure safety in these parking spaces, the College must take immediate and transparent action. Through installing security cameras, having Campus Police monitor the lots at night and adding brighter lights in the lots, these spaces can have an extra layer of security for students.
Students are expected to adhere to the College’s parking guidelines and punished if they do not follow these rules — why shouldn’t the College be held to the same standards when it comes to ensuring the safety of students in these locations?
Students should not feel fearful when simply walking back to their vehicles after class. If the College can afford to issue citations to students for parking violations, when they are simply parking in a “safer” spot, they can afford to implement basic safety measures in all parking locations on campus.
The College needs to be more proactive in these situations, not just reactive. Students should be notified immediately when these incidents happen, not just after they have already been resolved.
The burden of campus safety should not fall on the students — we should not be expected to have to carry pepper spray, walk in groups or call a friend when simply trying to park on or leave campus after dark, just to feel marginally more secure.
This is not how any student should have to live.
