Students Speak Up About Campus Safety
By: Emilie Gille
ATHENS, Ga. – With over 36,000 undergraduate students attending the University of Georgia (UGA), campus is active with students going to classes, studying, working, and attending events both day and night. Providing students with a safe environment is an important issue when dealing with a student body and a campus as large as the one at UGA.
Though the University has safety measures in place, such as requiring all students to complete an online program covering drug and alcohol abuse as well as sexual violence during their first semester, some students don’t think that it is enough.
“I feel like it’s safer during the day, but at night I don’t think it’s safe,” said third year student, Meredith Townsend.
In the first two months of this semester alone, 12 suspicious persons, two simple battery cases, 11 rape and sexual assault cases, eight harassment charges, and three assault cases involving students have been reported to the UGA campus police, according to their daily crime log. Even though some of the incidents reported occurred during the day, the majority of them occurred at night.
Students around campus point out two main issues they want addressed to improve UGA’s environment.
Transportation
This year new night bus routes, Night Campus, Prince/Milledge and Riverbend Connector, were introduced by Campus Transit in collaboration with the Student Governing Association (SGA) at the start of the fall semester in an attempt to improve nighttime transportation. With these new routes, stops were removed and the areas of campus serviced shifted.
“They need more night buses with more stops,” said second-year Isis Owusu. “If you have more transportation at night, fewer people have to walk so that’s automatically safer."
Owusu is a student, like many others, who have jobs on campus with late night shifts, putting her on campus late at night and depending on the buses.
Nia Waller, also a second-year student, works late at the Chick-fil-A in the Tate Center.
“People are still awake, but we have the fewest buses at night. It doesn’t make sense," said Waller.
One of many students leaving the Main Library on North Campus after midnight to walk home.
Lighting
Most students get around on campus, on foot, especially those that live on campus in the residence halls. Nighttime is no exception. With events, extracurriculars, late tests, and study sessions, UGA’s campus has an active campus at night.
“Lighting is a big thing, just being able to see your surroundings and see people,” said third-year John Stephenson.
According to a review conducted by Campbell Collaboration on the effects of street lighting on crime levels, in areas with street lighting improvement, crime decreased by 21 percent.
“There’s a pathway from the physics building down to the Hill Community,” said second-year Emory Perry. “It’s very, very dark and it’s a little scary.”
Students report a need for improved lighting in North Campus near down town, South Campus along Carlton Street, and in East Campus by the Joe Frank Harris Commons, specifically.
Sense of Safety
Visible evidence that there are steps being taken to ensure safety on campus is something several students agreed would provide the true feeling of a safer environment.
“If I were to see a couple of guards walking around here at night that would definitely make me feel safer,” said Townsend. “I know other campuses have these little call buttons. Seeing those around campus would make me feel safer.”
The University of Georgia had roughly 25 call boxes on campus at one point, however in 2008 the call boxes were removed due to the rise in cell phone use.
Campus safety is a constant and prevalent issue and with the population of Athens and of UGA students increasing, there is the potential for crime rates to rise as well.
Meredith Townsend interview outside the Miller Learning Center.
All content hosted on this website is owned and/or was created by Emilie Gille.
~Emilie Gille © 2019~