It is easy on a campus like Georgia Tech’s — among the quads, fraternity houses and academic buildings — to forget that you are in the middle of an urban area where crime is a very real occurrence.
From time to time, I am certainly guilty of this sense of invincibility. Between midterms, group projects, football games and club meetings, the possibility of crime is not typically on my mind. Over the past few weeks, my fellow students and I have been reminded of the way that crime can affect us and personal safety is everyone’s responsibility.
It is always crucial, on and off college campuses, for individuals to take ownership of their personal safety. Though the recent crimes on and near campus have been unsettling, they have also incited students to take a wide range of proactive responses to ensure their safety.
There does seem to be a trend in recent crimes involving students — in many cases they put themselves in risky situations by walking alone late at night. Students have become more active in ensuring their own safety, purchasing pepper spray and avoiding walking alone. Significantly more student organizations have asked Georgia Tech police to give presentations at their organization meetings on how to stay safe, and students across campus are discussing the issue and proposing solutions.
Our Student Government Association has coordinated numerous town halls to gather student input and discuss solutions that can be passed to the police and other relevant departments.
Last week, the SGA also coordinated our annual Campus Safety Walk, an event that has been happening each semester since I enrolled three years ago. The walk brought together administrators and students to walk around different parts of campus at dusk and have a frank conversation about how to make our campus safer.
The Georgia Tech administration and police department have also taken an active role.
Monthly self-defense courses sponsored by the Georgia Tech police have become more widely publicized and have seen increased student attendance.
Georgia Tech recently purchased AT&T Rave Guardian, an opt-in system that will allow students to provide more information to police, such as their GPS location or their class schedule, in the event of a 911 call.
Another offering provided by Georgia Tech is the Stingerette service, a shuttle that runs from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. that will pick up and drop off students traveling on campus.
This issue is certainly not unique to Georgia Tech’s campus. There have been similar instances at Georgia State, the Atlanta University Center and Emory University. College students are an easy group to target.
We are nearly all carrying a smartphone, a laptop, an iPod — or all three — at any given time, and we walk most everywhere. And though this issue has gotten particular attention in the past few weeks, it is a perpetual challenge that will continue to impact Georgia Tech, other Atlanta universities and the city of Atlanta.
Despite knowing the realities of our urban campus, I still have never felt unsafe during my time here. There is a palpable sense of community on our campus. The Georgia Tech police are very visible and always willing to offer you a ride home. My fellow students look out for each other. I have never hesitated to ask a friend to walk me home after a late night in the library. And campus safety is not a conversation anyone is shying away from. It is a part of the campus dialogue among students, faculty and staff. These conversations are what assure me that as a community we will continue to make progress and continue to remind one another to be aware of our personal safety.
Elle Creel is president of the Georgia Tech undergraduate student government.
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