The Campus Community Coalition, or C3, brings together people from the IU administration, IU Police Department, Bloomington Police Department, Housing and Neighborhood Development department for Bloomington and other city and campus representatives to discuss issues pertinent to IU and Bloomington. IU Student Association Chief of Staff Sara Zaheer sits in on the coalition.
The organization’s most recent meeting occurred Nov. 11, where they spent some time considering the results of a student safety survey.
Lucas said the survey conveyed students feel safest on campus followed by the downtown area near Kirkwood Avenue and feel least safe in off-campus areas.
“We spent a lot of time talking in the Dean of Students office about why that is, and what that means and how we can help students feel safer in those areas that are just off campus but aren’t officially on campus,” Lucas said. “We shared with our partners that work in the city that’s largely an area that is under their control.”
Zaheer said the survey also pointed out students felt unsafe because of inadequate lighting and poor sidewalks off campus.
It was discussed during the meeting how those issues should be brought up to landlords and students could ask for improvements in those areas before signing a lease, Zaheer said.
Zaheer said the law requires landlords maintain sidewalks and, potentially, part of the law could be extended to include adequate lighting. That may be something an organization like IUSA could pursue.
“I got encouraging ideas from them, but I can’t pursue every single one,” Zaheer said. “A lot of those ideas get passed on to other people, but it’s good that I’m there to write down everything they say.”
Lucas said the coalition also discussed the relationship between alcohol and issues of consent and specifically how restaurants and bars in town could help support and promote safety and student responsibility.
Regarding issues of sexual assault, Zaheer said Lucas intends to meet with landlords of apartment complexes in the city next semester to discuss these landlords taking part in bystander-intervention training.
The idea originated when a student approached Zaheer asking for assistance with bringing bystander-intervention training to her apartment complex, Zaheer said.
“It would become a selling point for apartment complexes to say, ‘We offer this, too, so you’ll feel more safe,” Zaheer said.
Lisa Abbott, director of the Housing and Neighborhood Development department for Bloomington said being a part of C3 helps with the educational process for the department, so it can distribute information about campus happenings to other parties.
This year, HAND cooperated with IU to distribute materials about Culture of Care to landlords in Bloomington, in addition to other outreach and marketing events, Abbott said.
“The more partnerships that you build, the more the coalition spreads its influence and works with other partners, the better the environment becomes for everybody,” Abbott said.
