IUSA report reveals mixed feelings on IU campus safety

According to a recent report on campus safety released by the IU Student Association, a majority of students said they feel safe on campus.

However, the report highlights issues such as campus lighting, problem intersections and night transportation inadequacies.

The IUSA Campus Safety Task Force sampled 349 IU-Bloomington students at the end of last year on topics related to safety on campus. The results revealed that a 56 percent majority feel safe on campus at night, indicating that a sizeable minority does not feel so.

As stated by the report, “There is substantial room for improving the safety environment at night.”

The survey also showed a gender discrepancy on perception of campus safety at night, with 58 percent of women feeling “not safe or somewhat safe” compared to 22 percent of men.

Another component to the survey explored the Safety Escort Service. Funded by the IU Parking Service and operated by students, SES provides free rides to students and staff from campus locations to on and off-campus housing, according to its website.

Katherine Darden, director of IU safety escort, describes the service as an academic, proactive tool used by students wanting to return safely to their home. The service does not pick up students from commercial locations or from parties, she said.

The survey pointed to a general lack of knowledge about the SES program, with 49 percent of students saying they had never heard of the service and 26 percent of non-users saying that lack of knowledge prevented them from taking advantage of the program. The gender divide appears again in these statistics, as 58 percent of men knew of the service as opposed to 42 percent of women.

Junior Josh Martin said he only recently heard of the SES program from one of his professors.

“They should do more advertising, especially in the dorms for freshmen,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen any advertising.”

Furthermore, 96 percent of those surveyed said they have never used the service. The report also noted that 13 percent of students wanted a ride, yet did not know the contact information.

“One thing we wish to accomplish with our campaign this year is to increase awareness such that safety escort will become general knowledge to the whole student body, and not just to those who have inquired about campus safety options,” Darden said.

Darden emphasized the role of the Safety Escort Service as a part, not the crux, of nighttime transportation options.

“Our service is only to compliment the buses and taxi cab service,” she said. “We are an alternate way home for those students who have been studying late on campus and have missed the bus or do not have cab fare. It is free to students so our capacity has
limits.”

IUSA explored pedestrian and traffic safety, identifying four key locations on campus that students identified as particularly dangerous intersections. All locations — 17th Street and Jordan Avenue, 10th and Union streets, Third Street and Jordan Avenue and 20th and Dunn streets — share in common heavy pedestrian use and unsafe crossing conditions.

Under Indiana state law, vehicles only need to stop for pedestrians when control signals are in use. Otherwise, pedestrians do not have the right of way. The survey found that 67 percent of students did not understand this concept. Coupled with unsafe intersections, the misunderstanding could potentially lead to future
incidents.

Despite the Provost’s Traffic Safety Committee’s “Get Street Smart” pedestrian safety campaign launched last August, only 7 percent of students surveyed remembered the initiative. Thus, details the report, a revamped campaign is necessary to educate students.

Lighting on and off campus was also assessed in the report, with 61 percent of female students and 36 percent of male students responding they are “uncomfortable with the current levels of lighting” on campus.

Junior Maddy Albright said she believes some spots on campus are not well lit, such as the areas behind Woodburn Hall and near Ballantine Hall, as well as the Arboretum. 

“I feel safe, but with the stories from last semester, it changed a little bit,” Albright said. “I used to walk alone at night a lot, but now I don’t do it as much. I try to avoid walking home alone.”

The study found that students want more lighting in Dunn Woods and noted that there is currently no advertising of safe paths for students through campus. Attention is needed for off-campus lighting, which is uneven and in parts lacking, according to the
report.  

Despite the negative aspects of campus safety in the study, it did conclude that the Night Owl buses are a generally effective transportation method, that students feel safe in their dorms and other heavily visited buildings on campus and that existing emergency phones, or blue lights, serve to make campus feel safer.

To remedy lighting problems, the report suggests that student government work with IUPD and Bloomington government to locate the “serious deficiencies in off-campus lighting.”