IU is often portrayed as a hotbed of partying and sexual violence.
Parents and family members of students often feel they cannot completely trust that students will be safe, even though the University has an effective security program and has a detailed safety system in place.
This is a two-way street, however.
The IDS Editorial Board has discussed the ineffective and often alarmist notification systems on campus.
When a student was stabbed last year outside of Eigenmann Hall , some received a notification of the potential danger, and some didn’t hear about it until weeks later.
When someone fired a gun on campus as a party trick, students received a notification that there was a shooter at large, not a rowdy party-goer.
While IU has the proper preventive systems in place to protect students, such as implementing the Lifeline Law and creating a safety escort program, they don’t do enough to make families, not just students, feel safe.
This doesn’t have to be the prerogative for IU.
However, Beth Murphy, an opinion columnist for the Indianapolis Star, wrote a recent column detailing why it was she sent her daughter to IU with pepper spray.
Murphy was scared for her daughter’s safety.
She wanted to make sure her daughter was not taken or abused.
When she asked friends whether or not they were doing the same, the majority said “Yes.”
It is interesting to note that Murphy did not equip her son. He told her he felt perfectly fine and very safe on campus.
This is not an indictment of Murphy’s actions.
The editorial board would rather every girl and boy be safe and protected on campus than walk around ?vulnerable.
It should also be clear that violence does happen on this campus.
Most sexual violence happens to women.
Most physical violence happens to men.
A man with a blow dart gun was attacking people on campus Thursday. His victims were all men.
But the University needs to make it clear that it works to protect students.
If the only information parents receive about student safety comes from a rickshaw notification system at 2 a.m. or from the news reporting the preventable death of an intoxicated student, families will lose their trust.
It is a two-way street.
The University needs to be more accessible and less alarmist.
Parents and families need to trust the students they send here to make smart decisions.
And while we want students to protect themselves however they can, be it pepper spray or a defensive cat keychain, we need to realize we are capable of protecting ourselves and our friends if we are aware of violence when it happens.
We can also protect ourselves if we know our rights and the University’s policies and if we prioritize helping each other when things start to turn dangerous.
