Oracle Online

On Friday April 6, a Hamline student was robbed while sampling deliciously unhealthy imitation tacos at Taco Bell. Unfortunately, it seems as if living on campus at Hamline carries with it that small risk of being accosted by the desperate or aggressivečand students living on campus need to take that into account.

Ideally, we would be able to walk down the well-lit and attractive Midway to Taco Bell at night with no fear of any possibility of violence. Living in the city always carries with it the need for a certain degree of suspicion, especially for female students.

While Hamline isn’t necessarily in a “bad neighborhood,” college students tend to be easy targets in the minds of people concerned with that sort of thing. We as a community need to keep that at least in the back of our minds.

The students and staff at Hamline Safety and Security do an admirable job of patrolling the campus grounds; however, they can’t be everywhere at once, and they can’t patrol the Midway as well. Students must be proactive in terms of protecting their own safety. The most commonly accepted way of attempting to do this is by traveling in groups of two or three.

It may also be handy to not carry any more cash on you than you’d be willing to losečsay, a $20 and a few ones. Everything else should go on a cash card that can be canceled if necessary.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of complacency and security. It’s easy to believe that being stopped and robbed while walking down a sidewalk won’t happen to you. But while it may not be likely, it’s absolutely possible. Try to use common sense when it comes to safety and hopefully some issues can be avoided.

The problem could also be lessened if more people made fun things to do on campus itself. Most of these incidents have occurred outside of the campus boundaries, in the Midway or near the housing developments around us.

If more students were to enjoy the opportunities for fun here at Hamline itselfčand the opportunities ARE there, they just aren’t appreciatedčless of this sort of thing would happen, because the Safety and Security patrol officers can actually protect the students from this sort of thing. It is part of their job, after all-they aren’t just there to check locks on buildings and turn on and off the street lights.