A female student steps quietly on wet concrete, clutching a notebook to her chest. Her ears perk, and she is certain that she can hear footsteps behind her. Her eyes dart around to scan her surroundings, but the trees canopy over her, and their shadows play tricks on her out of the corner of her eye. She quickens her pace. Her heart races. Her body tenses. She finally works up the courage to look back, only to realize the footsteps behind her belong to her lab partner. She takes a deep breath. She’s just trying to get to the library.
When most people imagine a typical American college campus, their thoughts center on serene and peaceful open space, lush fall foliage, and looming Gothic Revival clock towers. But many students across University at Buffalo’s South campus are experiencing the earlier, nerve-wracking scenario after a series of crimes occurred within a one-mile radius of South Campus, only two-weeks into the semester. On Sunday, August 31, a freshman was sexually assaulted when she stepped out of her residence hall for air around 1:30 a.m. near Michael Hall. Four days later, a 24 year old woman was assaulted by two men outside of Hayes Hall. The next evening, UB student John C. Ojeda was hospitalized with a serious head injury after a fight that broke out on Custer Street. On September 9, less than a mile away from the campus, a woman who is not a student at the University at Buffalo was sexually assaulted in an alleyway off of Hertel Avenue, just minutes from campus.
Residents of South Campus and the University Heights are the most alarmed by the recent slew of violent crime. Eileen Ruberto, a second-year graduate student of library sciences and Custer Street resident, is exasperated by the situation. After a huff, she said, “It’s not cool. When you’re a student, you should at least feel safe on the college campus.” Ruberto completed her undergraduate degree at SUNY Fredonia, an arguably safer campus environment. “There should be more accountability than that,” she said, in regards to the university’s role in safety.
Accountability on behalf of the school is exactly what several students and local residents have asked for. David Ellerbrock, president of the University Heights Collaborative, who according to their website are a “community-based group of residents and other interested people working together to maintain and enhance the quality of life” of University Heights, commented to the The Buffalo News, “Are they taking a hard, honest look at whether they’re doing everything they can, outside of the [UB] Office of Community Relations, to transform the surrounding South Campus neighborhood? The Office of Community Relations cannot do it by themselves.” Ellerbrock reported to The Buffalo News that since the assault on September 9 involved a woman who is not affiliated with the university, this should send a message to the UB “about their responsibility to the surrounding community.”
Debra Williams, a stay-at-home mother who lives on Custer Street, feels the same way. “I know the school doesn’t own the Heights, but we don’t have these situations nearly as much in the summer. I honestly feel like the university needs to take more charge in this area, because it’s the huge crowd of new students that usually aggravates crime as far as what I’ve noticed.”
Some people, however, think UB is handling the matter to the best of their ability. “I don’t really feel like it’s anything you can prevent. I guess it’s just a possibility no matter how many precautions you take,” said Brittany Bogardus, a senior human services and education major.
The summer was fairly quiet in the University Heights area in regards to crime, after a crime-ridden Spring semester, including beating of Michael Bliss, a UB student who was left paralyzed when attacked after leaving a Main Street bar. One of the three men indicted in the assault is a former UB student.
Williams is especially troubled by the assault on Custer Street. “I don’t need my kids walking to the bus stop and having to step over puddles of blood. That isn’t right.”
A blood stain still remains where Ojeda was found unconscious by police after a fight started at 47 Custer Street. Ojeda was punched in the face by two men, causing him to fall backwards, leaving a deep cut to the back of his head, eerily reminiscent oF how Bliss was seriously injured. He was immediately taken to Erie County Medical Center and put into the intensive care unit. He is expected to make a full recovery.
“There’s no question that this situation is certainly frightening as well as discouraging,” said Dennis Black, Vice President of Student Affairs to The Buffalo News. “This is not the way anyone wants to live, work, learn, or study.”
This situation is especially of concern to many first year students since one of the victims was a freshman resident on South Campus, and it is only a few weeks into the semester. “The last thing you need to think about is being raped the first few weeks of classes. It’s crazy,” says Alyssa Grisanti, a sophomore political science major.
The university did not respond with a comment, but a recent press release claims that UB is investing $5.3 million dollars to improve safety conditions on South Campus. The chief of UB Police was quoted in the release with the promise of doubled UB police officers on patrol during night hours, installing security cameras and additional lighting, and replacing the blue light emergency phones with brand new, state-of-the-art emergency phones that will be synced with security cameras. The light project is expected to be completed by October 15, with the rest to follow by November 30.
Additionally, The Buffalo News reports that three neighborhood watch groups have been formed, and the police have been using special patrols on weekends to deal with house parties and underage drinking. Student Life has also sent emails out to students with residential proximity to South Campus, alerting them of a safety presentation by Lieutenant David Urbanek of the UB Police at Gloria J. Parks Community Center on Wednesday, September 17 at 6 p.m.
Some students don’t think this is enough. Ruberto is especially critical of their preventative measures. After the assaults, UB police posted signs alerting the campus of the problem and sent out warning emails. Ruberto felt as though this was a wasted opportunity. “The advice that they give, it’s not really anything that is beyond what you’ve already been told and what’s sort of common knowledge. Do they offer self-defense or have pepper spray they can issue to people? There’s a lot more tangible things that they do could besides say ‘Be careful!’ It seems more reactive than proactive.”
Jonathan Clayton, a junior English major, disagrees. “They’re doing a really good job of letting you know it’s not safe. As far as preventing these things, it’s up to the students to be prepared.”
Tracy Matthews, a senior English major and South Campus resident believes that the university could be doing more to prevent the assaults on a more ideological level. “What they have set up now only seems like it’s going to help if you’re in a situation that is already getting hostile. I think UB needs to set up a committee or something that can look into tackling the bigger issues of sexism and poverty in our community which is what’s ultimately going to stop rape.”
Jane Fischer, Director of SBI Health Education, the parent-organization of the Anti-Rape Task Force, comments that the method of dealing with things such as assault is just how our society works. “If you were to ask the students or the faculty what they were doing last August, everybody might have been doing things differently. We, as a people, tend to be reactive rather than proactive.”
Tricia DeFillips, a senior political science major, thinks that the university needs to make a bigger point of educating incoming freshmen. “Maybe if there was more of an initiative from the university to educate people before these types of things happen. They could make it more of a point at orientation. I don’t remember safety being an issue at my orientation.”
Matthews also agrees, citing the format for AlcoholEDU, an online alcohol education course that incoming students are required to take as a possible format for safety education. “Alcohol is obviously a problem on campuses, but so is being safe while you’re sober.”
Other campus organizations have decided to take an initiative on educating students and residents about safety, including Community Relations, SBI Health Education and Student Life who organized the annual “Operation Doorhanger,” where student volunteers hung door hangers with safety information on residents of University Heights’ doors this past weekend. They include tips to keep the neighborhood safe, such as locking doors, and a magnet including emergency contact numbers for Buffalo and UB.
Another student-run organization that has been addressing these issues for years is Anti-Rape Task Force (ARTF). Jane Fischer, the SBI Health Education Director, said “We’ve seen a lot of increase in use, calls, and requests. We are responding to emails and calls from parents who want to know what we’re doing.”
ARTF, however, isn’t doing things much differently than their normal operations. While they did begin their services three and a half weeks earlier than usual, their hours of services are still only 8 p.m. to midnight, Sunday through Thursday. The unavailability of services Friday and Saturday night leave the rush of students patronizing Main Street bars and parties on those nights vulnerable. Many students don’t see this as helpful considering that both assaults on campus happened after midnight.
Fischer responds, “We’ve looked at that for years. The problem is finding students who are willing to work that late. We would absolutely love to be able to run them later. But we would need to find people who can be reliable about a run that late.” Fischer also contends that those students do not have to be left vulnerable. “Just make a plan before you’re out. Have those numbers handy; know that you’re going to get home this way or that way. In the last resort, make the phone calls that you need to make. Don’t be afraid to call campus police and tell them that you have no way to get home.”
Fischer also stressed the possibility of using cabs, such as Buffalo Transportation, Inc., who accepts Campus Cash and offers discounts to students. “All you need to do is have your ID card on you. Everybody is really good at Googling and finding people on Facebook they haven’t seen in ten years; they can find a cab company that takes Campus Cash.”
Additionally, some students also think that ARTF needs to do more in order to make their presence known. Ruberto said, “It could be a good thing, but personally, I don’t know anything about it. I wouldn’t have really known anything about the shuttle service if my roommate hadn’t told me about it. I think it needs to be more publicized.”
Matthews thinks the problem is deeper than just arming victims with tools to avoid rapists. “The cameras and lights and all of that are really great, but the problem is really more than just a lighting issue. We don’t know who it is that is coming on our campus and attacking us. Who’s to say that the second we step off of campus where there aren’t blue boxes we aren’t going to get attacked then? The campus should do something to prevent men from becoming rapists as well.”
After a tumultuous first few weeks of the new school year, students still remain optimistic. Matthews predicts that good will come out of the dire situation. “I don’t think it’s hopeless,” she says. “If nothing else good comes from this, this is a really good opportunity for students to work with UB to help make safety on campus a priority.”
