The most recent student victim was murdered in a broad-daylight robbery last week. The suspect later pawned his cell phone for a mere $100. ‘We Are Here To Learn, Not To Die:’ University of Chicago Students, Faculty Protest After Shooting That Killed Dennis Shaoxiong Zheng, Other Violence “It is not safe,” a protester said through a megaphone. The crowd wants to see immediate changes on campus. “We are all afraid, and we are angry,” said student Iris Xiao. This follows the broad-daylight shooting that killed Dennis Zheng, a recent statistics master’s graduate. https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2021/11/16/university-of-chicago-protest-violence/ This followed over 300 faculty signing a letter also calling for more and urgent public safety measures: “We are experiencing an existential crisis”: Faculty Letter Calls for Increased Safety and Security Actions in Hyde Park The signees called for enlarging UCPD jurisdiction, installing additional surveillance systems, increasing the number of off-campus security guards, and adding more shuttles surrounding campus. https://www.chicagomaroon.com/article/2021/11/15/e...l-crisis-faculty-letter-calls/ https://www.chicagomaroon.com/article/2020/6/28/university-must-disband-private-police-force/ "The University must disband its private police force" (aka UCPD) -- school newspaper editorial board a year and a half ago
From Reddit I've posted much of this before, but... The truth is bad. In addition to three students/recent grads being shot, a university employee was recently robbed at gunpoint. The response from the university has been the standard response issued for years -- except they have yet to remind students to be vigilant/aware of their surroundings and say they are increasing patrols [in cars, not on foot]. Often, these events are accompanied by the university noting that crime in Hyde Park is lower than in much of the city and especially the north Side neighborhoods often compared to Hyde Park. That is true... but misleading. Most people don't care about pickpocketing, street scams, or the like; they care about violent crime. If you look at violent crime per capita (https://safety-security.uchicago.edu/police/data_information/crime_trends/, police precinct map here: https://home.chicagopolice.org/community-policing-group/community-map/ ), the areas safer than Hyde Park are... O'Hare Airport, all of the North and Northwest Side neighborhoods (apart from the downtown areas) -- and the far SW side (like suburbs) and the area near Midway Airport. It is not true to claim Hyde Park is safer if we define safe as avoiding violent crime. Worse still: the numbers for the downtown areas are skewed because they have large numbers of pedestrians (workers, shoppers) who are far larger than their resident populations. If we normalize crimes in those areas for typical populations of people present, we see that Hyde Park is not safer than any of the North Side or downtown neighborhoods. For neighborhoods which are not poor, Hyde Park is probably the most dangerous. The university may finally address this: some of the faculty names on that petition are people who never protest and rarely get upset. If you have a Nobel Laureate signing a protest petition... you've got a big problem.
More from Reddit Ok, I’m a first year, pretty inexperienced so please take my personal experience with a grain of salt. Not to say Hyde Park is safe/unsafe but earlier this year I felt comfortable walking around off campus (I was usually going to 53rd) by myself, and didn’t feel unsafe. I’m definitely not now though. I really hate the university’s lack of communication. They give us CTA passes, and earlier this year I tried to use it but the system was so confusing so I got off. I didn’t know which lines are good, which routes are safe/unsafe, and I ended up just taking a Lyft (in my state public transportation isn’t super sophisticated, although I have used it before easily because I know my area). I signed up for safety alerts on my phone and email, haven’t gotten one all year (including the one in which the student was shot). So I understand the frustration, because I’m pretty angry too.
From Reddit College Sophomore I''m a current student at UChicago and can weigh in on this. To be clear, I love going to UChicago, and I don''t regret my decision to come, but it''s apparent that it''s not safe here. For more context on the deaths, last year, a grad student named Yiran Fan was shot and killed while sitting in his car in a parking garage. Over the summer, my friend Max Lewis was hit by a stray bullet while on the train coming home from his investment banking internship and died in the hospital a few days later. Last week, a recent graduate, Dennis Zheng, was shot and killed during a mugging just off campus on a block full of student apartments. None of these were on campus, but they all occurred in areas frequented by students. There are a lot more incidences of crime that don''t make the news - for example, earlier this quarter, two of my sorority sisters were robbed at gunpoint while walking home from a mixer on a Thursday night, and I believe other posts mentioned the mugging that happened last week right outside one of the dorms. UChicago is telling current students and parents that they''re taking these tragedies seriously and expanding precautions, but I don''t know how much I believe them. They expanded a program that gives a $15 discount on Lyft rides (which doesn''t include tips for drivers, lol) within the campus area from just weekends to every night, but it only runs from 9pm to 4am, and it gets dark around 5pm here. There''s also been no acknowledgement from the school or any of my professors that this could be taking a toll on students'' mental health or class performance, despite widespread outcry from the student body such as the protest mentioned in this post. While all the murders occurred after I started coming here, so I haven''t heard the recent admissions spiel, I would be very surprised if they were entirely candid about the extent of safety risks on campus. There''s a campus summit on safety and security coming recently, so I can update if they make any major announcements, but I''m not terribly satisfied with their response so far. Of course, this is a Chicago problem as much as a UChicago problem, and going to school in any major city means accepting some extra risk, but no student should have to worry about getting shot at school. There''s a lot of controversy on campus right now, especially with regard to possible solutions (e.g. whether policing should be expanded), and opinions on safety run the gamut from "Chiraq is a dangerous war zone where you can''t leave your dorm without getting shot" and "*insert other blatantly racist/classist comment here*" (yikes) to "there''s no problem with safety and anyone who gets harassed on the street should just take off their Canada Goose and stop listening to music while walking" (also yikes). Most students I''ve talked to agree that there''s a problem with safety here, though. I wouldn''t actively discourage new students from coming here - generally, I love it here, and I''m incredibly happy - but you should do some serious thinking about what level of risk you''re willing to accept. It''s unclear as of yet whether this is a long-term pattern or part of the recent spike in crime/homicide happening across the country, but 3 students being murdered in a year (or even 1 student) is too much to just disregard. Sorry for writing an entire essay, but I hope this could give a little bit of perspective on the campus climate at the moment. Please ask/PM if you have any other questions about safety on campus I can address; I remember how difficult college decisions were even without this element.
‘We Are Here To Learn, Not To Die:’ University of Chicago Students, Faculty Protest After Shooting That Killed Dennis Shaoxiong Zheng, Other Violence “It is not safe,” a protester said through a megaphone. The crowd wants to see immediate changes on campus. “We are all afraid, and we are angry,” said student Iris Xiao. This follows the broad-daylight shooting that killed Dennis Zheng, a recent statistics master’s graduate. https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2021/11/16/university-of-chicago-protest-violence/
This followed over 300 faculty signing a letter also calling for more and urgent public safety measures: “We are experiencing an existential crisis”: Faculty Letter Calls for Increased Safety and Security Actions in Hyde Park The signees called for enlarging UCPD jurisdiction, installing additional surveillance systems, increasing the number of off-campus security guards, and adding more shuttles surrounding campus. https://www.chicagomaroon.com/article/2021/11/15/e...l-crisis-faculty-letter-calls/
https://www.chicagomaroon.com/article/2020/6/28/university-must-disband-private-police-force/ "The University must disband its private police force" (aka UCPD) -- school newspaper editorial board a year and a half ago
I've posted much of this before, but...
The truth is bad. In addition to three students/recent grads being shot, a university employee was recently robbed at gunpoint. The response from the university has been the standard response issued for years -- except they have yet to remind students to be vigilant/aware of their surroundings and say they are increasing patrols [in cars, not on foot].
Often, these events are accompanied by the university noting that crime in Hyde Park is lower than in much of the city and especially the north Side neighborhoods often compared to Hyde Park. That is true... but misleading. Most people don't care about pickpocketing, street scams, or the like; they care about violent crime. If you look at violent crime per capita (https://safety-security.uchicago.edu/police/data_information/crime_trends/, police precinct map here: https://home.chicagopolice.org/community-policing-group/community-map/ ), the areas safer than Hyde Park are... O'Hare Airport, all of the North and Northwest Side neighborhoods (apart from the downtown areas) -- and the far SW side (like suburbs) and the area near Midway Airport. It is not true to claim Hyde Park is safer if we define safe as avoiding violent crime.
Worse still: the numbers for the downtown areas are skewed because they have large numbers of pedestrians (workers, shoppers) who are far larger than their resident populations. If we normalize crimes in those areas for typical populations of people present, we see that Hyde Park is not safer than any of the North Side or downtown neighborhoods. For neighborhoods which are not poor, Hyde Park is probably the most dangerous.
The university may finally address this: some of the faculty names on that petition are people who never protest and rarely get upset. If you have a Nobel Laureate signing a protest petition... you've got a big problem.
Ok, I’m a first year, pretty inexperienced so please take my personal experience with a grain of salt. Not to say Hyde Park is safe/unsafe but earlier this year I felt comfortable walking around off campus (I was usually going to 53rd) by myself, and didn’t feel unsafe. I’m definitely not now though. I really hate the university’s lack of communication. They give us CTA passes, and earlier this year I tried to use it but the system was so confusing so I got off. I didn’t know which lines are good, which routes are safe/unsafe, and I ended up just taking a Lyft (in my state public transportation isn’t super sophisticated, although I have used it before easily because I know my area). I signed up for safety alerts on my phone and email, haven’t gotten one all year (including the one in which the student was shot). So I understand the frustration, because I’m pretty angry too.
College Sophomore I''m a current student at UChicago and can weigh in on this. To be clear, I love going to UChicago, and I don''t regret my decision to come, but it''s apparent that it''s not safe here. For more context on the deaths, last year, a grad student named Yiran Fan was shot and killed while sitting in his car in a parking garage. Over the summer, my friend Max Lewis was hit by a stray bullet while on the train coming home from his investment banking internship and died in the hospital a few days later. Last week, a recent graduate, Dennis Zheng, was shot and killed during a mugging just off campus on a block full of student apartments. None of these were on campus, but they all occurred in areas frequented by students. There are a lot more incidences of crime that don''t make the news - for example, earlier this quarter, two of my sorority sisters were robbed at gunpoint while walking home from a mixer on a Thursday night, and I believe other posts mentioned the mugging that happened last week right outside one of the dorms.
UChicago is telling current students and parents that they''re taking these tragedies seriously and expanding precautions, but I don''t know how much I believe them. They expanded a program that gives a $15 discount on Lyft rides (which doesn''t include tips for drivers, lol) within the campus area from just weekends to every night, but it only runs from 9pm to 4am, and it gets dark around 5pm here. There''s also been no acknowledgement from the school or any of my professors that this could be taking a toll on students'' mental health or class performance, despite widespread outcry from the student body such as the protest mentioned in this post. While all the murders occurred after I started coming here, so I haven''t heard the recent admissions spiel, I would be very surprised if they were entirely candid about the extent of safety risks on campus. There''s a campus summit on safety and security coming recently, so I can update if they make any major announcements, but I''m not terribly satisfied with their response so far.
Of course, this is a Chicago problem as much as a UChicago problem, and going to school in any major city means accepting some extra risk, but no student should have to worry about getting shot at school. There''s a lot of controversy on campus right now, especially with regard to possible solutions (e.g. whether policing should be expanded), and opinions on safety run the gamut from "Chiraq is a dangerous war zone where you can''t leave your dorm without getting shot" and "*insert other blatantly racist/classist comment here*" (yikes) to "there''s no problem with safety and anyone who gets harassed on the street should just take off their Canada Goose and stop listening to music while walking" (also yikes). Most students I''ve talked to agree that there''s a problem with safety here, though.
I wouldn''t actively discourage new students from coming here - generally, I love it here, and I''m incredibly happy - but you should do some serious thinking about what level of risk you''re willing to accept. It''s unclear as of yet whether this is a long-term pattern or part of the recent spike in crime/homicide happening across the country, but 3 students being murdered in a year (or even 1 student) is too much to just disregard. Sorry for writing an entire essay, but I hope this could give a little bit of perspective on the campus climate at the moment. Please ask/PM if you have any other questions about safety on campus I can address; I remember how difficult college decisions were even without this element.