Emily Hodges - Best Investigative Feature - Vision
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FEATURES
YORK VISION
Wednesday May 5th, 2009
13
SAFE AT NIGHT? Emily Hodges asks: what does it take for students to safety seriously? after dark, despite 60% saying they regularly would do so. So why take the risk? The top reason for walking was a lack of money. “If I could afford a taxi, I would take one instead of walking” admitted one student. YUSU Welfare are keen to promote their Magic Bus service, which will drop students at their houses or on campus from town for a voluntary donation, and personal alarms are available from the YUSU office. Students who have run out of money on a night out can borrow money from the porter, and porters will also escort students to anywhere on campus at night if requested Some of these services, like borrowing money from (any 24 hour) Porters Lodge were
unknown to students. Kuper Thomas admitted “People don’t really know enough about these things that are on offer – I think they get promoted a lot in Fresher’s Week in the nine o’clock welcome lectures, which is why no-one finds out about them! They need to be publicised more. I also think more can be done for safety on campus.” In a previous issue, Vision highlighted the lack of suitable lighting in certain areas of campus used frequently by students as routes on and off campus. Windmill Lane leading to Tang Hall, the area around 22 Acres, Walmgate Stray, and paths near to Derwent College were all areas where concerns over the standard of lighting were
raised. The lighting is something that the YUSU Welfare and Women’s Committee are currently working on with the University, especially around Halifax and the alley onto Heslington Road, along the Retreat. Derwent Welfare rep, Samuel Houlders supported the university’s efforts on Welfare. “I believe that the university and YUSU put the personal safety of students on the top of their respective agendas. We have systems in place whereby porters can pay for taxis home after a night out, and YUSU run the Magic Bus every evening. A common misconception is that the bus is for girls only, but this is not true. While preference may be given to lone female travelers, anyone can use the service.” Ultimately though, there’s only so much that the university and the union can do. Students can be given all the advice in the world, but the whole thing about being at university is independence and making your own decisions; your parents aren’t there to check up on what time you got home. If you want to walk home on your own, no one is going to stop you. YUSU have been criticised in the past for not issuing personal alarms or making security talks compulsory. But recent reports about underuse of the Magic Bus service suggest that students just aren’t that bothered in the first place. It's worth emphasising that York is a safe place, but is that reason enough for students to feel complacent about their safety? Or does it mean that however many incidents there are in the York area, students are just not bothered enough by it to change their behaviour? We all know that safety is important - it's been drilled into us all our lives. But honestly, who doesn't
take shortcuts to save time, or walks because the taxi queue is too long? Risking our safety is something that everyone does on a daily basis, to some extent at least. The question is, what does it take for this to change?
Really it’s up to the individual to decide how important their safety is to them. We should just hope that it doesn’t take something serious to happen before people will stop taking risks.
The Numbers 8/10 the average rating students gave York for safety.
2/3 of students would walk home alone after a night out.
3/4 are worried about walking home alone at night.
100%
increase in violent crime reported in Dec 2007 - Nov 2008, compared to Dec 2006 - Nov 2007.
10 recorded assaults on campus since 2006.
YORK VISION
Wednesday May 5th, 2009
13
SAFE AT NIGHT? Emily Hodges asks: what does it take for students to safety seriously? after dark, despite 60% saying they regularly would do so. So why take the risk? The top reason for walking was a lack of money. “If I could afford a taxi, I would take one instead of walking” admitted one student. YUSU Welfare are keen to promote their Magic Bus service, which will drop students at their houses or on campus from town for a voluntary donation, and personal alarms are available from the YUSU office. Students who have run out of money on a night out can borrow money from the porter, and porters will also escort students to anywhere on campus at night if requested Some of these services, like borrowing money from (any 24 hour) Porters Lodge were
unknown to students. Kuper Thomas admitted “People don’t really know enough about these things that are on offer – I think they get promoted a lot in Fresher’s Week in the nine o’clock welcome lectures, which is why no-one finds out about them! They need to be publicised more. I also think more can be done for safety on campus.” In a previous issue, Vision highlighted the lack of suitable lighting in certain areas of campus used frequently by students as routes on and off campus. Windmill Lane leading to Tang Hall, the area around 22 Acres, Walmgate Stray, and paths near to Derwent College were all areas where concerns over the standard of lighting were
raised. The lighting is something that the YUSU Welfare and Women’s Committee are currently working on with the University, especially around Halifax and the alley onto Heslington Road, along the Retreat. Derwent Welfare rep, Samuel Houlders supported the university’s efforts on Welfare. “I believe that the university and YUSU put the personal safety of students on the top of their respective agendas. We have systems in place whereby porters can pay for taxis home after a night out, and YUSU run the Magic Bus every evening. A common misconception is that the bus is for girls only, but this is not true. While preference may be given to lone female travelers, anyone can use the service.” Ultimately though, there’s only so much that the university and the union can do. Students can be given all the advice in the world, but the whole thing about being at university is independence and making your own decisions; your parents aren’t there to check up on what time you got home. If you want to walk home on your own, no one is going to stop you. YUSU have been criticised in the past for not issuing personal alarms or making security talks compulsory. But recent reports about underuse of the Magic Bus service suggest that students just aren’t that bothered in the first place. It's worth emphasising that York is a safe place, but is that reason enough for students to feel complacent about their safety? Or does it mean that however many incidents there are in the York area, students are just not bothered enough by it to change their behaviour? We all know that safety is important - it's been drilled into us all our lives. But honestly, who doesn't
take shortcuts to save time, or walks because the taxi queue is too long? Risking our safety is something that everyone does on a daily basis, to some extent at least. The question is, what does it take for this to change?
Really it’s up to the individual to decide how important their safety is to them. We should just hope that it doesn’t take something serious to happen before people will stop taking risks.
The Numbers 8/10 the average rating students gave York for safety.
2/3 of students would walk home alone after a night out.
3/4 are worried about walking home alone at night.
100%
increase in violent crime reported in Dec 2007 - Nov 2008, compared to Dec 2006 - Nov 2007.
10 recorded assaults on campus since 2006.
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