Improving Student Safety

Harvard students live in a relatively sheltered bubble. When they encounter crime, it is more likely to be lurid, white-collar embezzlement than gritty, unromantic urban violence. But the streets of Cambridge don’t all fall under the shadow of Harvard’s ivory tower, and students rely on the Cambridge Police Department (CPD) as well as the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) to announce when serious crime happens on or near campus.

This is why it is troubling that—for whatever reason—it took almost a week for the University to receive a community advisory regarding two stabbing-robberies that occurred on Saturday, Feb. 8 and Wednesday, Feb. 12, each within three blocks of the Quad. The question of why this delay occurred is beside the point; miscommunications happen, and there was surely no malice behind this mistake. But bureaucratic bungling cannot get in the way of protecting Harvard students.

A community advisory closer to the time of the stabbings would have led to real, simple improvements in the safety of those making the trek to and from the Quad. After the advisory was finally circulated, Cabot House Master James H. Ware told his students “to walk home with friends or take the shuttle after dark.” But for the six days between the first attack and the advisory, students had no reason to think these potentially-inconvenient steps were necessary.

In fact, the circumstances surrounding these knifings bring up several problems that run deeper than the apparent tardiness HUPD and CPD. Even with community advisories in full effect, the poor lighting of the fastest route to the Quad—through Cambridge Common—makes students susceptible to lurking aggressors.

Of course, students can, and should, call a shuttle or walk on the University-approved safety path back to the Quad when they feel unsafe. But the designated route takes potentially cold and tired students out of their way, and the wait for a shuttle can drag on interminably, even before the Evening Shuttle Van Service stops taking calls at 2:40 a.m. Given these barriers, it is hardly surprising that many students opt for less safe methods.

There should never be a time when a Harvard student has to make the walk back to the Quad and face possible attackers alone. Both the on-demand shuttles and Harvard’s student escort programs should be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Furthermore, HUPD should make it a top priority to work with the appropriate authorities and get the necessary permission to install blue emergency lights in Cambridge Common, in order to improve safety in the park.

Other solutions should start with students. Walking in groups and staying street smart are always wise choices, and students making the trip at night should try to follow such steps. But it is no less essential for HUPD and CPD to prevent information delays like the one that took place last week, from happening again. Perhaps students should count themselves lucky if walking to the Quad is the greatest danger they face—but it is a danger nonetheless.