No safe way home

I moved into a new apartment this semester, and I have to say I love the location. It’s just a few blocks from campus, the downtown Kirkwood area and the square.

Just about everything I would need is in walking distance or a short bike ride or drive away.

As studio art majors, my one female roommate and I end up spending a lot of long nights on campus, usually several times a week.

Most nights we won’t come home until 1 or 2 a.m., often losing track of just how late it has gotten.

Admittedly, in my time here, I’ve walked home alone without even thinking about it. In some instances, I had no other choice. Other times, it was a desperate last resort in order to escape an uncomfortable situation.

Sometimes, I was just bored.

So when an assault occurred just two blocks from my perfectly located little apartment, I began to reconsider my location’s convenience.

I couldn’t help but feel antsy when I biked home from campus a few nights ago. I can’t go almost anywhere alone at night anymore without feeling incredibly tense and helpless, fearing that if I were attacked I would have almost no way of defending myself.

More than being afraid, though, I am angry. I am mad as hell. I have always strived to be an independent, self-sufficient individual.

As I come into my adult life, I hope to be able to support myself, to be able to live alone.

I understand this is not merely a matter of my own pride inhibiting my own safety — I know better than that. I just wish we had some other option.

Even the campus Safety Escort system could not help me get home if I were stuck at the studio after a long night of studying, nor could they have helped the girl trying to get home last week.

Monday through Thursday, the service runs between 8 p.m. and 1:45 a.m. The hours are even shorter on Friday and Saturday, with services ending at 11:45 p.m..

They cannot pick you up from a commercial location, nor can they pick you up if you are intoxicated or in a group of more than two persons.

Unfortunately, I do not have a solution for our broken system.

So I ask you earnestly, my Bloomington and IU community, what are our options? Do you feel safe?

How can we help each other to make our campus and community a safer place to live?

­— alliston@indiana.edu