University disregards safety issues

By Valerie Tarbutton

Thursday, May 12, 2005



I am a resident of Gertrude Sellards Pearson Hall. I am also an outraged resident of GSP Hall. Before I moved into the residence hall, there were a few things I was anxious about: sharing a bathroom with a whole floor of other girls, eating questionable residence hall food and what my roommate would be like.

Never once did I think that I would have to fear for my safety on a regular basis. At the beginning of the year, I came home from work to find the parking lot fenced off with police tape and frantic girls chattering on their cell phones about how a resident was held at gun point and had her car stolen.

From my residence hall room window, I watched again as the police came to investigate another incident involving a knife in the shadowy, secluded parking lot.

When I first was considering the University of Kansas, my parents and I went on a tour of the residence hall and one of the things we heard over and over again from the housing department was that the University planned on putting in cameras in the parking lot.

I was unable to understand how two violent encounters could happen and we still weren’t getting cameras; I went to the Parking Department’s open meeting in October with my concerns.

There, I was told that it wasn’t the Parking Department’s problem.

According to them, it was the police department that was responsible for the cameras. Instead of getting cameras, we got an extension of Jaywalk to Corbin Hall.

Last week I came home to see three or four police officers on my floor and nervous girls talking of a drug overdose involving two residents of my hall, one from my floor.

The police came to my door to ask me questions. Then, just two days later they came knocking again this time wanting to ask questions about an attempted rape that happened mere feet from our residence hall.

Since all of these incidents, we have had absolutely no action or precautions taken to prevent further terrifying encounters.

There were no floor meetings to talk about safety, no noticeable increase in police patrolling the parking lots and no one to come and talk to us about what to do in case we find ourselves in a similar situation.

We have a problem here at GSP/Corbin. Unlike most problems at the residence halls, there is more at stake than the discomfort or inconvenience of the residents. This is something very serious that no one in University administration seems to put as any type of priority.

Something needs to change, and yes, it will take time and money. Honestly, I would be willing to pay more for my residence hall if I knew for a fact that I could feel safe living there.

Part of the freshman experience is not clutching your keys sharp edge out sprinting from the parking lot scared out of your mind that someone will try and assault you.

We not only deserve what we were promised, but have a real and immediate need. I’m not saying that cameras in the parking lot could have prevented any of the safety problems that we have had here at GSP/Corbin. Yet in light of the several dangerous incidents here at my residence hall, it is time for the University, the Parking Department and the Housing Department to step it up and start caring about the safety of the residents here at my residence hall.

Tarbutton is an Overland Park freshman.

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