Last Monday, Nov. 3, a UW-Madison student was robbed at gunpoint on the 100 block of Langdon Street. This followed a string of recent robberies on campus.
In response, the Greek community, UW police, the Associated Students of Madison, Ald. Eli Judge, District 8, and Dean of Students Lori Berquam are holding an impromptu campus forum Tuesday night at the Armory and Gymnasium at 6 p.m. Although a portion of the forum will address ongoing investigations, the forum's primary focus is to generate feedback and problem-solving suggestions from the audience.
Several weeks ago, our editorial board met with Berquam to discuss safety. Citing several recent measures to promote safe actions on campus, such as the new www.safeu.wisc.edu website and appointing a campus safety initiatives co-chair in ASM, Berquam claimed that strides are being made, but there is no single or simple solution, and student feedback is crucial to addressing the issue.
Berquam also stated that Madison is a city in transition"" - one growing from a small college town to one with problems more in sync with those of a larger, urbanized city. In order to adjust to these problems, we must prepare ourselves and use a wealth of ideas and resources to not only make changes in safety policies, but generally to make students aware of safety issues facing the campus.
Despite Berquam's claims that the student body is generally adapting to safety procedures - revealed by the few students she found walking alone between 1 and 4 a.m. - we can always be more aware. Although practicing safety measures that have already been stressed bodes well for the student population, more proactive measures must be sought by students and administrators in tandem.
We urge any student with personal experience or suggestions to attend this forum and share them. Raising awareness and making your voice heard is the best way to ensure that last Monday's events are not repeated on campus.
