Few people understand the need for better safety more than Bryan Glenn, the Communication senior who was robbed at gunpoint Friday night on the 800 block of Hamlin Street.
Glenn was retrieving his coat from his car at 9 p.m. after a trip to the grocery store when a man came running across the street and yelled, “Freeze,” Glenn said.
In the dark, Glenn said he was unable to see the man and thinking it was a prank asked him: “Who are you? Is this a joke?”
But Glenn soon found out how serious the man was. Two other men approached on each side of him while the man from across the street lifted his arm to reveal a handgun, Glenn said. The man, who was wearing a hood, cocked the gun and said, “This isn’t a joke.”
“At that moment everything became clear,” Glenn said. He immediately gave his wallet to one of the men and they shortly ran away.
Although Glenn gave a description of the assailants to police, the details were limited because he was unable to see them — something he primarily credits to dim lighting on Hamlin.
“Lighting is very poor,” he said. “(Hamlin) is not a well-lit street at all.”
Other people in the neighborhood have had problems with crime before, including people in the the same building, Glenn said. Some non-students in the area have complained in years before to the city but have yet to see any response.
Friday night’s robbery once again highlighted concerns about the student safety, putting pressure on the Northwestern Safety Alliance to take the lead in promoting campus safety.
“Events like this occur and everyone gets concerned and active about it, but after a while students forget about it,” said Rachel Lopez, Associated Student Government president and founder of the alliance.
After a woman was attacked on the Lakefill last October, Women’s Coalition lobbied more vigorously for improved campus lighting. As a result, lights were added to NU’s Evanston Campus this summer along Sheridan Road and University Place, and near Annie May Swift Hall.
Former ASG Student Services Vice President Tiffany Berry worked alongside Lopez to create the new alliance Spring Quarter. During the summer Berry continued working on some of the group’s aims by reconstructing the campus shuttle schedule to include more stops for students.
But with Berry’s resignation from ASG, Lopez said she now needs help to guide the alliance toward more safety initiatives.
For now, Lopez does not know when the alliance will gather next but plans to discuss the issue with the student services vice president once a candidate is selected Oct. 9.
While on ASG’s student services committee last year, Public Affairs Residential College Sen. Eileen Keeley proposed campus safety measures that have not been completed.
Keeley’s bill specifically concentrated on bettering the Escort Service, which shuttles students to and from campus and the surrounding area to prevent them from walking home at night.
“Unfortunately, it was not improved as much as I’d like to have seen,” said Keeley, who was a candidate for student services vice president in the spring.
“I think one thing ASG as a whole needs to focus on this year is to make sure this is an issue that we don’t just get anxious about every time something happens,” Keeley said. “Last year, we kept getting distracted and weren’t as consistent about lobbying for safety issues so maybe that’s why we didn’t see concrete results in things like the Escort Service.”
Although campus safety still is a priority for Women’s Co, now that NU has answered its lighting requests the group is focusing its efforts on self-defense classes, said Nell Haynes, Women’s Co president.
“We’ll probably try and get a little more lighting, but the administration was so responsive last year that the places that were high priority for lighting were all taken care of,” said Haynes, a Communication junior.
Haynes, who is also a member of Safety Alliance, said she sees the importance of a cross-campus group devoted to safety.
“The safety alliance really brought together a lot of different groups for a common cause and everyone had really valuable ideas,” Haynes said. “I think getting together again would be really helpful.”
