Whenever Evanston resident Jane Evans looked out of her window on Friday or Saturday nights last fall, she saw the same thing: Northwestern students. Usually 20 or more. At all hours of the night.
“It sort of started to feel like a walking tavern in my neighborhood,” she said. “It was students just sort of roaming in bands on their cell phones, trying to find the party. In the beginning, I was very, very angry.”
But Evans said she later realized these weren’t just bands of students — they were her neighbors. And then she realized she shouldn’t be angry. She should be concerned.
“There was a lot of potential violence,” she said. “Anybody could get off the El and do something horrible to these kids.”
Evans decided to try to bring back an idea from when her children, now in college, were in elementary school. Some homes were
designated as “safe houses,” places where kids
walking home from school knew they could go if they needed help. Evans said a safe house program in Evanston would provide NU students with a sense of security and community.
“It’s a way of connecting together and saying, ‘Your problems are my problems and my problems are your problems. Let’s solve them together,'” said Lucile Krasnow, NU’s special assistant for community relations.
Krasnow and Catherine Whitcomb, assistant to NU’s vice president for student affairs, have been working with Evans and a small group of Associated Student Government members, including ASG President Jane Lee, to develop the concept. Krasnow said they still have much to organize but she hopes it will start this fall.
Many NU students said they would appreciate the security a safe house program could provide, especially if there was obvious danger.
“If there was a horde of people or a weapon, I would be on that bell,” said Jane Mackie, a Weinberg senior.
Other students, however, had their doubts about waking neighbors late at night.
“If it’s 3 in the morning in Evanston, I doubt a random family would be up,” Communication junior Julia Vanderham said. “Everything’s so close by, you’re always almost home, anyway. I guess I would just try to make it.”
Evans said the group also has considered a more general neighborhood watch program, or even leaving porch lights on all night.
Evanston resident Dona Roper said she strongly supported the porch light proposal.
“All houses should be lit,” Roper said. “All night, every night. All blocks. That gives us safety in our community.”
Despite the emphasis on safety, Lee said the safe house program would be about more than just security during late-night walks.
“The safe house program is also there to be a resource to students,” said Lee. “If your car breaks down or if you need medical attention, those are also benefits to the program.”
One of Evans’ main concerns is assuring students that a safe house is truly safe. Organizers would have to create a screening process for any resident interested in volunteering, she said.
Although Whitcomb agreed they would need a screening system, she said she is not worried about safe houses turning dangerous.
“I don’t think this is a community of psychopaths,” Whitcomb said. “Anybody who wants to do it is doing it out of genuine interest.”
Evans said she is confident residents will be willing to volunteer.
“We bought our homes knowing we would be living with Northwestern students,” Evans said. “Even though the students come and go, they are our neighbors.”
