I hail from Indianapolis, land of frequent sirens. It's not unusual to have an armed robbery within the neighborhood of my high school or to hear about a murder somewhere in the city during the week.
When I signed up for college in small town, middle of nowhere Greencastle, I was expecting a much quieter atmosphere. I imagined walking around at night, cautious but not freaking out about every shadowy figure or slow-driving car. Sirens would be more frequent on the weekends, but otherwise few and far between.
Boy, was I wrong. In the span of two weeks, a man was murdered and a gas station robbed - both right next to campus.
When my floormates and I found out someone was murdered, we didn't believe it. For one, the murder was reported only a few blocks from South Quad, uncomfortably close. It also involved a local Greencastle man. So we did what any 21st century person would do; we Googled the story. Sure enough, the murder was real and now so was our nervousness about the whole situation.
But hey, one murder in Greencastle is probably not too much to worry about, right?
Wrong.
Friday morning I'm leaving class and have a text from public safety telling me that a man with a gun is running around. The vivid description I get is "white male in a gray sweatshirt" - because that doesn't describe a good chunk of the people I was going to run into on campus.
Later, I also know that the sweatshirt is a zip-up, and the man has a "square/round face." All the triangular-faced guys were off the list.
Upon reading my email, I learn that the gas station right down the street from my dorm was the one robbed, and that the robber escaped in the direction of campus. Delightful, just what I wanted. My friends even walked in that area to get to the new bookstore.
The robbery was right on campus as far as I'm concerned. And the murder was not far away at all. Plus the number of sirens I hear every day is ridiculous. What the heck is happening all the time in Greencastle and the surrounding areas?
It's enough to make me more cautious than I was planning on being at college. Instead of just looking out for drunken college kids at night, I now must look out for murderers and suspect every white man in a gray hoodie. It's like I never left Indianapolis.
The response from Public Safety makes me wonder. In high school, a robber on the loose was subject to external lockdown, or creating protection around the exterior of the school by locking doors and supervising entrances. In college, we get a warning to look out for a man with a vague description. I like to think that if a man with a gun is running around my campus, I would see police officers on the premises - not only looking for him - but also looking out for the students going on with their day.
As far as I know, the man was not caught. There was not a follow-up text telling students to let down their guard, that the robber had been apprehended.
For all we know, he's gone back to his robber friends, and they are planning their next attack, maybe on campus this time.
Okay, maybe not.
All the same, students should feel a sense of security on campus. While everyone should be aware of our surroundings and be smart about personal safety, a noticeable presence should exist that lets us know we are protected.
Maybe my experiences in a big city make me expect more, but I doubt it. Vague text messages and emails just don't cut it, and in light of recent events, more should be done to ensure the students' safety on campus and assure us that these events are indeed rare. Right now, I'm not reassured.
- Leeann Sausser is a freshman from Indianapolis, Ind., with an undecided major.