One of my favorite things about going to San Diego State is the fact we have so much access to the outside world.
Many organizations on campus have fun events week after week, whether that be online due to the COVID-19 pandemic or in person for students to have fun and get to know each other. We also have the ability to plan a trip by taking the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System like I did my freshman year when I took the trolley to Old Town and visited the haunted Whaley House for the first time.
However, being a public campus comes with its own set of challenges. While I don’t mean to suggest we should be more afraid of people at SDSU than anywhere else, I do aim to remind us that we live within a community of thousands of students, faculty and San Diego residents, and we should always be aware of who we interact with on campus.
According to usnews.com, SDSU is 560 acres, fitting a community of around 31,000 undergraduate students in 2020 alone. Within that wide range of people, there are bound to be many personalities. Mix that with the pressures of juggling college, family, mental health, finances and many other things life brings, it is easy to see how we can struggle with the day-to-day while being on campus sometimes.
I lived on campus during my first month at SDSU and, to say the least, I was happy to leave. In my short time in the dorms, I enjoyed the company of many people while making friends I still have three years later. My only complaint was having to deal with random people showing up drunk to my dorm. The easy access to drugs and the pressure from peers to use them, coupled with the experience of being manipulated by someone who threatened to hurt themselves because I didn’t speak to them late one night (during my first week at State, not to mention), pushed me to make my decision to leave on-campus housing.
Encountering intoxicated people on campus doesn’t even account for the other dangers we face like walking around campus at night, especially in areas that are not well-lit.
I’m not complaining about the realities of co-existing with others, and I acknowledge that life is hard and we all have our battles, but my goal is help diminish some of the everyday safety risks while living on such a public campus.
SDSU has created many options for students to consider when trying to keep themselves safe.
Some of the options include: self defense classes, emergency alert systems, multiple ways to report crimes, peer health education and our own police force with two stations on campus amongst other options.
If you’ve seen tall towers labeled “EMERGENCY” on campus, you’ll note they include a “blue light” phone which provides immediate access to SDSU Police Dispatch by pushing a button.
I’ve purchased a small alarm and placed it on my keychain to pull in case of emergencies and almost always keep both pepper gel and spray on me. There are times I will not be allowed either item as a student, and I find it problematic.
According to the 2021 Campus Safety Plan, violent crimes are defined as willful homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. There have been 16 on-campus violent crimes this semester.
The 2020 Annual Security Report, which is prepared by the Campus Clery Director in cooperation with several entities on campus including the SDSU Police Department, the Residential Education Office, and Counseling and Psychological Resources, amongst others includes statistics about crime on campus for the three most recent calendar years.
This report shows that SDSU had at least 99 on campus burglaries between Jan. 1, 2017 and Dec. 31, 2019.
Again, while I don’t mean to scare any student, I do want to encourage us to be aware of the threats we face while on campus and to be aware of what we can do about them.
Stay aware and stay safe Aztecs.
Lucelis Martinez is a junior studying journalism. Follow her on Twitter @Lucelispm.
