Location: United States Posts: 1860 Joined: 2008-11-14
I am already predicting a number of "Jill got locked out of her dorm room again" posts from you in the future. The dorms at my school just have a swipe card, so you don't have to memorize anything. Shame they don't do it that way at Michigan!
"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings." - Eric Hoffer
They have a swipe card AND the code, because apparently they were concerned people would drop the card and then people could get into their room if a stranger found it. There was a murder-rape at Eastern Michigan two years ago in the dorms-- that the university covered up for a year so nobody knew there was a murdering rapist on the loose-- so the schools that can afford it are going bonkers over new security features here now. I'm actually glad UM has so many security features because it's about a 10 minute drive from EMU, and while the crime in Ann Arbor is less than it is in Ypsilanti, they're still darn close. My boyfriend goes to EMU and I don't feel safe there at all.
I'll just have to find someplace safe to hide for the night if I get locked out of my dorm.
Location: American Southeast Posts: 202 Joined: 2008-08-27
You won't need a place to hide.
You will just need a place to hide the number.
I did that with my gym locker combo at the Y. I wrote it underneath a permanent bench...not in front of my own locker, of course. I also used a locker room that was very sparsly used.
Hide your number on something permanent, not near the door and hard to find unless you know it's there.
"Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?"
Location: United States Posts: 1860 Joined: 2008-11-14
Wow, that's great, really. It really helps to catch a murdering rapist when you don't tell anyone about it... oi. The city my school is in has a high "crime index" rating, because there are a lot of sexual assaults here comparative to the population size. That really doesn't worry me though, because statistically speaking 9 times out of 10 a woman is raped by someone she knows, and (at the risk of boasting) I am a fantastic judge of character... so I don't hang out in dark alleys with my sketchier guy friends, lol. Plus they know I'd genuinely kick their ass anyway, so there's no chance of that. xD
In reality, though, the main crime here is theft, and for two reasons: one, there are a lot of drunk college students, and two, there is a very large, very poor black community. It's not a racial statement, it's just an honest one - there's a huge color line here, and something like 35% of the black population lives under the poverty line. Poor people are more likely to steal, regardless of color, so it is really a problem. My house has been broken into or had break-in attempts at least 4 times, and we aren't sure if there was another one or if it was just an accident.
So the moral of the story is there is almost zero murder rate here, knock on wood, so I don't feel like I have to worry about my personal safety. The people who do get murdered, are 99% of the time people who were getting into things they shouldn't have been, and were asking for something bad to happen to them. Sounds harsh, but it's reality.
"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings." - Eric Hoffer
CheshireKat wrote:
Wow, that's great, really. It really helps to catch a murdering rapist when you don't tell anyone about it... oi. The city my school is in has a high "crime index" rating, because there are a lot of sexual assaults here comparative to the population size. That really doesn't worry me though, because statistically speaking 9 times out of 10 a woman is raped by someone she knows, and (at the risk of boasting) I am a fantastic judge of character... so I don't hang out in dark alleys with my sketchier guy friends, lol. Plus they know I'd genuinely kick their ass anyway, so there's no chance of that. xD
In reality, though, the main crime here is theft, and for two reasons: one, there are a lot of drunk college students, and two, there is a very large, very poor black community. It's not a racial statement, it's just an honest one - there's a huge color line here, and something like 35% of the black population lives under the poverty line. Poor people are more likely to steal, regardless of color, so it is really a problem. My house has been broken into or had break-in attempts at least 4 times, and we aren't sure if there was another one or if it was just an accident.
So the moral of the story is there is almost zero murder rate here, knock on wood, so I don't feel like I have to worry about my personal safety. The people who do get murdered, are 99% of the time people who were getting into things they shouldn't have been, and were asking for something bad to happen to them. Sounds harsh, but it's reality.
That's kind of the deal in Ypsilanti too, and part of the reason why Ann Arbor's crime rate is lower. Poor people can't afford to go to UM (I am considered middle class and my parents are having to sell one of our cars to pay for my first year), so nobody needs to steal anything because they already have it-- EMU costs like a third of the price of UM and is much less selective, so people who were too poor to escape from Detroit and their piss poor education system end up at EMU (like my boyfriend! ). Murders and rapes aren't very common at EMU, but there are muggings and robberies (OFTEN armed) almost every night when it's warm outside, and every week or so when it's cold. I want to be able to leave my room to go to the bathroom at night, and have it not be the end of the world if I forget my pepper spray.
We had heard the girl died in the newspapers but nothing was ever said of foul play, so we just assumed she drank too much or something. A year later when they made their first arrest in the case, it came out that she was found naked with a pillow over her head with DNA evidence. They announced it the day after it was too late for anyone to withdraw from classes or their room assignments without losing their money, so people who were upset or scared were STUCK. It completely infuriates me. Almost the entire administrative and security staff were removed and replaced, and the school lost a lot of its funding. But I don't know that I'll ever be comfortable there again. More women could have been hurt because they didn't know they were in danger and didn't take the proper steps to defend themselves. While it's common sense not to wander around at night-- I think almost everyone takes that more seriously when they KNOW something has happened than when they think everything is fine.
Your statistics about rape are either right or close to right. I had some very unfortunate experiences with a "new friend" last year, and am presently considering my legal options. You would be surprised how off guard you can be caught. I've had someone completely fabricate their personality and their life when they met me, maintain friendship with me for months (and I mean like, seeing each other every day, not just a facebook comment here and there), only so they could make me vulnerable enough to take from me. And then I found out he was actually several years older than I'd been told, married, and a father.
I grew up in an area where the worst crime was the high schoolers getting bored and knocking over your mailbox once in a while, so I kind of feel like I'm being bombarded now. :\
The dorms at my school just have a swipe card, so you don't have to memorize anything. Shame they don't do it that way at Michigan!
