With the ongoing investigation into the disappearance of Hannah Graham, students, administrators and faculty have all become increasingly worried about the relative safety of our Grounds and of the greater Charlottesville area. As reasonable a concern as this is — and as terrifying as Hannah’s disappearance has been — some have unfairly placed blame for a perceived unsafe environment on the University.
First, it is important to clarify just what our community’s safety concerns are right now. Hannah’s case is tragic and has shocked Charlottesville residents and University students alike. But, the fact that it has shocked us should remind us that, in the grand scheme of alleged crime close to the University, this disappearance is an anomaly. It is natural to wonder how, in the aftermath of a tragedy, we may have prevented the event — but we must approach such a question rationally, and it appears to me that many have allowed their emotional reaction to overwhelm their ability to reason.
It is immensely frustrating not to know whom to blame, and I have experienced this frustration, too. At different intervals, I’ve been angry with the very concept of sexual assault, with the administration, with a lack of bystander intervention, and with the possibility of impaired judgment; but these are speculative judgments on my part, and are not necessarily rational or supported by what little information we have regarding Hannah’s case. We have yet to determine what the ultimate lesson of her case should be. This does not mean we should not take every possible precaution in our everyday lives; it means we should not rush to judgment about what precaution is most important in light of this case.
A recent letter to the editor describes a failure on the part of the University to anticipate crime, alert students to crime in the greater Charlottesville area, or to provide sufficient safety services beyond University property. The writer suggests the University should place blue lights around the greater Charlottesville area and take greater responsibility for students’ safety when they are off-Grounds; anything less than this is “akin to neglect and a very serious violation of this University’s promise to keep us safe.”
This is an entirely unreasonable suggestion. The city of Charlottesville is responsible for occurrences in its city; likewise, the University is responsible for occurrences on its property and among its students (i.e., altercations between University students that occur off-Grounds). We do not simply have the authority to place blue lights everywhere, as not all the property in the city belongs to us. Charlottesville is an inclusive and small community, so it is natural to believe the University should take on a stronger role in student safety beyond Grounds, but consider, for example, schools in much larger cities, like New York. Is it the responsibility of Columbia University or New York University to extend their safety systems beyond the expanse of their campuses? Doing so would require extending their systems into the depths of a huge metropolis, with little guarantee that those safety measures will be used exclusively by their own students. This makes it immediately clear why such demands are problematic.
This does not mean the University does not have a responsibility to educate its students about safety issues — and our University already does. I have been satisfied with the University’s quick and careful response to Hannah’s case; we have received several emails from administrators and members of Student Council about how to best protect ourselves, as well as general precautionary measures. At Orientation and in the days leading up to the start of school, first-years learn from resident advisors and other authoritative persons about the dangers of impaired judgment, helpful systems such as Safe Ride (whose capacity was increased in the immediate aftermath of Hannah’s disappearance), and what resources the University has to offer to students who may feel unsafe. The most the University can do in addition to providing these resources is encourage responsible behavior, for ourselves and for each other.
Regardless of new tragedies, we should constantly be re-examining and revising the extent and scope of the University’s safety policies, something this tragedy has forced us to do. But upon re-examination, we cannot leap to the judgment that the University has failed us, because it has not. We can look for new ways in which the University can serve us — but at the end of the day, we cannot hold it accountable for crimes or issues beyond its physical and legal borders.
Dani Bernstein is a Senior Associate Editor for The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at d.bernstein@cavalierdaily.com.
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