<p>Any school and its environs has its pluses and minuses. My brother used to walk around New Haven wearing a “Yale Judo” shirt (he was at the school, wasn’t on the team). Have had family, friend and relatives in not so great parts of Houston, Baltimore, LA, New Orleans, Atlanta, you name it. It is what it is. You keep a level head about you and don’t think you are invincible.</p>
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<p>Times change. My wife did a Winter term in Moscow in the bad old days of the Soviet Union. In terms of street crime, there was no place safer. Chalk one up for the police state. </p>
<p>@jhs I think you’re being a tad negative about New Haven. It’s very vibrant, the place where young people go for fun in the region. My kids’ friends think it’s a much cooler place than their boring suburbs. In terms of the mix between bad and good neighborhoods, no better or worse than the typical urban center. </p>
<p>Personally, I always worry about my kids’ safety but perhaps more when they’re home than away at school. When they’re away it’s kind of diffuse. When they’re home, it’s more like I know they’re out, who are they with, where are they, when are they coming home. Can’t do that when they’re at school. </p>
<p>Some of it is also whether the perception is that an area has some violence (gangs, etc.) that happen to be in proximity to but unrelated to the students, versus the students are explicitly seen as an easy mark for muggings, etc.</p>
<p>I’ll admit that I have spent very little time in the past 35 years outside my car anywhere in New Haven that’s not essentially the Yale campus (including relevant hotels), a place where Yale students or faculty live, or the Wooster Square area (including, primarily, Pepe’s, the pastry shop, and the dog fountain in the middle of the park). I apologize if I am being too negative. You can’t visit these days and not be aware of how the areas right around the Yale campus have spiffed up, but my impression was that the economic vitality was not city-wide, and the far side of the Green looks as ratty as ever.</p>
<p>I think Pizzagirl is exactly right to distinguish between, say, drug violence that happens near a campus but not in any way related to it, and students getting mugged. However, I think that at urban campuses students do sometimes get mugged. Not nearly as often as their parents may fear, and it’s not exactly a life-altering experience, but it happens. Someone upthread said that she had never heard of Yale students having a problem walking around campus, and, sorry, I have trouble believing that. I can say that I never had a problem walking around campus, but I certainly knew a few other students who did. So what? It wasn’t a big deal.</p>
<p>I live in the New Haven suburbs and I couldn’t disagree more with many of the attitudes towards New Haven. In fact, when we are empty nesters (soon) we plan to sell the house and get an apartment downtown.</p>
<p>New Haven has a thriving restaurant scene, as well as a very active arts scene. There are several beautiful neighborhoods with historic homes. I have never felt unsafe going to theater or out to eat at night, which we do often. </p>
<p>I moved here from NYC, so I am used to cities. I find New Haven much more manageable. If I want to see a play I don’t have to pay NY prices or worry about parking. If I want to go to the symphony it is 20 minutes door to door. </p>
<p>When we were at the stage of looking at colleges, I had seen things on CC that made me very uncertain that the environment in New Haven would seem safe to us. There certainly seemed to be a lot of opinions about it. However, when we went there, it seemed very much like some of the medium to small urban areas around us, and not particularly hazardous. The Yale “bubble” is exceptionally well patrolled. I would not hesitate to send a young woman there for college (and didn’t hesitate).</p>
<p>New Haven is not Princeton, NJ, for sure. On the other hand, the campus didn’t flood and the roads weren’t closed at Yale when we were visiting there, while we were almost blocked from getting back to the motel near Princeton.</p>
<p>I have approached Northwestern driving from due west, aiming directly at the gate that is at or near the south end of the campus. While the homes were of modest size, the area did not strike me as particularly unsafe. Is it really, or is the area that PG considers questionable north or south of that?</p>
<p>If you are looking for a suburban campus there are not too many that can compete with Princeton. Really picture perfect and very safe.</p>
<p>Quant, I don’t know too much about Evanston but it appeared very safe when we visited last summer. D proclaimed that there should be a Joy Yee’s Noodle Kitchen in every college town.</p>
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<p>I get shivers just thinking about this. In the woods…no one can hear you scream. I don’t think I could live in a place like that.</p>
<p>I’d guess the Ivy that turned off the OP because of the fear of crime is Penn.</p>
<p>QM - I hate to get too insider-baseball here since I’ll bore everyone, but I assume you’re referring to Emerson St (also known as Golf Rd outside Ev) which dead-ends at the campus. The area that’s not so great is southwest Evanston, which is south (to the right) of where you were. As you get closer to the el / downtown / campus, it improves markedly. Sorry to thread jack. </p>
<p>“Why do parents send their kids to college towns/cities where they are afraid for their children’s safety?? After sending their kids, they then come here to ask for advice about how to keep their offspring safe. It’s very annoying. It’s tantamount to placing your child in a car with a known alcoholic/drinker/driver and then worrying that they will get into an accident. Why should the kid be placed in the situation in the first place??”
- EVERY place that you send your kids WILL make you worry. Even if you keep your kid at home locked up it will still make you WORRY…because as a parents, we worry about our kids. Every single college is known for potential fo have your kid in acar with alcoholic/drinker/driver . IT IS UP TO A KID, not the place, nobody can baby sit them. You have to talk to them and there is no guarantee whatsoever that they will listen, one time or another they will not.<br>
You can tell them to go to emergency if they recognize life threatenning health condition, AND THEY DO NOT untiull you screem at them on a phone for couple hours, caliing over and over and over. What else can you do when they are 4 hours away.
There is no mystery about any of it, it is just part of life.<br>
You can only pray that the worst that may happen is a stolen wallet. What if a kid just stayed at home (most likely alone) while dehydrated from being sick? What if they refuse to seek help from numerous friends to take them to emergency. This is more threatenning scenario than most others, and I endured this scenario 2 times, with the college senior and Grad. student. Second time, I jsut went there, but thank goodness she was in Emergency after asking her friend to take her there.
I really cannot think of a greater risk than that…and no kid anymore either… </p>
<p>I think asking for advice about how to keep offspring safER is the a perfectly valid inquiry. I welcome reading about such ideas. </p>
<p>Lately, with the Hannah Graham disappearance, with her body now found, a straight A UVA sophomore, I think it’s important to tell young people that providing contraband to others, drinking, getting in a confused state really heightens the risk of become prey. To stay with others. Going it alone is inviting predators, and if you are mentally compromised, you are at a disdvantage. And to keep an eye on classmates, others if they look they are about to venture out a lone.You can cut that kind of incidences down by doing that.</p>
<p>Some things though do happen and it’s a roll of the dice. But it’s a major concern, get those statistics and work with the odds, though you are not going to get them down to zero.</p>
<p>Thanks, PG, I appreciate your answer. I will have to dig out my map. The street that I was mainly traveling on seemed to have a lot of one-story ranch and cottage-style houses (much like where I grew up). The lawns were well maintained. I am pretty sure I started going east on Dempster from the Edens.</p>
<p>I live within a spit of New Haven, my husband worked there for a time, and we have relatives who live there too. The city really has much to offer in terms of everything…entertainment, food, shopping, and yes, Yale did have a lot to do with the upswing in areas surrounding the university. </p>
<p>People from all over flock to the pizza places…and they are not all students, and they are not all from NH. Ditto some of the clubs.</p>
<p>I think it’s a nice city. But it’s a city like any other urban area. One needs to have common sense when going there.</p>
<p>I think another takeaway from this discussion should be that impressions about the area around a campus can be seriously out of date (if they were ever accurate). The area of New Haven around Yale has changed quite a lot in the 30-some years since I graduated, and the places where if feels perfectly safe to go are more numerous. It’s still an urban location, and street smarts are still necessary–I think that fact alone is enough to scare off some families who come from different environments. I remember when my wife and I first moved to the suburbs. She thought our street was creepy at night because there was nobody around.</p>
<p>Personally, I think an issue is how much “locals” have access to the campus, since our kids will spend most of their time on campus. At some colleges, no matter the surrounding area, there isn’t this interaction. Dorms are on key cards and doors can’t be kept open more than a few minutes before an alarm sounds. Schools provide nighttime campus safe-rides or escorts. </p>
<p>But for some schools, "on campus’ can be vague, since dorms can be a bit of a walk or kids live in local apts. And some kids come and go, quite late. They have to be wise. </p>
<p>I live in an area where people will walk their dogs at midnight. A mile away, where my local U is, is also quite safe, in general. That doesn’t stop kids from getting mugged, heading back to the dorms (a few blocks from main campus,) with their laptops, cells, etc, at 2am, alone. Same for my grad school- great area, but there was an unlit shortcut through a park back to the UG dorms. Girls continued to take that route, alone, despite weekly reports. </p>
<p>They need to be wise.</p>
<p>The only thing is that we can only talk and I am 100% sure that Hannah Graham parents have talked to her also. These talks do not quarantee anything. And if you go over board with the talks, then some of them (specifically, boys tend to push limits a bit more) may just do complete opposite. And what else can you do in addition to talking? Things are happenning with the smartest and the most cautious, no matter how much you talk, scream, push, visit, they make sure that they are surrounded with friends, good trusted kids…we can advice each other…whatever…then the car just slips on the ice (while actually visiting home during break being driven by a kid who is a very good driver with tons of experience driving ) and somebody is hurt really badly and in a hospital and it maybe your kid or others and YOU ARE actually not only dealing with emotional side of all of this, but financially responsible for everybody involved…I want to prevent all of these with all my heart, but I do not know how and more so that I worry every single time ANY of us step into the car or any of us has any pain or any of us flying and the list can go on and on… </p>
<p>Another thing that “outsiders” may not have a sense of is - are there natural boundaries where different groups tend not to cross. In my Evanston example, the area west of the El can get sketchy fairly quickly, but there would be little reason for someone on campus to go west of the El. People familiar w a community may know that, but the “outsider” driving around might see a bad neighborhood just a couple of blocks away and conclude something different. </p>
<p>Well, I’m old-school here, but when I went to school (and of course this was before cell phones), if I studied at the library late, I prearranged with my boyfriend and he came and walked me back to my dorm. And I would encourage my S to do the same with his girlfriend, and not “let” her walk alone late at night. (You all know what I mean, so don’t get all huffy on the word “let”.) I probably was in little danger, but on the lakefront without people around, someone could have accosted me and no one would have seen. </p>
<p>No one should walk around alone after dark on any college campus, or in any city. Sorry…that is the first thing they tell you in terms of safety.</p>
<p>I’m going to NYC next week. My husband will drive me to the train because I likley will be returning at dusk or when it’s dark…and I will be alone. Sorry, I won’t do that! </p>
<p>Students are easy targets as they are often distracted, with friends, headphones or texting while walking.
Especially in urban areas, the schools may attract those who see the students as " easy pickings".</p>
<p>My oldest actually became complacent while she was at college, as it is is a very safe campus. If you left your laptop unattended in the library, it would be more likely to be turned in than stolen.
When she came back to our city, she had her iPod stolen out of a coat pocket in Starbucks.</p>