Are these off-campus houses/apartments operated by the school? In the Chinese community people’s comment is “the public safety in Chicago is not better than Afghanistan”. Oh well, I feel hopeless, sad, and frustrating.
They are not. There are many rental properties in Hyde Park as well as condo properties that are rented out or owned directly by students or their families. The university has no graduate housing so 100% of grad students live “off campus” either in Hyde Park or one of the adjacent or nearby neighborhoods - even up near the Loop. Undergrads will typically move off campus in their third year but tend to stick to Hyde Park or Woodlawn.
It’s possible that Asian students in particular are targeted for crime - my impression is that many of them do perceive this to be the case. I hope someone insists on the university disclosing these sorts of statistics if they have them. University communities will have a large proportion of Asian members as it is, so any such information would need to be presented accurately in order not to be misrepresented or misinterpreted.
I’d also like to know how many victims in the daily crime log are university students or faculty vs. other. Just so that everyone understands the uptick in crime better. I don’t believe that the log discloses that information either.
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I recommend everyone download the “Citizen” app. You will see what crimes happen where and get a better understanding of what is occurring. Hyde park is regarded as a safer neighborhood than the others around the campus, but that isn’t saying much at all; you wouldn’t allow a younger teen to walk around by themselves pay dark in this “better” area.
You can probably find out if Asians are victims from the FBI crime statistics released every year (they are up to 2019). These compile every major metro area in the country.
Chicago is cheaper than most major cities in the US, you can afford to be in the loop or more towards that direction compared to say Manhattan. That said, living in the loop and commuting 20-30 mins each way by rail isn’t the normal college experience. If you think the UChicago prestige is worth it despite these precautions, go ahead.
As someone born and raised in Chicago I can’t imagine Hyde Park being described as a ‘safer neighborhood’. In my lifetime it’s never been considered safe as far as I’ve been aware.
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I meant safer for that area, the south side. Apologies for the confusion.
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Here are the violent crime trends in HP/S. Kenwood.
https://safety-security.uchicago.edu/police/data_information/crime_trends/
Prior graphics have placed the neighborhood closer to the city average than it currently is.
Personally, I don’t think the prestige is worth it. "Citizen"app, I heard of it through parents facebook group. Some parents don’t recommend it because it is a tricky balance and felt it ruin your mental health. However recently I told my kid to install it because last week there was a gunshot outside the campus.
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I agree that the prestige is not worth it. The app depends on the kid, I can see how it can be stressful. That said, a lot of students from suburbs or rural areas are horribly naive about what urban America is like outside of hip areas and have no idea what precautions are advisable. We are not a low crime country like japan Singapore or France. We are closer to Brazil.
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We (neighbour country) don’t have serious problems with gun violence. The area of my kid’s university in NYC is also considered not safe. I would never allow him to live off-campus. He doesn’t take the subway unless in downtown Manhantann and always returns to the campus before darkness.
Not sure if this has been posted yet:
A point of clarification: the article mentions that the suspect was arrested and charged on Friday. He was arrested on Wed, the day following Zheng’s killing and was charged on Friday (probably following confirmation from the ballistics test and so forth).
Until Chicago’s $80,000 COA can stop $0.38 bullets I would tend to agree.
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I’m a parent of a 2017 graduate who lived in Hyde Park for two years past graduation. I visited HP many, many times over the six years my son lived there. I love the neighborhood. I’ve frequently noted on this board, though, that the greatest threat to UChicago was the city itself, and its inability to keep the area safe.
Anyway, at this point I have a question for anyone who cares to comment. The pandemic caused the closure of the University in favor of remote learning. No student or recent graduate died as a result of the pandemic, as far as I know.
Two students or recently graduated students have been murdered this school year. Why does the school not go to remote learning until this particular health emergency is abated?
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The university didn’t shut down the way that peer schools did for the 2020-21 academic year. My son had a combination of remote and in-class learning. So that’s one thing. Another is that the university tracked the feedback and outcomes associated with remote learning and determined that in-person was simply superior (no surprise there). Finally, similar to how the Lyft program wouldn’t have prevented any of the three murders this year from happening, the same applies to remote learning. Absent a compete lock-down/shut up in your dorm or apartment similar to what happened in Spring and Fall 2020 (and no one wants to return to that), remote learning won’t keep students from being out and about - walking to their securely parked car, riding the Green Line, walking to/from somewhere other than class (Starbucks, Trader Joe’s, etc).
Students who don’t feel safe walking to campus can use UGo (day and night schedules available) or the CTA 171/172.
And you keep reiterating that opinion, but we have no idea the cumulative effects or the “butterfly effect” of all possible safety measures that could and/or should have been employed. You’re not a security expert as far as I know.
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It is better to have them than not, and they are probably not cost prohibitive in the grand scheme of the university. It is unlikely most incidents would be prevented. The area is that dangerous and broke. Unless there is some massive wave of gentrification (no sign of it coming) or quintupling of the police on the South Side with a social worker team in every apartment complex, it will not materially change.
And that’s a common response that “most” murders wouldn’t have been prevented. While that’s a wonderful, but likely unreachable goal, how about just ONE murder prevented. One life. One burglary. One robbery. One rape.
And it’s not just UofC. How about UT? How about any well-endowed college spending more money on safety measures, when necessary, like UofC.
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So I live in Chicago by Wrigley, so like 35 minute or so (depending on traffic) in an area considered very safe, from Hyde Park. But we are seeing an uptick in crime, car jacking, etc. Chicago is made up of fantastic neighborhoods… I was just recently at a Jazz concert at night at UChicago. Great Venue. Also they have one of the best live theaters in the City. I would not hesitate to go. I know kids on campus but who grew up in the city. They are sad of course but it doesn’t deter them from living their life on campus. Hyde Park is a great neighborhood. Things are happening across America cities now. I won’t go into the politics of it but every city is having issues. Even the suburbs are having the exact issues as well.
It’s a shame since Chicago is an affordable big city. Great University. Police can’t be everywhere. We had a car jacking 3 houses down from us this week. We even have our own security patrol subsidized by the Chicago Cubs but the cars were not in the area when the car jacking happened. Criminals nationally have become embolded. If you look at police blotter at most universities you would never send your kids away to school. I have looked at many and some didn’t match what was seen on the ground. It’s a scary world out there. Seen violence reports at small nice Lacs that you would never expect.
Every student that doesn’t live in a large urban city should have some sort of awareness training. Walking around with ear buds at night isn’t the smartest thing to do. Not sure what UChicago does in this respect.
Every college kid I know in the city doesn’t have issues taking the trains /busses, mass transit.
Hope this situation improves.
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My son is a third year and I visit often. He was shocked and saddened by what happened last week. As upsetting as this was, Hyde park is not a war zone, as some depict it to be. I’m not minimalizing the crime in Hyde Park, and recognize that the city needs to do more, but it’s not this horribly dangerous place that some are suggesting. I can only speak for my son and his friends. They are always very cautious when walking off campus at night, yet walk around freely during the day and are active in the Hyde Park community. They have never had any problems. They also don’t know anyone who’s had problems. Yes, I know there is crime, but not to the extent that some portray. I do, however, agree that the university and the city needs to massively increase what they are doing to deter crime.
Many Universities are having an uptick in crime, not just UChicago. I’m not down playing what happened, which was horrific, but please be realistic about the campus and the close area around campus. I respect the opinions of people that have lived in Hyde Park, or have children that attend the university, but some that are commenting don’t have any personal history with the university or they have an agenda, politically or personally.
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Probably not a good idea to try a bunch of safety measures that don’t address the pattern of crimes committed. One doesn’t need to be a “security expert” to understand that LOL. The marginal benefit of committing violent crime has increased which explains what Knowstuff was saying: the criminals are emboldened. They commit more crime during hours one wouldn’t expect and in areas they used to avoid. Understanding why that is the case and targeting those reasons might be a superior strategy to trying “all possible safety measures” - one of which would be confining the students rather than the criminals.
UChicago expanded UCPD presence immediately after Zheng was murdered and what happened? - the next morning someone else affiliated with the university was mugged at gunpoint. The thugs just work around the police; they know the neighborhood (including getaway paths and which intersections are “guarded” vs not) better than most students and university personnel do. They probably have figured out the pattern of UCPD’s patrols, which intersections are “guarded” etc. They just shift their own patterns in response.
Let’s explore the “remote learning” solution a bit more: in order for that to have a chance at being effective, libraries, labs and other nightly activities typically associated with a thriving university community would have to be shut down as well. And social gatherings would have to be strongly discouraged or even banned. Is that a genuine solution to the problem? And given that incidents of violent crime actually increased in 2020 over 2019 despite the partial shutdown of the university that year and a significantly smaller student presence, it’s questionable whether returning to that strategy would even work.
That getaway car had been stolen a week prior and had the same plates on it when the police finally caught up to the murderer. How is it that thugs don’t feel they need to bother changing the plates? Per news sources, the murderer was accompanied by two others - one of whom helped him pawn his victim’s cell phone. One was driving the getaway car. Why haven’t these accomplices been charged as well?
Something very essential to the proper functioning of a civilized society is very much broken in the city of Chicago. As long as it remains broken, we can expect more violent crime in Hyde Park and surrounding neighborhoods.
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Yes, I would like to prevent more violent crimes, especially against students who are being victimized by the locals. What I am warning against is any hope the crime levels on the south side will meaningfully decrease in the short to medium term, even with police presence.