<p>My DD will be attending Flagship State U which happens to be in a very safe larger city (300k people give or take) downtown. Her dorm is right at the tip of downtown. By virtue of her field of study (architecture) she will be faced with long hours and the like. The walk from the Arch building to the dorm is not bad but the school got carried away with landscaping, you get the idea. Behind every bush and shrub... </p>
<p>Half jokingly we talked about 'safety tools' such as pepper spray or mace :-). So, before I order a Gravity Hammer or Energy Sword or pepper spray or mace from my favorite Bed Bath and Beyond, what is the latest opinion on such personal protective devices in college? </p>
<p>Do colleges allow such things on campus? are they frowned upon? any good brands? :-)</p>
<p>(if you don't know what a Gravity Hammer is, buy an Xbox360... :-))</p>
<p>I think the use of pepper spray and mace is mandated by the state. Safety in numbers no matter where the campus is. The year I sent my oldest daughter to a very urban, non-campus college smack dab in the heart of Boston , there was a mugging and murder on the rural campus of one of our local state colleges and I have to say, having been on that campus late at night for a sporting event, felt no presense of security compared to the schools my 2 have attended in downtown bean</p>
<p>Find a comprehensive self-defence course for her to take. Check to see what type of system her campus has set up for students who are walking late at night. Most schools have some sort of ‘walk safe’ program where a student can call and be met by one or two student volunteers to walk her home. As a mom of 5Ds, I understand your concerns.</p>
<p>Absolutely. The state D2’s alma mater is in, has different laws than our state. So whenever D2 traveled home via air, she couldn’t even pack it in checked luggage.</p>
<p>Encourage her to use the “walk safe/buddy program” that I am sure that the school will provide. Many students don’t want the inconvenienc, but bad things do happen. Early on in the year, encourage her to make friends with fellow stidents in her study area, so that evenifthey don’t regularly walk home together, they will be more likely to look out for one another. Don’t take shortcuts at night either.</p>
<p>Also, while seemingly obvious, no staying out at the bars until 4am, or going home with strangers.</p>
<p>I think that it would be fairly easy for kids working late on their architecture projects to agree in advance that they will all leave together. All the girls there will be in the same boat, and I am not sure the boys want to walk home alone either at 4am.</p>
<p>As someone who had a brother who went to Harvard Architecture School and Cooper Union, and whose brother’s wife went to Cornell architecture, I am aware that people work on their architectural projects until 4am sometimes.</p>
<p>It is a nice major. I am sure you are very proud.</p>
<p>If she is generally likely to walk from place to place listening to her music with her ipod earbuds in her ears, remind her not to do this when walking across campus when no one appears to be around.</p>
<p>The campus has all the appropriate ‘ride home’ escort services same as we had back in my days - and the walk is only a few hundred feet. The dorm she’s staying has a few arch students so they should be able to work something out. </p>
<p>Ironically we faced the same issue back 30 years ago in Computer Science - it would be a rare night when I did not leave the Computer Center before 3 or 4 am… The campus police would escort female students to their dorms but guys were on their own.</p>
<p>I don’t know about Cooper Union, but I lived in Cambridge for a few months and while the area around Harvard and MIT are absolutely awesome, it takes a couple of city blocks for the landscape to change dramatically…</p>
<p>EDIT: I googled and it seems her university **allows **pepper spray :-). It is even written in the student conduct guide and campus police offers information on its use… Any good brands?</p>
<p>D and I took a woman’s assault prevention class recently to prep her for college and I highly recommend it. She learned a lot of simple ways to defend herself in a relatively short time (4 hours). The instructor did not recommend mace or pepper spray. He said that it can easily be used against your D and that criminals actually spray themselves with mace or pepper spray to get used to it.</p>
<p>My D was frequently in her studio until 3AM last year. She made use of buddy system, blue lights, whistles, etc. Never actually had a problem but was always prepared. On a positive note, she said the arch students never really went home until the sun came up. ;)</p>
<p>My dtr is 15yo and you have to teach them safety measures starting from a young age…I didnt want to wait til college to teach her about those who are out to harm others…
No matter what type of enviroment you live in, there are evil people!.. I have heard of young women being abducted during the day as well… so she should NEVER assume that she is safe while the sun is up… her guard should ALWAYS be up! The man “looking for directions”, etc. I have taught my daughter that almost anyone can be a predator… she is not even allowed to accept a ride from a neighbor if she is walking home from school… We can be far too trusting/polite when we are young and that can be a disaster. Its usually the 'normal" looking person who can be the most dangerous… or the person who has lived next door for 10 years… </p>
<p>Is this paranoia? yes, a little but at least she has been told of the dangers that lurk EVERYWHERE! Not just the ones in urban areas with high crime… its EVERYWHERE.</p>
<p>Any runner’s store will sell pepper spray. I bought some for my daughter–made me feel better though she probably never had it handy. She also took a self-defense class as one of her PE credits.</p>
<p>Personally, I think just being aware of what is around you is the best prevention. If you (as a young person) don’t feel safe, be aware of what you can do: walk with someone, call a cab, take the shuttle, whatever it is that your campus provides. My daughter is in a small city and I have given her an emergency $20 and programmed the cab company number into her phone (and mine). Her campus has a ride program where you can call from anywhere in the city and they will come get you and take you home. HOWEVER, she has tried to use it a couple of times and the wait was so long that if you truly were in an unsfe situation, you would be in trouble.</p>
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<p>This is so true. The one time I was attacked (frightening, but I was not physically hurt), it was three doors down from home my junior year in high school in my dinky home town in Iowa AND I knew who the guy was. He did much worse later and is now spending the rest of his life in prison. So, NewHAvenMom is so right on this one.</p>
<p>I have a can of “pepper guard” brand pepper spray that I like, I carried that with me in college. It was small but large enough for someone to see I had it in my hand if they were going to attack me, could go on a keychain, had a good safety cap that you could flip in an instant and press the button at the same time. My boyfriend bought it for me and I packed it to pacify him though I had no intention of carrying it, and then sometime during the first month of school some drunken creeper followed my roommate and I home-- after that I started carrying it.</p>
<p>Safety strategies for women is the hot topic here right now as Ann Arbor is having some sort of a major situation with a rapist or rapists at the moment. All women alone in the evening-- runners, a girl on her way home from a party, someone getting into an elevator at a parking structure. The mantra appears to be don’t be alone in the evening, ever, and to always be aware. Someone that is looking around, has their phone out ready to dial 911-- and isnt texting on it, and best of all is with someone else, isn’t going to make as good a target as someone else. Muggers and rapists are opportunists. I think the number one weapon a woman can have is the knowledge that she is not invincible, and those kinds of crimes don’t just happen to “other” people. That seems to be the biggest hurdle in getting women to make smart decisions in these matters. And men, for that matter…</p>
<p>One important thing to warn her about and for you to keep in mind is that, while most of us envision danger coming from a stranger or unknown attacker, college students, in particular college females are in greatest danger from people that they know. Accquaintances, friends of friends, these are far more likely to put her in a dangerous situation than strangers. Some of the best preparation she can have is knowing how to protect herself at parties or other social gatherings, not walking home from class. Most of that is common sense stuff: don’t drink out of a drink that’s been out of your sight, always go with friends and look out for your friends (and vice versa), keep your phone charged, try to stay in reasonable control of yourself and your faculties. </p>
<p>As for danger in the street or from strangers, a self-defense class is not a bad idea. At any rate it will give her some confidence and personal security, and a person who is walking confidently, paying attention to thier surroundings, is less of a target. Muggers want victims who don’t look like they would fight back, scream, run away, or struggle. Advise her not to listen to music if she’s walking back late at night, it’s dangerous in terms of traffic and it cuts down on your awareness of surroundings. Don’t buy pepper spray or mace without checking state regulations, they are illegal in some states. And really, nothing will protect her like her own common sense and judgement.</p>
<p>I echo all the posters who said the best defense is to be aware of your surroundings – I read somewhere that attackers targets the ones listening to music because they can’t hear someone come up behind them. They also target young women who wear their hair in ponytails. Apparently, it’s easy to grab and yank.</p>
<p>Instead of mace, which the wind can blow back in her face, get a whistle like coaches use - loud and shrill - at any sport’s store, and a hat pin to use on the attacker. In a self defense class I was taught to go for the abdominal area.</p>
<p>A self defense class that teaches how to break out of strangle holds and other self defense maneuvers and awarenesses. Stomping on the top of the feet, hard, etc.</p>
<p>So true. I attended one of those “Child Lure” seminars some years ago–you remember the guy on Oprah asking the kid to help him find his puppy? One of the best bits of advice from that guy was to trust your gut. If your intuition says something doesn’t feel right, it is time to get out of the situation. We have all had the feeling.</p>
but at least she has been told of the dangers that lurk EVERYWHERE! Not just the ones in urban areas with high crime… its EVERYWHERE.</p>