<p>I have read a lot about safety at the university, and many people have said that it is very safe provided one stays on campus or in the immediate area. After reading stories like the one below, however, I am not satisfied with that answer.</p>
<p>What is the situation like for students living off campus? Is it safe to walk or jog around, and how adequate is public transportation? (Here I mainly mean city buses, not a limited shuttle system.)</p>
<p>The security on campus is phenomenal.</p>
<p>The immediate area around campus, from roughly East University down to 29th street is also very safe. Unfortunately, beyond that section you’re pretty much out in Baltimore – and like any other city stuff like that can happen. With that said, that was the first I’ve ever heard of someone walking all the way back to campus from Penn Station. It’s a long walk. It was a totally isolated incident.</p>
<p>It’s definitely safe to walk and jog around Charles Village, but you still have to be smart. Don’t go walking around at 3 am by yourself.</p>
<p>I’ve never used public transportation in Baltimore and I know few people who have. Between the JHMI and Collegetown shuttles you can pretty much get to wherever you need to. It’s great.</p>
<p>It’s about common sense. Baltimore is a city. It has dangerous spots, but you keep your head up and your eyes forward and you can get through the roughest of the rough spots. Once you get some street smarts you’ll be able to explore all the marvelous assets this city has to offer. Great neighborhoods, food, entertainment, art, culture…</p>
<p>I go walking at 3 AM all the time.</p>
<p>I’ve walked down Charles to about 20th or 21st street a few times, the latest being about 8:45 (there’s a Korean restaurant down there). I was with a bunch of other people but we were still somewhat nervous. That said, nothing happened to us.</p>
<p>What happened to Mr. Pitcairn (who was not a student BTW) is both tragic and rare–but not surprising in light of his apparently lax attitude toward his own safety. Most of North Charles St. is reasonably safe–except for the area where it crosses North Avenue. North Avenue, particularly east of North Charles St (which is where St. Paul St. is, the location of the murder) is a pretty bad neighborhood. No student should ever consider walking to campus from Penn Station after dark unless you are in a large group. </p>
<p>Baltimore is no worse than many other American cities. Like many other cities, it has a large inner city poor population where drugs are rampant. You have to learn where the bad neighborhoods are (hint:–if there is a flashing blue light and camera mounted on a corner, it is a bad neighborhood) and avoid them. Students are easy prey for bad people looking for drug money. These people are often desperate, and if you make it easy for them by walking around sketchy neighborhoods alone after dark, you shouldn’t be surprised if you run into a problem. You have to exercise common sense. If Mr. Pitcairn had simply taken a taxi (or the free Hopkins’ shuttle, if it was early enough), he would still be with us today. </p>
<p>Hopkins’ students who exercise common sense and develop some basic street smarts stay safe and are able to enjoy the many nice parts and things about Baltimore. But there is no excuse for doing dumb, dangerous things. Should you ever find yourself out late without transportation or enough money for a taxi–don’t walk alone! Call the Hop Cops and explain your predicament. They will either pick you up or make arrangements for safe transportation (such as loaning you the money for a cab).</p>
<p>Universities in surburban or rural locations are indeed safer–but I think you miss a lot by not being in an urban environment. The situation at Hopkins is no materally different than at Penn, Yale, Columbia, Brown, Harvard, Duke, Wash U, Chicago, or many other urban schools in locations with with significant poor populations nearby.</p>
<p>Right. I forgot to mention, your J-Card has the phone number for the security service on it. If you EVER feel scared or in danger, call the number and an escort van will come pick you up. Doesn’t matter where or when.</p>
<p>yanks I would assert nervousness in such a situation is a manifestation of racism.</p>
<p>@adam:<br>
Racism, perhaps.<br>
Honesty, definately.</p>
<p>If that little voice inside your head says “hey, you should be a little bit nervous or careful”, you should listen to it. Later, when you are in the safety of your dorm room, you can decide if the emotion was valid or born of ignorance. Facing down your demons to overcome racism and other prejudices is best done in familiar surroundings, during daylight hours, and in a safe environment.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the input!</p>
<p>AdamJaz: absolutely not and I’m rather insulted that you would make that suggestion.</p>
<p>There is a shuttle that runs from Penn Station to Homewood and there is the option to take a taxi. I think that a bus runs from Penn Station to Homewood. Don’t think that this happened at the Hopkins campus or in its residential sphere of influence. </p>
<p>This student walked from Penn Station to Homewood in the middle of the night, which is definitely not safe. Admittedly, I have walked from Penn Station to Homewood in the middle of the day, which I think is somewhat safe but definitely unwise. There is a huge difference between the area around Johns Hopkins and the neighborhoods between Penn Station and Homewood.</p>
<p>Baltimore is 64% black. As a result of this blackness, the city is somewhat dangerous. I’m gonna tell it to you like it is. It’s not poverty that people are afraid of, it is blackness.You can take public transportation, but if you are a racist and don’t like black people, then I would advise against it. The fact is that the majority of Hopkins students are racist, especially the Asians. A lot of people (as you can see from the above posts) develop this wierd racism when they get here and are afraid of walking anywhere. People see groups of blacks and shudder in fear, no matter what they tell themselves. Hopkins administration doesn’t help alleviate the racism either, with all the unnecessary security measures, it makes students think that there is a lot more “danger” out there than there really is. Case in point, the insane number of guards in and around campus. Well I suppose the good thing about this is that Hopkins provides jobs for the non-dysfunctional and more-or-less honest black people in Baltimore and it gives the Hopkins students “security”, whatever that means. </p>
<p>I walk from Homewood to Penn Station (and often to the Harbor), all the time, at all hours of the day and night, alone. It is not unwise. There is a mental health institution around (25th st?), so random crazies sometimes congregate around there, but they are not dangerous, and the large red tenement building on 20th also has random loiterers and such, but nobody will bother you. I thought the area around Hopkins was scary at first glance, but after a while, I realized I was just being a racist, and now I no longer feel “nervousness” or “fear”. </p>
<p>The areas around Hopkins that people are claiming are “dangerous” are far from the most violent areas of Baltimore, which are pretty much “blacks only” zones. These areas are far from campus and most students will never go there, so it is not a problem. No one is going to bother you on Greenmount or in the North Charles area south of campus. Most crimes committed are black-on-black incidents, and not random, so as a student not involved in gang life, it is highly unlikely that you will be a victim of a black crime. You should be more worried about the students who might go crazy and become school shooters because they study too much. </p>
<p>Sorry to make this all racialized, but that’s really the heart of the issue, and most people know it, but don’t want to say it. I tell it like it is.</p>
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<p>This student was robbed and murdered walking from Penn Station to Hopkins in the middle of the night. Even though they aren’t involved with gang activity, most Hopkins students have a decent amount of money and are vulnerable to being mugged.</p>
<p>^
One isolated incident a trend does not make. I am unaware of any statistics that exist showing a higher probability of being mugged in that corridor. It is one of the safer areas of Baltimore, IMO. What you mean when you refer to it as “it is not safe” is that it is not white. Yes, there are lots of black people in that area, but most of them, as far as I am aware, do not belong to the underclass. There are not a lot of housing projects in that area.</p>
<p>I don’t care who lives there or who’s committing the crimes, walking around poorly lit city streets, alone in the middle of the night when there’s absolutely no one else around, is a bad idea. I never really felt “unsafe” during my years at Hopkins, but I attribute my decision not to walk around certain areas in the middle of the night more to common sense than to racism. I didn’t have any problem walking down 33rd to Greenmount (for food or groceries or whatever) because there were always people around and the road was relatively well lit. I’ve also walked to/from the Penn Station area at all times of day, but I would only walk there at night (ie after midnight) if I were with people because there are (or least there used to be) a few stretches of Charles St that were not well lit at all.</p>