<p>Authorities have made several arrests after three University of Southern California students were robbed while talking on their cell phones near campus, according to KNX 1070.</p>
<p>The robberies took place Monday night in the North University Park area just north of the school, USC Department of Public Safety Capt. David Carlisle said.</p>
<p>In each of the three incidents, a male student was walking alone when he was accosted by the suspects. Some of the suspects were armed with metal bars, and one may have had a handgun in his waistband, Carlisle said.</p>
<p>The first crime occurred shortly after 9 p.m. in the 2700 block of Ellendale Place; the second a few minutes later in the 1100 block of West 29th Street; and the third a few minutes later in the 2700 block of Hoover Street, Carlisle said.</p>
<p>While there is no doubt that USC is not in the safest of neighborhoods, this could have happened at any campus anywhere. We are constantly reminding our daughter to be aware of her surroundings as she walks around late at night at her large university in a college town. Her response is that there are always people around so that I shouldn’t worry. I know she is on her cell phone and not paying attention half of the time. The same thing that happened at USC could easily happen at her university. Unfortunately, few, if any kids learn from these types of incidences.</p>
<p>I’m sorry…what is your point? And how inadequate do you feel no matter where you go or where you’re accepted…you go on a school’s board and post a misleading and stupid post?</p>
<p>As a lifelong Angeleno who is the daughter of lifelong Angelenos, I can say with confidence that much of what is said about USC’s surrounding area is very outdated. While it’s not perfect (umm, is any major city?), USC has spent a good deal of time/money to fix up the surrounding community. It is a COMPLETELY different place from the USC of my parents’ time. </p>
<p>Additionally, as other posters have said, any major city is going to have safety issues-that’s just the way of the world. It’s not even really relegated to the area around USC-I think my parents would rather that I be at USC at night than in other parts of the city, mostly because the area’s security is very good. And, of course, follow basic safety rules: don’t go places alone at night, stay in well-lit areas, etc.</p>
<p>i’m also an angelino and i can tell you that the neighborhood sucks. I do however agree that USC has spent an asston of money investing in the surrounding neighborhood. It’s in their interest to try to better the neighborhood to make it seem more safe.</p>
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<p>saying ‘other cities have problems too!’ doesn’t put USC in any less of a dangerous neighborhood.</p>
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<p>that’s only in the immediate area around USC though. Try going west of jefferson and vermont or south of exposition and vermont and the neighborhood gets very bad (and probably more dangerous.)</p>
<p>i don’t have that problem if i go to santa monica or bev. hills, but if you want to be restricted solely to the small area that USC has control over be my guest, but don’t try to change facts. Things are what they are:</p>
<p>USC is a top-tier, world class university…in a very poor, urban, working-class neighborhood.</p>
<p>So…I’ll be sure and tell my friend’s parents that their daughter, murdered in Lot 8 at UCLA in front of lots of Bruins, that their daughter was murdered in a “good” neighborhood. </p>
<p>Seriously. Get. A. Life.</p>
<p>Go to school.</p>
<p>Do something other than try and make up for your shortcomings.</p>
<p>I never said, nor implied, that westwood was a neighborhood that was impervious from crime. But how about we not be naive and say ‘well it happens everywhere, so USC is no special case.’ To try to say, or imply, that crimes occur with the same frequency in westwood as they do in south L.A. is completely absurd. If that were true, there’d be no reason to live in the west side as opposed to South L.A. This is clearly not the case. </p>
<p>It’s also worth citing that many crimes happen that simply go unreported, including robberies. Although as an indirect result of this, there’s no evidence to support them. I know what i know, and that neighborhood isn’t a good one, and you’re not going to convince me of otherwise. This isn’t something i believe because i go to UCLA, this is something i believed way before i went there; and imo, any claims to the contrary are pretty absurd.</p>
<p>I have to wonder why in the world students who attend another school and have no plans to attend USC care about USC’s neighborhood? The two of you look very foolish.</p>
<p>The neighborhood is only “bad” if you come from a little suburban bubble and have never seen the interior of a city before. </p>
<p>I was there today. I’m a petite woman who looks like she could be easily robbed/raped/murdered and I walked alllll around the neighborhood. Not once did I feel threatened by anyone or anything.</p>
<p>And not to hate on another neighborhood, but I really don’t like being in Westwood at night. Last summer, I was there at night and I parked my car a few blocks from where I was eating dinner with some relatives. It made me very uncomfortable. I’m not saying that one is worse than the other, I’m just saying that stereotypes based on outdated information are counterproductive to everyone. </p>
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<p>Really? The 3rd Street Promenade is about the LAST place I want to be after dark. </p>
<p>No one here is trying to change the facts. We just want to point out that USC has a bad reputation-for the area immediately surrounding campus-based on stereotypes that haven’t been true for years. And we also want to point out that it’s not particularly classy to come over to the USC board just to post negativity. Actually, that’s true of any board.</p>
<p>And as the proud daughter of a Trojan and a Bruin, I have to say that making a big stink on these boards is really unfair. I know there’s a rivalry, but can we keep it friendly, at least online?</p>
<p>I also used to think that the neighborhood is mostly OK and the people who got in trouble at night were simply morons and/or drunk. Then my daughter’s apartment (within 0.5 miles of campus) got broken into TWICE in a semester, once by removing bars from the windows. The only things that got stolen were laptops and ipods, she and her room mates are not of the filthy rich variety. If it was once I would have chalked it off to bad luck. Twice… not quite so sure any more. Oh, and did I mention that her bike got stolen TWICE too? Thankfully there have been no instances that jeopardize her safety, or at least she has not told us.</p>
<p>As a parent you need to get your kids renters insurance even when they are in the dorms. I was shocked to find out that none of my D’s room mates had insurance.</p>
<p>i honestly don’t see what the big deal is. Some universities are just in really bad neighborhoods. Take JHU for example. It’s one of the most prestigious universities in the world in quite possibly one of the worst areas:</p>
<p>I’m inclined to agree with Victoriaheidi. It used to be so different here. And one of the great things about USC being where it is–there’s a ton of local volunteer opportunities within a 15-minute bike ride radius. I’ve participated in lots of these, including the USC Catholic Center’s homeless ministry, Joint Educational Project (go and teach at a local elementary school!), Trojan Health Volunteers (go and volunteer at a local clinic or hospital!), and there’s tons more. </p>
<p>It breeds an awareness of social justice issues and concern about the community that is above and beyond the capacity of a university located 50 miles away from a real town.</p>
<p>At the same time, I don’t feel unsafe walking around on campus, even at night. And if you do, go ahead and call Campus Cruiser, which can take you from your classroom to your dorm if that’s what you want.</p>
<p>(I find it a nuisance to wait for them, but hey, beggars can’t be choosers. I prefer to walk/bike rather than wait for them.)</p>
<p>poirotsfriend, you have chosen an admirable way of making lemonade out of lemons. However, as a parent I have to ask myself what happens if one night my daughter walks in on the burglars. I don’t care for the $2k in laptop/ipod/etc material losses. Statistics about similar events at other places are great, but when it hits close to home twice in a year one stops caring about statistics.</p>
<p>threetreasurs, it is often but not always true that student’s property is covered under their parent’s insurance. However, do you really want to be making frequent small claims against that and giving the insurance company excuse to raise premiums on everything (including the main residence) or drop coverage? A renter’s insurance has an additional benefit that it has liability and medical clauses. The last thing I want is some kid getting drunk at a party and falling down the stairs, in today’s society that is almost sure to trigger a lawsuit of some kind. Yes, I know that USC students only study and never ever party or drink, but hey, stuff happens.</p>