<p>Our daughters cousin says this is about a block and a half from her residential college. Our daughter has already submitted her application but were nervous. How safe is the area right around campus? I was scared by the murder of that young woman earlier in the year but this seems more random and the first comment from a students bothers me. Do students stay away from this street? Advice wanted.</p>
<p>Surprisingly, it’s at a rather busy area. There are tons of nice restaurants and shops and such there. Again, I think it’s one of those random things. It was very late at night and no doubt, the people seem to have no Yale affiliation.</p>
<p>I have two daughters and wouldn’t hesitate to send them there, frankly.</p>
<p>It’s really safe on campus. You need a Yale ID to get into all of the residential colleges, and into campus buildings after hours. I have never once feared for my safety.</p>
<p>I agree. I’m a freshman and was worried about the whole safety issue. But, I have yet to feel unsafe around campus. I have even walked alone around campus at 2 or 3 am in the morning (from Crown to O.C.). The location is about a block from Davenport and Pierson, but to be honest, students rarely frequent that area alone and definitely not that late at night/early in the morning. And it definitely does seem like a random act.</p>
<p>I don’t have two daughters, but I wouldn’t hesitate to send my kids to Yale either because of this. The first student’s comment is probably just a student frustrated with how near to campus this was. But, 371 Elm Street is NOT campus.</p>
<p>You need to be at least aware of the streets that you may want to avoid at certain times, but that’s true of any city in the nation. The campus is EXTREMELY safe, police/campus security is quite a noticeable presence, blue lights are numerous, and it’s rare that students will be wandering around by themselves late at night anyway.</p>
<p>Folks, I’m not going to deny that there are unpleasant areas in New Haven, and some of them are closer to the Yale campus than Yale would like. But, as a resident of a large and sometimes (some places) dangerous city, I can tell you that this story does NOT have the earmarks of a random event. When two African-American young men (surmising here) get shot at 2:30 am on a weekend outside an all-night restaurant by a third, there’s usually a perfectly rational explanation, albeit one that the victims, the witnesses, and perhaps even the police have no interest in sharing with the press or each other.</p>
<p>Very little inner-city violence is random. Most of it is intentional, focused, and logical (if you accept the premise that guns are appropriate tools for carrying on a dispute). Innocent people can get caught in the crossfire. But even in Philadelphia, which is much bigger than New Haven and has a much higher volume of shootings and killings – not per capita, but absolute numbers – when actual innocent people get shot it’s big news, not a perfunctory item like this. This story is – tragically – just another day at the office. And for that reason it doesn’t have much to do with the day-to-day safety of Yale students (unless they decide to become part of the drug distribution chain).</p>
<p>What does their ethnicity have to do with the fact that they got shot? If I got shot some random day on the streets in New Haven are you just going to surmise that it was just a day in the office. rude.equals(JHS)==true :P</p>
<p>I honestly think people overstate the dangers of New Haven. I never feel terribly unsafe when on campus, but I would be hesitant to venture far from campus alone at 2.30 in the morning.</p>
<p>^ As you should. And as should everyone. No one should deny that there are dangerous parts of New Haven. But, they’re usually not anywhere students travel to on a regular, consistent basis and definitely not this late at night. The worst you get on campus are panhandlers and you learn how to avoid them.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for your comments. Drbigboyjoe9505, is this really no where close to where students live because someone wrote this in the comments to the news story.</p>
<p>you could (with a good arm and some luck)hit alpha delta with a rock from the bookstore. dozens of students live NEXT DOOR to where this happened in the elmwood, dozens more across the street in the lynwood, and a lot more in all of the houses on elm and lynwood streets. not to mention the fact that university sponsored on campus housing at arnold hall is 400ft from the front door of alpha delta. if students are ‘safe’ on one side of the street and might get shot on the other, doesn’t it stand to reason that you ought to push that boundary out a little further?</p>
<p>Our daughter hasnt been officially recruited but the coach tells her that she has a good chance. This is really a dream because her grades and scores are just average and she never thought she might have a chance. If she does get accepted, she wants to go but these events really scare her father and I.</p>
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<p>Oh god. can we please NOT get onto a whole racial debate again??? please???</p>
<p>And anyways, New Haven does have its sketchy areas, I think, but it’s all about just being smart and not going places alone. If you don’t go looking for trouble, I think you’re unlikely to find it.</p>
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<p>Well then don’t let her go to Harvard, Brown, Penn, MIT, or Tufts either, because those schools are all next to or in big, dangerous cities (more dangerous than New Haven, I would say).</p>
<p>The place where the shooting occurred is not far–a little over two blocks–from two of couple of Yale’s residential colleges. That’s not very comforting. Of course, last May, there was a killing in a Harvard house–right on campus. [Justin</a> Cosby, 21, Dies After Shooting in Kirkland House | The Harvard Crimson](<a href=“http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2009/5/20/justin-cosby-21-dies-after-shooting/]Justin”>Justin Cosby, 21, Dies After Shooting in Kirkland House | News | The Harvard Crimson)
That’s also not very comforting. The point is, given the age we live in, really awful things can occur virtually anywhere.</p>
<p>I live in a small, extremely safe, midwestern city, and my daughter is at Yale. She knows that violence can occur anywhere–even in her hometown. She is careful. and I don’t worry about her safety at Yale.</p>
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<p>Logical analysis of certain statistics in conjunction with a dose of common sense and critical thought, perchance?</p>
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<p>Oh you mean prejudice. Right now I understand.</p>
<p>A quick note before responding: I laud you for using your full name when you make comments on YDN stories.</p>
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<p>No, I don’t. I meant exactly what I said.</p>
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<p>No, the shooting occurred fairly close to 2 of the 12 residential colleges (about 2 blocks away). What I was trying to say was that students rarely frequent that area, especially late at night. Some students living off campus do live closer to that area and there are some frat houses in that direction. However, when you go to those places, you’re usually with people and there’s usually A LOT of people out so you should feel safe.</p>
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<p>JHS has it right. If you stay away from the dope trade your chances of getting shot at Yale or any other school are very low. The murder in Kirkland House at Harvard that watchthis refers to was another dope deal dispute.</p>
<p>Coreur, I don’t think our daughter will have a problem with that kind of involvement! I hope thats enough to protect her. Talking about the situation at other schools, she didn’t apply to Harvard or Princeton because she didn’t think she had the grades or scores but the Yale coach seemed more flexible. I guess we’ll just wait and see if she gets in. She’s got a lot of interest from some state schools too. The comments to the newspaper article have gone on and on. From what our relative has said its hard to believe what one of the students wrote in the comments section that New Haven is one of the safest cities in the U.s. but I hope that’s true.</p>
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<p>That’s because I hate when people don’t have the courage to state what they actually mean unless it is anonymous.</p>
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<p>Wrong, New Haven definitely has a much higher crime rate than Boston. Baltimore, where JHU is located, is much more dangerous than any of these places. I live in one of the sketchier parts of the city and pass through the worst parts of the city everyday to school. It’s not that bad. I haven’t seen any shootings first hand (Heard a gun shot right behind my house a few months ago, but nobody was hurt),I know quite a few people who got mugged and hear news about shootings near my house frequently. Yet I still go jogging at night (got stopped by some drunks/druggies asking for money a few times, but nothing happened). I’m pretty glad that no matter where I go to college, I will be safer there than at home.
If you don’t do stupid things on purpose and mess with the wrong people, you will be safe anywhere.</p>