<p>Hey guys,</p>
<p>So I got into UCSB off appeal and had a very difficult time choosing between UCSB and UCLA. In the end, UCSB suited me more.</p>
<p>However, the recent tragedy has scared the hell out of me and I'm having doubts on my decision.</p>
<p>Can anyone tell me about the safety at UCSB? I know this was a rare accident, but I'm wondering about the police response times, escorts, etc.</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>From what I’ve heard, the police responded fairly quickly. In addition, the campus is looking to tighten security.</p>
<p>They sent out this email today, as well:
"[Note: This message was intended to go out to all students on Saturday morning but was not delivered, resending]:</p>
<p>Dear Community Members:</p>
<p>It is with heavy hearts that we write to you this morning. As many of you are already aware, there was a tragic incident last night in Isla Vista. Details are still emerging about the shooting and the University will be sending out updates throughout the day.</p>
<p>We have been informed that several students were transported to the hospital last night with injuries. The Sheriff’s department has also reported that there were at least seven fatalities, including the perpetrator, but we do not have any additional information at this time. Our hearts go out to the families and friends who are grieving and mourning today. We will be updating UCSB.edu with information as it becomes available.</p>
<p>The University has been providing counseling for community members and housing for displaced students. Students and community members can call (805) 893-4411 to speak to a counselor, and Student Affairs staff and counselors are available in the Student Resource Building for those wishing to talk with someone in person.</p>
<p>The University has also set up a call center at (805) 893-3901 for community members and parents with questions.</p>
<p>We are grateful to the first responders who handled the incident, including the sheriff’s department and our UCSB officers. The investigation is ongoing and we will continue to work with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, Santa Barbara County officials and our colleagues at Santa Barbara City College.</p>
<p>Our university community is united in sorrow at these tragic events.</p>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<p>Joel Michaelsen</p>
<p>Interim Executive Vice Chancellor</p>
<p>Kum-Kum Bhavnani</p>
<p>Academic Senate Chair"</p>
<p>I think way too much has happened over the years in Isla Vista to believe UCSB students are safe on any weekend, or any weeknight for that matter. This is not a safe place to be imo. </p>
<p>Isla Vista is a dump as far as I’m concerned. I know it’s not the school’s fault, but this place is bad luck and it’s where the students go when they want to hang out. </p>
<p>This weekend’s tragedy is the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. My daughter currently attends UCSB as a sophomore and I hope I can talk her out of going here next school year. </p>
<p>Two years ago, we too had to choose between UCLA and UCSB. Let me suggest that If you got accepted to UCLA and being safe in your college neighborhood and surroundings is of concern for you, GO TO UCLA!..and don’t look back. Just my opinion.</p>
<p>I would pick UCLA if I were you especially after this tragedy. Who knows if it’s a one time off or not but I think the fact that UCSB is next to SBCC where technically anybody who was not accepted to UCSB can go there is a concern. The shooter only took a few courses at the community college but was able to mix with the UCSB students easily. This is why people on CC often refers to SBCC is a backdoor to UCSB.</p>
<p>@DrGoogle @rwscpa Unfortunately it’s too late for me now. I rescinded my SIR two days before the shooting incident. If I want to go somewhere else, it’s either CC for me or maybe my chances of getting off the last school I was waitlisted at (U of Michigan) would be a possibility, but not probable. I can try appealing to a small LAC in Portland, but as far as I know, I’m stuck. I’m a CA resident, only 3 hours away, so it seemed the ideal school. UCLA just seemed to be too congested and competitive in an area I wasn’t fond of (only 50 minutes from home too). </p>
<p>I don’t think this will happen again, but hell I don’t want to live 4 years in fear of being assaulted, raped, or shot. Which is pretty hysterical (I have an irrational fear of getting raped), but I just want to ease my worries. </p>
<p>Thank you though, for your responses</p>
<p>@DrGoogle </p>
<p>Why is it a concern that UCSB is close to a community college…They are actually not that close to each other, but I don’t see how that would mean anything anyway. Many universities are within a relatively close distance of a community college.</p>
<p>@rwscpa </p>
<p>I don’t think IV is a dump. Maybe from a parent’s point of view. Anyways, what other options would your daughter have at this point for next year? It’s a little late to apply to any other universities.</p>
<p>@music1990, here it is from mikemac</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-santa-barbara/468098-backdoor-way-to-get-into-ucsb.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-california-santa-barbara/468098-backdoor-way-to-get-into-ucsb.html</a>
</p>
<p>@Ookapi,
I think it’s too late for you then. I thought you are now deciding. You just have to pray that another nutcase is not going to do the same thing.</p>
<p>@music1990, I’m not sure what options are available to us at this point. Perhaps none. Then again, maybe one of the many schools she was accepted to two years ago could be talked into letting her attend next year…I’m just thinking out loud and probably nothing more than wishful thinking at this extremely inconvenient point in time.</p>
<p>After the party riots a few weeks ago, and others like it in the past, a girl found dead on the beach three weeks ago (maybe accidental, or maybe this nut Elliot killed her too. Who knows?), a girl raped a couple months ago combined with two mass murders in the last 14 years and numerous other incidents where UCSB students were victimized, I don’t want my daughter anywhere near UCSB or its college “party” town Isla Vista. </p>
<p>And I’m certain that the future impact all this will have on which students this school will be able to attract or retain is enormous. </p>
<p>For awhile, I was actually believing that UCSB was slowly getting closer to shaking off its very embarrassing party school image which I didn’t think it deserved. Unfortunately, after the party riot fiasco a few weeks ago, I don’t think UCSB will ever be able to shake its school image no matter what the average GPA of the students who attend…and that average is going to decline after this year I believe. I mean what parents with a kid who is accepted to other good schools is going to pay for them to go to UCSB? But now I believe it has another image it must try to shake whether deserved or not…the mass murder school of the nation image.</p>
<p>Some of you posters are ridiculous. IV is “bad luck”? Lets be serious and rationale. The latest event could have occurred anywhere. All colleges have several characteristics that make them vulnerable to violence and crime. Most campuses are completely open. Anyone can enter the campus, without identification or a reason to be there. Since the student body is typically comprised almost exclusively of people in the age range that is associated with the highest levels of crime and violence. When we were visiting UCLA, the Santa Monica College shootings occurred. This was only a couple of miles from the UCLA campus. Thus, if you want to shield your child, don’t send them to college. Part of the allure of UCSB is the beautiful locale. IV is located on the ocean bluffs. Thus, people could fall off those bluffs if they are not careful. IV is a rarity in that it is a small town adjacent to campus whose population is mostly 18 to 22 year olds. Many students would see this as a plus. However, it also means the social activities in the town will center around the activities of young adults (parties). And as for IV being a “dump”, you could pretty much say that about any college town. Have you seen the housing in the areas surrounding UC Berkeley? </p>
<p>@tasmom, If none of the events of the past at UCSB’s Isla Vista don’t alarm you, hey knock yourself out…cheerlead all you want.</p>
<p>I have a different take on it and that’s the one I’m sticking with.</p>
<p>And, I would rather my response to all this lean on the side of conservative, in spite of what you may consider “irrational”, when my daughter’s life could hang in the balance of any misjudgment toward it.</p>
<p>Oh for Pete’s sake. Read the guy’s manifesto, he was psychotic. And SBCC isn’t full of psychotics, either. Most students think IV is wonderful. I suspect strongly the daughter referred to on this thread is not going to leave IV and UCSB because of this. It isn’t a recurring incident. The crime rate there is very low. This will warp the rate extremely.</p>
<p>SBCC is not close to UCSB either, but yeah, some from SBCC want a residential experience and some IV apartment houses (one or two) call themselves dorms for SBCC. Most SBCC kids are good kids, if most aren’t as studious as UCSB students (some are, and end up transferring.) This guy didn’t belong in college at all, he just attached himself to the community, which anyone can do, anywhere. Look at the other campus shootings. They weren’t repeated at that university later, they were freakish events.</p>
<p>UCSB is terrific. Those who go there will discover that. My heart breaks for the students there right now, but I am sure they will pull together and pull through.</p>
<p>You need to go where you feel safe, that is the bottom line. However, Boston didn’t cause the Boston strangler, London didn’t cause Jack the Ripper, and UCSB and Isla Vista did not cause this. You can live on campus where no violent crime has occurred since forever as far as I am aware, if that helps. But you should go where you feel best; my personal opinion is that you would be missing out not to go to UCSB.</p>
<p>There is a very lengthy thread on the matter in the parent’s forum, and I’m not going to repeat everything on it here. The guy was clearly mentally ill. However, it will be a shame if you go to a CC because of this imho. This guy did go to a CC. In fact he went to three of them. In fact he was debating whether to have his ‘Day of Retribution’ at SBCC or in Isla Vista, before deciding on Isla Vista. But he was only playing at college, which anyone can do anywhere. He didn’t attend class. UCSB and SBCC are no more magnets for psychopaths than any other college. And UCSB by its acceptance rate takes only those who can be at least academically successful.</p>
<p>Best of luck wherever you end up, though. Personally, I think UCSB has to have had its run of bad luck, already.</p>
<p>Got another e-mail today. Yeah, they’re looking at trying to make Isla Vista safer.
"The ASUCSB Executives acknowledge the severity of this event and the need to look closely at why this tragedy occurred so that we can move forward and create change to help prevent future acts of violence. ASUCSB Executives will be working in conjunction with UCSB administration and other Associated Students’ entities to organize community events and provide support in the coming week.</p>
<p>Again, our hearts go out to all those affected by this tragedy. As we move forward, we must hold fast to the love and compassion we have for each other. Above all we seek to honor and memorialize those lost, support those around us, and heal as a community."</p>
<p>And collegevetting is absolutely right. UCSB and Isla Vista were both in no way negligent. In fact, if you read/listen to the guy’s rants, he was jealous of the lives the students were living and further aggravated by the beauty of his surroundings.</p>
<p>To the OP, I honestly think this was so off the wall it isn’t a ‘pattern’ to be concerned about. On other issues, you should know there is a number UCSB students can call at any time day or night to get an escort to walk them where they are going. Like all colleges I’ve ever heard of, the congregation of young women in a small area can draw warped people who don’t live there. When I went to UCLA my last two years there was a serial rapist preying on women there, and while 10 or 20 out of 48,000 is a small percentage, it was highly publicized in order to raise awareness. They had an escort service too, which many used. I had a boy friend and a car and didn’t travel alone at 1 am anyhow, so I didn’t feel the need to use it. But you can’t really get away from crazies. UCSB is overall a very low crime rate area - barring bike theft which is pretty common.</p>
<p>When I was a Stanford for grad school and worked late in the library, guys would get up from their study carrols to walk women to their car late at night. Things happen everywhere, and it is always good to be sensible so it is much less likely to happen to you – whereever you go to school.</p>
<p>
And so do I. Opens a spot at UCSB for someone that wants to be there, that doesn’t have a parent wringing their hand with worry every day.</p>
<p>For everyone else, this was the act of a deranged individual and could have happened anywhere. Take a look at <a href=“http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/deadliest-college-related-us-shootings-23856881”>http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/deadliest-college-related-us-shootings-23856881</a></p>
<p>
good thing Santa Monica is nowhere near UCLA. Oh, wait…</p>
<p>Here’s a few more from that link
The sad legacy stretches back at least to 1966 when a nut at UT Austin killed 17 people and wounded 31 more. </p>
<p>Many major universities are located near community colleges. This is very common.</p>
<p>It seems tremendously judgmental to regard the presence of nearby community college students as a threat.</p>
<p>@mikemac, Hey, Mike, you forgot a couple…Imagine that. You’d make a good politician. </p>
<p>These gems you left out, one being 13 years old but included it because it was a massacre just like last Friday’s trajedy, might be considered newsworthy for a parent considering UCSB as home for the next four years for their college bound kids. </p>
<p>Massacre # 1 - On February 23, 2001, four people are killed and one injured in a vehicular assault that occurred in the student community of Isla Vista, near the University of California, Santa Barbara, campus. Two were UCSB students.</p>
<p>February 24, 2014 - Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s deputies are searching for suspects accused of beating and gang raping a 19-year-old UC Santa Barbara student over the weekend.</p>
<p>March 8, 2014- Attempted Murder, Near-Riot in Isla Vista when a life-threatening stabbing sparked a period of disorder in the streets of Isla Vista on Saturday night, prompting a response from Santa Barbara and Carpinteria Sheriff’s deputies, UCSB police, and California Highway Patrol.</p>
<p>April 5-6, 2014 - Riot Breaks Out At UC Santa Barbara ‘Deltopia’ Event; More Than 100 Arrested, Officers Injured</p>
<p>April 6, 2014 - The body of a young woman found Saturday morning in the ocean near UC Santa Barbara has been identified as Cal Poly student Giselle Esme Ayala of Santa Rosa.</p>
<p>May 7, 2014 - The body of 20-year-old UCSB student Sierra Markee-Winkler was discovered at approximately 7 a.m. Sunday morning on the beach below the 6800 block of Del Playa Drive, according to local officials now investigating the incident.</p>
<p>Massacre # 2 - May 23 , 2014 - A man who went on a rampage near a Santa Barbara university stabbed three people to death at his apartment before shooting to death three more in a terrorizing crime spree through a neighborhood, sheriff’s officials said Saturday.</p>
<p>.</p>
<p>@rwscpa would you like to try a google search of that sort for Los Angeles where UC Los Angeles is located?</p>
<p>Incidents happen everywhere. UCSB is no different. Instead of looking up the worst case scenario, why not look at the thousands of students who make it through their four years absolutely fine? Statistically speaking, the chances of being involved in those catastrophes are very low.</p>
<p>Implying that UCSB is responsible for what happened in Isla Vista is like saying New York City was responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks.</p>
<p>rwscpa, glad to know I can count on your vote :> </p>