Another UChicago student murdered. 20-yo undergraduate dies after being shot on subway.

[Anonymous]

Mom of admitted student here. Just on here to privately freak out. Just want to freak out here as i cannot freak out in front of anyone at home.

And I recognize that the campus is safe etc, and this is just that sh*tty luck etc. That poor kid and his family.

We are on the west coast. Just now I was getting a coffee and overheard two moms talking about it, so i asked them and the one mom has a student there. She said that he loves it, and the campus security/police are incredible. And she pays for him to Uber everywhere, not because of this kind of thing, but she just doesn't ever want him to not Uber or drive drunk etc. She says the students will Uber and split the bill.

Anyways. This is my first kid leaving the nest. We clash a lot and is a high-maintanence kid, and I need this kid to go away and grow up. There are so many emotions--I worry about will my kid fall apart or do okay (academically or socially), and there will be this extra time in my life that I want to embrace eagerly but at times I feel like I'll be rudderless. Now this, too--I'd tried to not get worked up about safety, but seems I can't avoid it.

Thanks for reading.

[Anonymous]

I don't think people realize just how huge the City of Chicago is. 245 sq/mi it's over three times the size of D.C. Improving the area around U of C is a herculean task and not something a single university can fix. So you get a lot of smoke and mirrors and theater; lipstick on a pig.

What blunted things south of downtown was for the last 10 to 15 years developers dumped billions of dollars into everything west of downtown, e.g. West Loop. If that investment instead went south, they would have made everything in-between U of C campus and downtown wonderful. Unfortunate. Maybe Obama's Library will trigger that sort of investment south of downtown, but who knows. Even if it does, you're talking ten to 20 years out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think people realize just how huge the City of Chicago is. 245 sq/mi it's over three times the size of D.C. Improving the area around U of C is a herculean task and not something a single university can fix. So you get a lot of smoke and mirrors and theater; lipstick on a pig.

What blunted things south of downtown was for the last 10 to 15 years developers dumped billions of dollars into everything west of downtown, e.g. West Loop. If that investment instead went south, they would have made everything in-between U of C campus and downtown wonderful. Unfortunate. Maybe Obama's Library will trigger that sort of investment south of downtown, but who knows. Even if it does, you're talking ten to 20 years out.

+1

And brushing Chicago with broad strokes is really unwise and inaccurate. Chicago is a city of contrasts, and the issues that plague parts of the South Side are not representative of the city (and larger region) as a whole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mom of admitted student here. Just on here to privately freak out. Just want to freak out here as i cannot freak out in front of anyone at home.

And I recognize that the campus is safe etc, and this is just that sh*tty luck etc. That poor kid and his family.

We are on the west coast. Just now I was getting a coffee and overheard two moms talking about it, so i asked them and the one mom has a student there. She said that he loves it, and the campus security/police are incredible. And she pays for him to Uber everywhere, not because of this kind of thing, but she just doesn't ever want him to not Uber or drive drunk etc. She says the students will Uber and split the bill.

Anyways. This is my first kid leaving the nest. We clash a lot and is a high-maintanence kid, and I need this kid to go away and grow up. There are so many emotions--I worry about will my kid fall apart or do okay (academically or socially), and there will be this extra time in my life that I want to embrace eagerly but at times I feel like I'll be rudderless. Now this, too--I'd tried to not get worked up about safety, but seems I can't avoid it.

Thanks for reading.

It is a hard time. I (a mom who is a few years ahead of your empty nest experience) send you a hug through the internet. Remember, going to college is what just about every parent wants for their child. You have done well to get her this far. When you send her off, let her know that you love her. Remind her to be cautious, but emphasize that you have every confidence that she will soar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My point was when families and kids think of the quintessential idyllic college experience, nobody envisions fending off violent criminals who will rob and shoot you for a nickel. Much larger research universities don't have even a fraction of the crime UChicago students have to deal with. And spare me this is just life in a big city. Georgetown students don't deal with this. Harvard students don't deal with this. UCLA and even USC students don't have to deal with this.

UChicago students don’t have to deal with this either.

[Anonymous]

Where are those #CareNotCops fools?

[Anonymous]

When I went there, we were told to take the Jeffrey Express bus to get to the loop, instead of the El. It was supposedly safer. This is sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He had a great experience at the law school, but I'd be lying if I said I never worried about him, or that he was never shaken by the violence.

Can you elaborate?

Well, I think the mom worrying part is probably self-explanatory. My son lived in the building where the grad student was shot earlier this year in the garage. I think anyone would be upset to have something so horrible happen so close to where you live and to someone whom you can identify with even if you didn't know that person. But none of this ever made my son consider leaving Chicago or moving to another part of the city. He loved the law school -- especially his friends and teachers -- and loved living in HP. And we loved visiting him there. DH and I have lived in DC a long time, including time on Capitol Hill and in Adams Morgan, and we both have sibs who went to Columbia and lived in Morningside Heights and whom we visited often. I didn't feel more worried or scared in HP than I did in those places. But that doesn't mean the level of violent crime in any of those places is ok.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where are those #CareNotCops fools?

Sitting back and thinking you’re proving their point? Cops didn’t prevent this tragedy. Whereas care and a federal ban on private handgun ownership might make a difference if idiots like you didn’t double down on racism and calls for increased militarization in the wake of an incident like this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has there ever been an exodus of academics from UChicago to Northwestern due to the crime? I know there's a lot of cross-exchange between, for example, Harvard and MIT faculty, and I can imagine some of the crime might be an impetus to move north.

My husband is a professor at U of C and literally this has never come up in the many conversations I've had with his colleagues. In fact, location tends to be a draw to folks because Chicago is a fun, big, affordable city and people want to live there. The only safety related discussions I hear about are where people want to live (like, suburbs? Woodlawn? Kenwood? North Side?) and those really have more to do with schools and taxes.

Shockingly, I'm sure, many people in the world actually prefer places like the south side of Chicago to Evanston.

DP, but you make it sound like Evanston is some distant self-contained universe. Evanston is as close (if not closer) to many of the attractions that make Chicago the great city it is, and is a great town in and of itself.

Your last sentence is also quite a big claim.

Chicagoan here who was just there last week - in both Evanston and HP. Evanston is definitely not closer to downtown Chicago than HP is. Evanston is almost 20 miles from the loop whereas HP is less than half that. Evanston is farther away, it’s a fact.

But who cares about being close to the Loop? Yaaawn. So boring. Unless you're a tourist or teenager who took the train in from the suburbs to take selfies at Millennium Park. If I were a college student I'd so much rather be closer to Lakeview, Wrigleyville, Lincoln Park...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has there ever been an exodus of academics from UChicago to Northwestern due to the crime? I know there's a lot of cross-exchange between, for example, Harvard and MIT faculty, and I can imagine some of the crime might be an impetus to move north.

My husband is a professor at U of C and literally this has never come up in the many conversations I've had with his colleagues. In fact, location tends to be a draw to folks because Chicago is a fun, big, affordable city and people want to live there. The only safety related discussions I hear about are where people want to live (like, suburbs? Woodlawn? Kenwood? North Side?) and those really have more to do with schools and taxes.

Shockingly, I'm sure, many people in the world actually prefer places like the south side of Chicago to Evanston.

DP, but you make it sound like Evanston is some distant self-contained universe. Evanston is as close (if not closer) to many of the attractions that make Chicago the great city it is, and is a great town in and of itself.

Your last sentence is also quite a big claim.

Chicagoan here who was just there last week - in both Evanston and HP. Evanston is definitely not closer to downtown Chicago than HP is. Evanston is almost 20 miles from the loop whereas HP is less than half that. Evanston is farther away, it’s a fact.

But who cares about being close to the Loop? Yaaawn. So boring. Unless you're a tourist or teenager who took the train in from the suburbs to take selfies at Millennium Park. If I were a college student I'd so much rather be closer to Lakeview, Wrigleyville, Lincoln Park...

Yeah and Evanston isn't 20 miles away. It's ~12 miles from the absolute heart of downtown, ~2 miles from city limits. Most young people will hang out in Lakeview, Lincoln Park, Wicker, Logan, Andersonville... all closer to Northwestern.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has there ever been an exodus of academics from UChicago to Northwestern due to the crime? I know there's a lot of cross-exchange between, for example, Harvard and MIT faculty, and I can imagine some of the crime might be an impetus to move north.

My husband is a professor at U of C and literally this has never come up in the many conversations I've had with his colleagues. In fact, location tends to be a draw to folks because Chicago is a fun, big, affordable city and people want to live there. The only safety related discussions I hear about are where people want to live (like, suburbs? Woodlawn? Kenwood? North Side?) and those really have more to do with schools and taxes.

Shockingly, I'm sure, many people in the world actually prefer places like the south side of Chicago to Evanston.

Interesting. It definitely comes up among grad students and profs in other departments.

To the folks whose kids are considering UofC — there are other ways out of Hyde Park than the El. You can take a campus shuttle or free bus to the eastern side of Hyde Park and then catch the #6 which runs express to the Loop, then hop on the El there. It does feel safer to do that coming and going, especially when alone.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:South Side of Chicago has always been dangerous. Always will be, from the looks of it.

The rest of the city is just like any other city in America.

It's not a warzone. It's an under-served neighborhood that has families, babies, elderly people. Don't reduce it to something convenient, where it's the home of lots of folks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Neither of these were campus murders.

But very close to campus and where UChicago students frequent often.

I'll go check the thread for the student murdered at the UMD bus stop where we drone on and on about how College Park is so unsafe and people are reconsidering attending.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:South Side of Chicago has always been dangerous. Always will be, from the looks of it.

The rest of the city is just like any other city in America.

It's not a warzone. It's an under-served neighborhood that has families, babies, elderly people. Don't reduce it to something convenient, where it's the home of lots of folks.

No one said it was a warzone. But it is dangerous. Not sure what agenda you're trying to push by obfuscating that.