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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hyde Park is the neighborhood around campus. It is gorgeous and it is safe-ish. The problem is that the neighborhoods around Hyde Park and campus are poor and have a lot of crime.

Campus is actually in two neighborhoods, both Hyde Park and Woodlawn, with Woodlawn being the furthest thing from safe. And yes, neighboring neighborhoods are even worse. And to get downtown you have to use public transport with and in direct proximity to criminals. And of course if you’re a criminal looking for easy convenient marks, are you going to go all the way downtown or target rich college kids a few blocks away?

This is horribly sad, but...I have spent many a time taking the El and the bus to downtown from Hyde Park without any issue. "black people" =/= criminals

U-Chicago is going to have to deal with this in a meaningful way if they want to continue to attract applicants in the same numbers as recent years.

Would you want to send your college kid to a city where 90+ people murdered in one weekend??

Correction, 90+ people shot. Not killed. But….the point still stands. No way I’m sending my kids into a “War Zone” (as quoted by city officials this weekend). Do your research.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hyde Park is the neighborhood around campus. It is gorgeous and it is safe-ish. The problem is that the neighborhoods around Hyde Park and campus are poor and have a lot of crime.

Campus is actually in two neighborhoods, both Hyde Park and Woodlawn, with Woodlawn being the furthest thing from safe. And yes, neighboring neighborhoods are even worse. And to get downtown you have to use public transport with and in direct proximity to criminals. And of course if you’re a criminal looking for easy convenient marks, are you going to go all the way downtown or target rich college kids a few blocks away?

This is horribly sad, but...I have spent many a time taking the El and the bus to downtown from Hyde Park without any issue. "black people" =/= criminals

U-Chicago is going to have to deal with this in a meaningful way if they want to continue to attract applicants in the same numbers as recent years.

Would you want to send your college kid to a city where 90+ people murdered in one weekend??

Yes, my kid is applying there.

I grew up in DC back in the 80's and 90's when shootings and murders like this were commonplace.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hyde Park is the neighborhood around campus. It is gorgeous and it is safe-ish. The problem is that the neighborhoods around Hyde Park and campus are poor and have a lot of crime.

Campus is actually in two neighborhoods, both Hyde Park and Woodlawn, with Woodlawn being the furthest thing from safe. And yes, neighboring neighborhoods are even worse. And to get downtown you have to use public transport with and in direct proximity to criminals. And of course if you’re a criminal looking for easy convenient marks, are you going to go all the way downtown or target rich college kids a few blocks away?

This is horribly sad, but...I have spent many a time taking the El and the bus to downtown from Hyde Park without any issue. "black people" =/= criminals

U-Chicago is going to have to deal with this in a meaningful way if they want to continue to attract applicants in the same numbers as recent years.

Would you want to send your college kid to a city where 90+ people murdered in one weekend??

Yes, my kid is applying there.

I grew up in DC back in the 80's and 90's when shootings and murders like this were commonplace.

The difference is that Georgetown wasn’t next door to SE in the 80s or 90s, which is what it’s like for U. Chicago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. UChicago is kid's first choice for 2022

QUESTION for **those of you who know the area***** (there are a number of you who've posted so far)

If you bring a car to UC, and you want to drive it from Hyde Park to, say, your internship downtown, or a restaurant etc ...

are you at real risk for being carjacked in the neighborhood? or held up at gunpoint as you walk to car from your off campus apartment? will your car be stolen from private apartment garage?

For context, kid lives in District of Columbia and has excellent street sense _for his age_. Knows a lot of street tricks to increase personal safety. But of course, nobody can overcome crossfire stray bullets and the like

The murder of a grad student in regents was effectively a campus murder. Don't pretend it was not.

When I attended UofC for grad school I lived in Lincoln Park because of safety concerns. My best friend lived downtown.

I did not let my HS senior apply last year because if safety concerns.

The Regents Park homicide was part of a mentally ill person’s shooting spree that ranged from Hyde Park to Evanston. And, again, it was about a mile and a half from campus in an apartment building’s garage. Hardly a place UChicago undergrads would routinely hang out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is going to be a first-year next year. We received emails on this. fyi the student was not targeted, it was a stray bullet. Independently, both my kid and I looked on google maps and it's ugh, so close to campus.

My kid is now a bit freaked. The other murder was off campus in an apartment building that is often rented by UChicago graduate students, so it was a little easier for my kid to psychologically distance.

We are in Southern California and don't know Chicago well at all. I'm going to mention to my kid that the reason she's now aware of this stuff is because she's admitted. I've watched bad stuff go on around USC but she doesn't know about it because they don't send an email to her as she's not a student there.

PP thanks for the info on the Metra vs. the El.

Broad daylight muggings on and around campus are not uncommon. When a perp mugs you, it's not like this is a huge scene, it happens quickly and quietly. Even if they don't harm you, they have your phone(s), so nobody is calling 911 right away. You'd have to run to an emergency phone. Perps know campus and city police, even if they happen to be nearby, can't engage in high speed pursuits. Many crime incidents are technically off campus and/or not in Hyde Park, so they are more easily brushed under the rug. Campus is a boring bubble about 10 miles south of downtown, so for kids to get anywhere exciting, they have to travel. When you leave the campus bubble, you leave that private police force's orbit. Every time you leave that bubble, especially if you take public transportation, you're putting yourself in harm's way. Ironically, the College gives kids U-Passes, encouraging them to put themselves in harm's way on public transportation.

Chicago resident and my husband teaches at U of C and basically none of this this is true, FWIW.

Violent crime *is* up in the city though. The off campus victim earlier this year was one of several people killed in a cross-city mass shooting spree; it wasn’t really typical Chicago crime. The more recent was a stray bullet, which is more common.

“Basically”? What precisely is not true? It’s all true and you know it.

It is not 10 miles from downtown and it's not boring (when were you last there?). 15 minute uber ride from the middle of the Loop in the worst of times.

Muggings in daylight are not common. Not even sure how you'd define that, but they're extremely rare in HP. You're not "putting yourself in harms way" if you leave campus; many of the neighborhoods around it are interesting and diverse and yeah, you don't want to go wandering around trying to buy drugs at 2 am, but they're perfectly safe normally.

As for carjackings, they definitely are a concern in Chicago. And crime is absolutely up this year, as it is in most places around the country. BUT carjackings are very dispersed around the city and extremely easy to avoid if you lock your car as soon as you get into it.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hyde Park is the neighborhood around campus. It is gorgeous and it is safe-ish. The problem is that the neighborhoods around Hyde Park and campus are poor and have a lot of crime.

Campus is actually in two neighborhoods, both Hyde Park and Woodlawn, with Woodlawn being the furthest thing from safe. And yes, neighboring neighborhoods are even worse. And to get downtown you have to use public transport with and in direct proximity to criminals. And of course if you’re a criminal looking for easy convenient marks, are you going to go all the way downtown or target rich college kids a few blocks away?

This is horribly sad, but...I have spent many a time taking the El and the bus to downtown from Hyde Park without any issue. "black people" =/= criminals

U-Chicago is going to have to deal with this in a meaningful way if they want to continue to attract applicants in the same numbers as recent years.

Would you want to send your college kid to a city where 90+ people murdered in one weekend??

Yes, my kid is applying there.

I grew up in DC back in the 80's and 90's when shootings and murders like this were commonplace.

The difference is that Georgetown wasn’t next door to SE in the 80s or 90s, which is what it’s like for U. Chicago.

Good God, the NIMBY-ness is this thread is just absurd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hyde Park is the neighborhood around campus. It is gorgeous and it is safe-ish. The problem is that the neighborhoods around Hyde Park and campus are poor and have a lot of crime.

Campus is actually in two neighborhoods, both Hyde Park and Woodlawn, with Woodlawn being the furthest thing from safe. And yes, neighboring neighborhoods are even worse. And to get downtown you have to use public transport with and in direct proximity to criminals. And of course if you’re a criminal looking for easy convenient marks, are you going to go all the way downtown or target rich college kids a few blocks away?

This is horribly sad, but...I have spent many a time taking the El and the bus to downtown from Hyde Park without any issue. "black people" =/= criminals

U-Chicago is going to have to deal with this in a meaningful way if they want to continue to attract applicants in the same numbers as recent years.

Would you want to send your college kid to a city where 90+ people murdered in one weekend??

Yes, my kid is applying there.

I grew up in DC back in the 80's and 90's when shootings and murders like this were commonplace.

The difference is that Georgetown wasn’t next door to SE in the 80s or 90s, which is what it’s like for U. Chicago.

Good God, the NIMBY-ness is this thread is just absurd.

I think you mean racism.

[Anonymous]

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.

[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.

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.

PP is an obvious UChicago shill. I’m guessing she’s one of the two admissions reps for DMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hyde Park is the neighborhood around campus. It is gorgeous and it is safe-ish. The problem is that the neighborhoods around Hyde Park and campus are poor and have a lot of crime.

Campus is actually in two neighborhoods, both Hyde Park and Woodlawn, with Woodlawn being the furthest thing from safe. And yes, neighboring neighborhoods are even worse. And to get downtown you have to use public transport with and in direct proximity to criminals. And of course if you’re a criminal looking for easy convenient marks, are you going to go all the way downtown or target rich college kids a few blocks away?

This is horribly sad, but...I have spent many a time taking the El and the bus to downtown from Hyde Park without any issue. "black people" =/= criminals

U-Chicago is going to have to deal with this in a meaningful way if they want to continue to attract applicants in the same numbers as recent years.

Would you want to send your college kid to a city where 90+ people murdered in one weekend??

Yes, my kid is applying there.

I grew up in DC back in the 80's and 90's when shootings and murders like this were commonplace.

The difference is that Georgetown wasn’t next door to SE in the 80s or 90s, which is what it’s like for U. Chicago.

Good God, the NIMBY-ness is this thread is just absurd.

I think you mean racism.

Violence is bad. I think we can all agree on that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When my friends went to UChicago, they had a campus security service that would follow you in a car if you had to walk home after dark. I remember she was vaguely irritated because they wouldn't give you a ride -- just follow you, which meant you had to sometimes go out of your way to walk the right way on one-way streets, not cut through buildings, etc. Does anyone know if they still have this or something similar?

My school, is a ridiculously safe small town, actually had a campus security system that would just pick you up and drive you wherever on campus after dark. It was one of the work study jobs and it was a wildly popular service if it was cold out or if you were too drunk to safely make it across campus.

The fact that UChicago campus security does not drive students any more was addressed when I visited UChicago and took the tour. Apparently, the practice of security driving students was stopped because students were using security like Uber or Lyft to get around at night and avoid the cold.

Or avoid being mugged? They stopped the service because it was too popular?

This is interesting, as we recently toured a relatively small campus that is in a city, but which happens to be in one of the safest zip codes in America, and they talked about the golf cart service they have to drive students home at night.

[Anonymous]

Wear a bullet proof vest. Not only in Chicago but all over US. This is a country of hicks and criminals, who are entitled, angry, on opioids and armed to the hilt. Fall of the Roman Empire BABY!! First thing to go? Law and Order.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hyde Park is not "safe". Lifers and woke professors put up with a lot of violent and especially property crimes, and pretend living in sketchy circumstances is normal. It's not. And the neighborhoods around Hyde Park are terrifying.

Stop with the "woke" you sound like an idiot.

Honestly, it’s getting annoyed and exhausting.

The people that complain about ‘wokeness’ are the same people they complain about!