A string of brazen and violent crimes around the University of Minnesota has escalated campus fears, with students asking for more security and U officials taking the unusual step of asking the city to send additional police into the area.
The crimes are happening about as often as they have for the past few years, but the nature and circumstances of some incidents, including a rape near a park and the armed robbery of a student inside a classroom building, have set the U community on edge.
Students are being warned to never walk alone late at night, the student newspaper is halfway through a four-part series on campus crime, and a state lawmaker is holding a hearing next week on campus safety.
Student Chris Graham said the steady stream of university-issued crime alerts this fall has him rethinking his view of the Dinkytown area near campus.
"I always thought of it as a little bubble where kids can come from the middle of nowhere Wisconsin or Minnesota and it's still kind of a safe environment," he said. Now, after the robberies — 28 on or near campus since early August — and the news that some robbers assaulted their victims or threatened them with a gun, students feel things have gotten worse, he said.
"It's disconcerting," Graham said.
Last week, a student-initiated online petition asking for a larger police presence drew more than 3,000 signatures.
Some students are altering their routines in response to the crimes, hoping to boost their odds of staying safe. Others say they are aware of the recent crimes but haven't changed their habits.