On September 23 at 12:24 a.m., Public Safety sent an alert to students and faculty.
“St. Paul Police are searching for two suspects who fled near the intersection of Cleveland and Carol Avenue. Stay clear from the area,” the alert read.
This resulted in many off-campus students living in the area to need a ride home from the public safety escort service.
Junior Elaina Mankowski was one of many students to receive a ride home from public safety that night, after hanging out at her friend’s on-campus apartment.
“My roommate and I were at our friend’s apartment in Flynn, and we were about to leave to go home, it was after midnight, but our one friend who lives in that apartment got a notification from the citizen app on his phone saying that there was a shooting threat in our neighborhood,” Mankowski said. “We got a notification shortly after from UST public safety talking about the alert in the area, so we went down to the public safety office and asked for an escort home to be safe.”
Although Mankowski received a ride home, she had concerns about the escort service.
“It was really nice that we got picked up from the public safety office and were able to get a ride home, but once we got dropped off, the public safety officer just took off in his truck and didn’t wait for us to get inside the house,” Mankowski said. “It made us a little nervous because even though we got to our sidewalk, we still hadn’t gotten to the front door, and you just never know where someone could be hiding out at night.”
For Mankowski, the entire experience brought one question to her mind: Is it safe to be living off-campus as a St. Thomas student?
This question may hold even more weight for women at St. Thomas, like Mankowski. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, an estimated 91% of victims of rape & sexual assault are female and 9% male with nearly 99% of perpetrators being male.
These statistics reveal disproportionate violence against women, and Dr. Shaherzad Ahmadi, director of the Luann Dummer Center for Women at St. Thomas, believes this requires action in regard to off-campus safety.
“If there are women who are anxious about public safety not feeling accessible to them, because they do not think it is safe, then that’s something we need to deal with,” Ahmadi said. “We should deal with it in a way that’s both sensitive and responsive. Meaning sensitive to not seem paternalistic and responsive to ensure the safety of our students. We shouldn’t be restricting women from doing something we should just make it more accessible for those who don’t feel safe.”
While there was a threat to the off-campus community that night in September, Sgt. Mike Ernster of the St. Paul Police Department said the Merriam Park neighborhood surrounding campus is safe for all.
“It’s a very safe area. In that situation, the suspects involved there came into the area in a car, so things can be very transient,” Ernster said. “Just because you have a safe area doesn’t mean something can’t happen in it.”
The St. Paul Police Department does not offer an escort service like St. Thomas, but Ernster suggested ways students can stay safe living off-campus.
“The biggest [thing that people can do to protect themselves] is awareness,” Ernster said. “Be aware of your surroundings.”
“If you see something going on, and you think it is suspicious, tell somebody.”
Dangerous situations can occur, even in safe neighborhoods, but Ernster said that together, we can keep our community safe.
“If we watch out for each other, we’ll all be a little bit safer,” Ernster said.
The Luann Dummer Center for Women is located in room 103 of the O’Shaughnessy Educational Center and can be reached at (651) 962-6119.
Cecilia Wallace can be reached at wall1238@stthomas.edu.