Letter: UConn Needs to Pay Attention to Off Campus Safety Too

To the Editor:

Just read your article today about UConn Not Hiding from Rape Statistics, as well as, the initial article last week on Patch.com.

The article included much discussion about all the safety improvements made "on campus" but with two-thirds of the rapes occurring OFF campus nationally, according to the initial article, that aspect of the situation should be explored in more depth. In Mansfield, there are now over 450 single family homes (plus apartments and condos) that are rented OFF campus, most of these are student rentals. And, 70 percent of Greek (frats/sororities) organizations are housed off campus at UConn, from what I can determine.

Mansfield Neighborhood Preservation Group has been in discussion with UConn and has requested that the frats/sororities be moved back ON campus, where activities are supervised. We have also requested that ALL freshmen, sophomores and, possibly even juniors, be housed ON campus, a request that to date has been refused even though it may be a safer environment for students. Other colleges, like University of Vermont in Burlington, now require freshman and sophomores to live on campus. Mansfield's Master Plan (Mansfield Tomorrow) calls for all students through sophomores to be housed on campus. (Chapter 7)

Mike Kirk, Deputy Chief of Staff to Susan Herbst, told me in a letter dated May 24, 2016 "...The university does not have the authority to decide where these students live or how they designate their homes..." I have disagreed with him on that point.

These Greek organizations are not a good mix in our neighborhoods, and we intend to pursue this point until something is done about it. It is a disservice to the students to provide an unsupervised situation where possibly sexual assaults are occurring. I have not requested addresses of these rapes, but the June 7, 2016, article noted two-thirds are off campus nationally and that less than 5% of rapes to college girls are reported. Perhaps a inquiry should be made of UConn's policies to protect off campus students.

Like the young person that was hit by a car while kneeling in the middle of Route 195 at 2 a.m. several months ago - that young man was a member of a fraternity with their local "house" on Hunting Lodge Rd. He apparently attended a party in a rental house located on Route 195 at another fraternity party. These "houses" are in our neighborhoods... and we are troubled by the unsafe situation students are put in. In addition to destabilizing our neighborhoods, it also appears it may be a less safe environment for the students.

These off campus residences lack the supervision necessary to maintain a safe environment for 18-to-21 year-olds. Dorms, on the other hand, have trained Resident Assistants - on every floor - to provide social, behavioral, psychological and safety supervision. In dorms, only three students are allowed to gather in a room at one time. Perhaps there are fewer rapes occurring on campus than off campus because there IS more supervision and rules of this nature on college campuses.

As the trend to eliminate on campus housing grows, the safety ramifications need to be examined carefully. If you would like to talk about it more we would be happy to do so. There are currently 13,481 UConn students living off campus.

Rebecca A. Shafer

Mansfield