I am a 20-year-old female and a downtown resident. I live alone in a studio apartment. My apartment has no security guards or cameras. I commute daily, by bike or by foot, to ASU’s Downtown Phoenix campus.
You’re probably expecting me to tell you some horror story about being mugged on my way to class, or shot at or shanked. But I regret to inform you of the following fact: Downtown Phoenix is safe.
If you watched Channel 12 News on Oct. 13, you probably think I’m a liar. On that night, the news station aired a segment regarding Downtown campus security. According to the segment’s corresponding article on azcentral.com by 12 News reporter Melissa Blasius, “Female students say they’ve been harassed with cat-calls while walking off campus. Others say they are worried about encounters with the large transient population in the area.”
I’d like to express my utter disgust for the attitude of the “female students” who were interviewed for this segment.
The aforementioned “transient population” is not made up of monsters. They aren’t pests. They are not werewolves. Provided you do not draw first blood, they will probably not behave like Rambo.
The homeless are people and they are poor. They are poor and they are oftentimes mentally ill. They deserve respect and sympathy, not degradation and fear.
Here’s my first issue: If you are attending the Downtown campus as an undergraduate, you belong to one of three schools. You are either a student of social work, nursing or journalism.
If you are a social work student and you are afraid of those who are poor, shame on you. Where is your empathy?
If you are a nursing student and you are afraid of those who are mentally ill, shame on you. Where is your moral code?
If you are a journalism student and put yourself in a position to judge these “transients” because of their social position, you have officially misplaced your objectivity.
Shame, shame, shame on all of you.
I understand that you fear these people because they are different, because they are unlike you. But I recommend to all of you, as new college students in a new environment, please re-evaluate what you find frightening. After all, the most mortifying crime committed on college campuses is certainly not vagrancy.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 20 to 25 percent of college women admit to being a victim of attempted or completed rape at some point in their lives. The Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network says that women of college age are four times more likely to be assaulted than other women. Typically, the assaulter is a friend of acquaintance.
I tried to do some research into rape prevention at Arizona State. I found that some ASU organizations have proposed male rape prevention education but have found that the vast majority of these courses are targeted toward women preventing their own rape.
The University needs to realize that this sends a bad message. It makes it appear as though the task of preventing rape on campus falls on us females.
According to azrapeprevention.org, women are perpetrators of rape in less than 1 percent of reported cases. So why, as a university, are we leaving prevention up to those who are more commonly than not the victims?
Here’s my proposition: Frightened female Downtown students, stop complaining about the “transients.” How often do you get cat-called at parties on campus?
Stop fearing the homeless, and redirect your fear and energy toward something more important.
Zaida can be reached by e-mail at zaida.dedolph@asu.edu.
