Demanding “Safe Spaces”

The April 6 edition of Rolling Stone contained an interesting article titled “College Kids Aren’t the Only Ones Demanding Safe Spaces”.   The point of the article was that those who poke fun at the notion of safe spaces on college campus (typically older Americans) are themselves residing in safe spaces.  The point is accurate but, I think, miss a much larger issue. That larger issue screams for attention from the very phrase safe spaces but is lost in the politics of idealogical safety that permeate the safe spaces movement.

The safe spaces movement currently resides on our college campuses. Advocates for Youth states on their website that a safe-space is: “A place where anyone can relax and be fully self-expressed, without fear of being made to feel uncomfortable, unwelcome or challenged on account of biological sex, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, cultural background, age, or physical or mental ability; a place where the rules guard each person’s self-respect, dignity and feelings and strongly encourage everyone to respect others.  Certainly, the concept of a safe space on college campuses for open and unchallenged self-expression is a noble, if unlikely, notion.  But shouldn’t our priority be that every college campus in America is a safe space from violence?

The University of Texas campus in downtown Austin was the scene of a horrible and tragic student homicide last week.  The victim, Haruka Weiser, was by all accounts a star student and person.   She was brutally murder as she walked from the campus drama building to her dorm.  Her path was near the heart of the University of Texas campus in a well lit, well traveled area. She phoned her roommates before leaving the drama building to inform them of her return.  In short, she did everything right.  She was prudent and cautious.  Yet she still fell victim to a ruthless predator lurking the grounds of a major university.  Her university.  Where was her safe space?

I admit, I don’t know how to achieve these safe spaces on our campuses.  What I do know is that it is imperative that we do so and soon.  In the aftermath of the Haruka Weiser murder, it was noted that hers was the first homicide on the UT campus in 50 years.  What was not noted is that the violence of 50 years past was enormous even by today’s standards for mass murders.  Indeed, the August 1, 1966 mass shooting on the University of Texas campus introduced America to mass killings.  Forty-three victims were shot that day and thirteen died.  An epic and profoundly sad footnote to the UT history.  To be accurate, the UT campus has suffered 44 homicides in the last 50 years.  That is not a proud statistic.  But it is still only part of the story.

Collegefactual.com gives UT a C- safety rating and the surrounding city of Austin a D-. Public and private universities are required to report crime data to the U.S. Department of Education for criminal offenses that occur on campus, in student housing and on non-campus property related to the university. These crime statistics represent alleged offenses reported to campus security and are contained in an annual Clery report.  In its 2015 Clery report, UT disclosed 48 rapes, 13 aggravated assaults, 18 acts of dating violence, 18 acts of domestic violence and 24 stalkings along with larger numbers of robberies, thefts and property crimes.  Again, not proud statistics.

Apparently, the Univeristy of Texas at Austin is not a safe space in the most important sense of the term.  The same can be said of many other colleges and universities across America.  It is past time for change. Maybe, now is the time to start a true safe space movement.

Bryan Fisher Safety Advocate