The recent series of attempted robberies involving Tufts students on and off the Tufts campus has some students questioning their safety. Some wonder if these incidents are normal, given the open campus' location in an urban environment, while others believe the town−gown tensions between students and residents have contributed to making Tufts students targets of crime.
One victim, a sophomore varsity athlete who has requested anonymity, told the Daily his first−hand account of a Jan. 20 incident that later arrived in Tufts students' inboxes as a "Safety Alert."
The student explained that he turned a corner and was grabbed from behind by his attacker, who covered his mouth with his hand.
"Are you a Tufts kid, motherf−−−−r?" the attacker asked, according to the victim.
"I shook my head yes," the student said. "He then put something cold and metal and circular to my head. [I didn't] know whether it was a gun or not — I never saw it — but it was cold and metal."
The attacker then asked if the victim had any cash.
"I shook my head no, 'cause I didn't have any cash," the student said. "He knocked my headphones out and said, ‘Well, I'll take the iPod.'"
As the victim reached into his pocket to give the attacker his iPod, a car approached. Caught in the headlights, the attacker "just booked it down Powderhouse [Boulevard.]," the victim said.
The student said he believed that the Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) responded effectively. "They were there really quickly," he said. "A cop car drove by maybe a minute after and a cruiser later. The safety alert they wrote was right on target. They said it was an iPhone and not an iPod, but that's [the only mistake they made]."
In the months prior to this occurrence, Tufts had been ranked fourth in an article on colleges with the worst crime problems on the news Web site TheDailyBeast.com. The article, titled "How safe is your college?" explained that Tufts' rank was skewed by the inclusion of crime statistics from the medical school campus in downtown Boston, but it also mentioned the "working−class neighborhoods" that surround the Medford campus.
Carmen Rico, an exchange student from Spain in her last year of university study, does not believe that Tufts' ranking in the article is the best representation of safety on campus.
"I think that it's a really safe place. I don't feel threatened. When I was thinking of coming to the States, my parents were more worried about safety, because in Spain we hear a lot of things about, like, last week the teacher that killed three people," Rico said, referencing an incident involving University of Alabama Professor Amy Bishop Anderson.
Rico cited the e−mail alerts and blue lights in the streets as provisions that made her feel the university cared about and adequately looked after the safety of its students.
"It's just bad luck, and it can happen anywhere," she said.
However, sophomore Melanie Papadopoulos expressed a different opinion.
"[The recent alerts] make me wonder if [the victims and locations of the incidents] are just coincidences or if there is a rise in systematic crime just around Tufts," Papadopoulos said. "I usually feel safe around campus, but this has been happening a lot."
Papadopoulos said she wondered if awareness of the university's proximity and its possible targets made it a prime spot for thefts and break−ins.
There is also potentially concern in the area that students are transient residents and not part of the towns.
Senior Nora Chovanec has worked in Somerville for four and a half years.
"[I] understand … the tension between the surrounding community … towards students who complete their education on the Hill without ever forming ties to Medford and/or Somerville," Chovanec said.
In 2005, such frustrations became visual in the form of "Kill a Yuppie" graffiti scrawled on public property around Davis Square, among other sites. The man responsible, Jason Cutter, then 19, had recently moved to Somerville and had made prior statements expressing anger about the effects of gentrification, the lack of police response to residents' issues in Somerville and the police's focus on keeping wealthy people and students safe.
TUPD Captain Mark Keith couldn't recall the graffiti incident as it was not something TUPD would have been involved with, but disagreed with the statement that Tufts students are targets of crime.
"I don't think that's an issue," Keith said, citing the current economy as a greater factor.
"People prey on anyone they see vulnerable," Keith said. He added that one would have to compare the number of incidents involving Tufts students with the other areas of Medford and Somerville surrounding campus to get an accurate perspective on the issue.
The victim of the Jan. 20 incident did not believe he was held up because he was a Tufts student. The student acknowledged that wearing headphones while walking home at night alone was a mistake, and that it was probably what made him an appealing target.
"These situations aren't common to us, but you have to know they happen ... I still walk to Davis, even at night, but not with my headphones on," he said.
