 "Photo: Source: Phoenix survey of 100 students; Graphic: The Phoenix/Libby Hagemeyer")
 "Photo: Source: Survey of 100 students; Graphic: The Phoenix/Libby Hagemeyer")
Senior Marissa Ortega was on her way home from a trip to 7-Eleven near Pratt Boulevard and Glenwood Avenue on March 20 at 1:30 p.m. when two men, both strangers, stopped her. One of the men brandished a small handgun and said, “Bitch, you know what it is,” and demanded her purse, according to Ortega. When she resisted, the man pistol-whipped her and fled with his companion, according to Campus Safety.
Ortega’s ordeal was the fourth robbery logged by Campus Safety this semester.
While robberies near the Lake Shore campus are not unheard of, they are far from being the most prevalent crime on campus. Theft is actually the most common crime there this semester — 27 thefts have been reported to Campus Safety so far. Unlike theft, robbery involves the threat of force or violence.
However, 64 out of 100 students interviewed in a Phoenix survey said that they thought that robbery was the crime most likely to occur on the Lake Shore campus and in the surrounding community.
The Phoenix surveyed 100 students in a random sample on the Lake Shore campus to provide a snapshot of experiences and perceptions on crime and safety in Rogers Park, where more than 90 percent of crimes reported to Campus Safety this semester have occurred. Out of the 138 incident reports Campus Safety has compiled so far this semester, only 13 stem from the Water Tower campus.
Regardless of some students’ perceptions, robberies still trail behind incidents of criminal property damage (13 reports) and loud noise complaints (five reports) this semester, according to Campus Safety.
Student Community Liaison Officer Tim Cunningham said he believes that many people have a more dramatic perception of crime than what’s actually grounded in reality.
“[Robbery] is a sensational crime,” Cunningham said. “Students like to believe that a crime, such as robbery, is more likely to happen to them because it’s a situation out of their control,” Cuningham said.
Junior psychology and marketing major Jared Nash thinks the crime alert e-mails from Campus Safety have a large impact on students’ perceptions of crime.
“Muggings seem to be the only thing that we get e-mails about from Campus Safety,” Nash said.
Cunningham also acknowledged that the several crime alerts Campus Safety sent out to students this semester may have contributed to the perception that robbery is the most common crime on campus, even though theft is actually most prevalent.
“We don’t send out an alert for every theft that occurs,” said Cunningham, who noted that Campus Safety also sends out alerts after identifying a pattern of crimes, such as the series of thefts at the Crown Center that occurred earlier this semester.
The Lake Shore campus is located in Rogers Park, in the city’s 24th police district. Not all crimes recorded by the Chicago Police Department are reported to Loyola, so Campus Safety statistics don’t show the whole picture in terms of crime in Rogers Park.
For instance, there were 107 robberies reported in the 24th district between January and March this year, according to the Chicago Police Department. That’s a 30.5 percent increase compared to the same time span in 2009, when there were 82 robberies recorded by 24th district police.
So far, Campus Safety has recorded 11 cases of students being robbed in Rogers Park this academic year.
Robert Fine, interim director of Campus Safety, said that Campus Safety has a “very good rapport” with the CPD, and that the department typically notifies them when a Loyola student is involved in a crime either as a victim or offender.
Cunningham noted that “some students don’t report crime to the CPD or [Campus Safety],” so it’s impossible to know how much crime actually occurs at the Lake Shore campus, in Rogers Park or in the whole city.
Cunningham offered advice for students concerned about being robbed in and around the Lake Shore campus. He advised students to stay attentive to their surroundings, avoid walking around with their headphones on at night and he warned against walking down alleys or badly lit streets at night.
Cunningham also said students should, “read every crime report [e-mail]” and pay attention to safety tips listed at the bottom of the message.
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