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Ayla Deck
Krystin Santos
WRD 110-026
16 November 2016
Are UK students safe?
While students living on campus may feel like they are living in a safe environment, this might
not actually be the case. Many first year students hardly ever step foot off campus and see the
behind the scenes of the heart of Lexington. Unlike most freshman, I live off campus and
commute to class by biking or walking. Once I step foot off campus, I am no longer surrounded
by the friendly, brightly-lit college buildings. Instead, many of the buildings are worn down
while some are even abandoned. On many nights, I do not leave campus until very late. On the
way home, I always feel unsafe and vulnerable traveling through the eerie buildings. Just the
vibe that I receive from the environment itself causes me to be extra cautious when commuting.
Most of the students do not experience the feeling of endangerment you receive from making
your way home at night through the dark unsettling buildings off campus rather they are
constantly surrounded by the well-lit and safe college buildings.
The University likes to make their campus appear safer than it really is. With such
extravagant buildings and clean landscapes, who would not believe it? Many students, including
myself, come to UK thinking they are coming to a very safe school. However, if the area
surrounding the campus is dangerous, what is keeping the danger from coming within? Just
because you think you are safe on campus, does not mean you are. In order for students to be
safer at the University of Kentucky, they must be aware that a great deal of crime occurs around

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us without our knowledge and realize that the University is not truthful when it comes to being
informative about them.
Within the first couple months of being a student at UK, I have already witnessed
instances of crime in the area. In late August, a student was robbed at gunpoint right on
University Drive (Horsley). Early September, an alert was sent out by UK themselves to be
cautious about a man on the loose responsible for multiple sexual assaults in the area. Very
recently, October 16, 2016, a 15-year-old girl I had known during my high school years was shot
and killed at the Cookout restaurant right outside of my apartment where I eat at on a regular
basis (McLaughlin). She was an innocent bystander in the wrong place at the wrong time. All of
these crimes happened either on or near the campus and I had to realize that the crime happening
around us is no longer just something you hear on the news, it is real. This lead me to question
exactly how much crime is actually occurring in the area that we do not hear about?
There exists a daily crime log site just for the University of Kentucky campus area that
shows records of all the crime that happens and I was astonished at my findings. Just within
October tenth through the thirteenth of 2016, there were 40 counts of crime. There were three
counts of terroristic threatening, five counts of theft, twelve counts of assault, eleven counts of
harassment, and nine others (UK Crime Log). One thing I found odd about this site was that
other than the brief descriptions it gave about the crimes; I could not further investigate the
details. It is amazing that with so much crime happening around us that we do not hear more
about them and we cannot inform ourselves with the details. Instead, we are completely kept in
the dark unless it is a concerning issue that the students must be notified on such as the man
responsible for the sexual assaults.
I was prompted to obtain some opinions from the students itself about their safety. Alexis

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Schuster, a freshman here at UK, states that she lives off campus and that she came to this
university thinking it was a safe school compared to the schools in Ohio where she is from.
However, after a semester here, she explains that her opinions have changed and that I see
myself in more and more unsafe situations, and have heard about various crimes occurring on
campus that are concerning, and never really mentioned to the students, unless you go digging to
find it (Schuster). In contrast to Ms. Schusters opinions, Jake Faulkner, also a freshman at UK,
lives on campus and shared that he has never felt unsafe since the move to the University
(Faulkner). He was very brief with his replies, and seemed unconcerned about the topic. This
tells me that Mr. Faulkner does not see student safety as an issue at UK and this might be
influenced by the fact that he lives on campus compared to Ms. Schuster, who does not live on
campus and had much to say on the matter. The two interviews informed me that the university is
doing a good job at sheltering the students from the surrounding city are they really as safe as
they make it seem? Misinforming students about crime would make them less cautious when
travelling around campus. It could endanger them more by not educating them.
Since 1960, the crime rate has actually doubled compared to the most recent year, 2015.
This was found on Kentucky crime rates on the Disaster Center website that provides statistics
on various issues in the US. The index increased from 1,212.7 to 2,396.3 per 100,000 people
(Disaster Center). It seems that the world was a much less dangerous place 50 years ago. Despite
this, the crime in the overall state has actually improved in the past 16 years. According to the
Kentucky crime rates on the Disaster Center website, since 1990, the crime rate has been on a
steady decline. In 1990, the crime index was at 3299.4 versus now which is at 2,396.3 (Disaster
Center). Although it feels as if we live in a safer state since this decline, does not mean it is

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actually safe. Especially in a city where crime is generally higher, such as Lexington, students at
UK must still be very careful on not becoming a victim of crime.
This lead me to question how the safety of University of Kentucky is compared to other
campuses. On a website called College Factual, it provided ratings and reviews on the safety of
colleges all over the US. Crime wise, the University of Kentucky got an overall rating of C+
which is stated as being a national average. While the campus itself actually got a C-, the city of
Lexington got a rating of D (College Factual). Although Lexingtons crime rating is worse than
the national average, the UK campus seems to be safer than the city. From what I have observed,
with the safety at UK being at a national average, this tells me that other schools have the same
issue with crime. Like Ms. Schuster mentioned earlier, schools in Ohio where she is from is
known to be dangerous. Even though the city can be dangerous, the students can feel a bit safer
within the limits of the university according to this website.
Despite what goes on in the city of Lexington, the University of Kentucky has made
many changes to better ensure the safety of students. In 2013, they made a switch over to better
security system campus wide. The university now runs on a card access system that records who
comes and goes for every building. Along with this, over 2000 new cameras, 20 new phone
towers were installed (Security Info Watch). Because this switch was so recent it is hard to tell
whether it has made a real difference on student safety. Although Lexington can be a dangerous
place, UK has taken steps to keep students out of harms way.
To get personal incite from someone who deals with crime every day, I interviewed
Lexington Police Commander Brian Maynard. He shared that a lot of crime he sees around UK
campus is property crime. He sees a lot of vehicles get broken into where students leave
valuables in their cars. He also explains that you still have to be aware of your surroundings

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(Maynard). When it came to any violent crimes Commander Maynard explained that these
things are mostly drug related and doesnt usually affect innocent bystanders. I asked about his
biggest concerns for students and he replied that he concerns over students making the right
decisions and being smart about alcohol consumption. In Commander Maynards experience in
the Lexington Police Department, he has seen that the students at UK are not endangered from
violent crimes in Lexington rather other issues seem to be more important. As explained in the
interview, the UK campus is not under the LPDs jurisdiction rather it is the University of
Kentucky Police Departments jurisdiction. Although Lexington Police does see a lot of campus
activity, they are still kept apart from really knowing what is happening on campus. Because of
this, I tried to interview an officer from the UKPD itself but was unsuccessful. After multiple
attempts, I came to a conclusion that they did not want to be interviewed because they did not
want to share any information regarding student safety. This goes back to my original thought of
how UK is not very informative on educating the students about what goes on outside of campus.
Not only is crime a concern at UK but also for many other universities across the US. It is
a national issue and that students need to be aware of. We live in a dangerous world and we must
learn to avoid falling a victim to any crime. College is the first step out of parental protection and
bad things can happen if we are not careful. Commander Maynard mentioned a few ways to stay
safe around campus such as being aware of your surroundings and utilizing common sense. He
also advised to walk in pairs when you can and if you dont feel comfortable, call for someone
else to give you a ride (Maynard). UK does provide the students with a program called the Cat
Cab where students can get a ride home in late hours of the night. Many students dont know that
this service exists or does not know how to utilize it. Students should learn to use the Cat Cab to
further ensure that they get home safely. Things like being aware of your surroundings, walking

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in pairs, and finding rides home, are few easy things that can be done to keep students safe on
campus.
Students that live on campus, do not experience walking through the eerie buildings off
campus and wonder if they are in danger. They are not aware of the dangers that goes on around
UK for they are constantly surrounded by brightly lit college buildings. Because I live off
campus, I have to be more aware of my surroundings to keep myself safe. UK is not informative
on the crimes that goes on around Lexington, it is something that I had to search to find.
Although UK is doing a good job at keeping their students safe, if they were to stray off campus,
they are no longer sheltered within the limits of the university. They are not aware of possible
dangers in the area, which makes them less cautious of their surroundings. You might argue that
most of the crime is property crime and that we are completely safe but Commander Maynard
explained to me that we do live in the world we live in and bad people are out there. The 15year-old girl was just an innocent bystander at the wrong place at the wrong time and also the
serial rapist is still at large. Just because you think you are safe on campus, does not mean you
are prone from becoming a victim of crime. The students should be better informed on the crime
in the area to prevent themselves from getting into such a situation. Walking in pairs, utilizing the
Cat cab, and knowing the locations of the emergency phone towers will further ensure to keep
students out of harms way. The safety of college students is very important and must be made
aware that UK needs to better inform their students on the issue.

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Works Cited
Centralizing Security Operations on Campus. Security Info Watch, 3 June 2013.
http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.uky.edu/docview/1424336770?accountid=11836&rfr
_id=info%3Axri%2Fsid%3Aprimo. Accessed 5 November 2016.
Faulkner, Paul. Personal interview. 28 November 2016.
Horsley, Mckenna. Student Robbed in Near-Campus Neighborhood. Kentucky Kernel,
http://www.kykernel.com/news/student-robbed-in-near-campusneighborhood/article_e201a53a-6fee-11e6-8ae4-2b5be5617c84.html. Accessed 18
October 2016.
Kentucky Crime Rates 1960-2015 Disaster Center, http://www.disastercenter
.com/crime/kycrime.htm. Accessed 3 November 2016
Lexington, KY real estate and demographic information. NEIGHBORHOOD Scout,
https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ky/lexington/. Accessed 3 November 2016.
Maynard, Brian. Personal interview. 11 November 2016.
McLaughlin, Eliott C.. Father, Son Arrested in Death of Olympian Tyson Gays Daughter.
CNN, http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/17/us/tyson-gay-daughter-trinity-killed-arrests/.
Accessed 18 October 2016.
Police. LEXINGTON, https://www.lexingtonky.gov/departments/police. Accessed 2 November
2016.
Schuster, Alexis. Personal interview. 28 November 2016.
University of Kentucky. College Factual, http://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/universityof-kentucky/student-life/crime/#. Accessed 2 November 2016.
University of Kentucky Daily Crime Log, http://www.uky.edu/crimelog/. Accessed 12 October

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2016.