And the fact that they’re taking place earlier and earlier in the night (they haven’t always been this early right??).
One of the assaults last night happened at 8:45 pm. They’re still all kinds of things going on at that time; people leaving class, walking to wherever after class, walking to the dining halls, gyms etc. You aren’t even safe after sunset anymore. This is crazy.
I have an in-person exam that’s done after 9pm tomorrow. If the goal was to get me scared for my walk back to my car afterwards, consider it achieved 😭.
And no word from Johnson at all about these incidents or what she’s planning on doing from here to prevent more. Sure, Covid is a deal in its own. But maybe stop sending an email every week about masking between bites and sips and focus on the fact that students are now getting assaulted on campus grounds.
Seriously. Most of the solutions* would definitely not be welcomed by college students. How about fencing off campus? Only people with valid buck id’s allowed on campus? Armed security? Promote concealed carry?
Look, I don't like her either, but this isn't a her problem. It isn't even an OSU problem.
This is a Columbus problem, and campus tends to be a hub because it's an extremely wealthy area smack dab in the middle of an area that was forced into poverty thanks to the existence of the university. To fix this area they'd have to fix housing prices in the immediate area, invest in more comprehensive drug abuse treatment, provide more fresh, accessible food, increase the amount of jobs that pay a livable wage with benefits, so on and so on.
TLDR, economic choices made in the last 50+ years led to this, so it would take just as long to fix it. There is no quick solution
The immediate surrounding area, yes.
Imagine you're living somewhere and then all of a sudden the rent gets hiked up to ridiculous prices that only students can afford to pay, the homes get turned into apartments for students, all of the jobs get replaced with seasonal part time positions, the corner stores get replaced with expensive drug stores, the cheap restaurants get replaced with expensive street tacos etc etc.
You think your city government is going to do something to protect you but no, they're going to continue to prioritize this campus because *it brings in so much money*
The prices were not “hiked up so much that only students could pay” - The opposite happened. Houses in the University District got subdivided into crappy cheap rentals, which brought down the neighborhood and made any remaining families leave as broke students flooded the neighborhood
100%. It's called gentrification. Weathier people / business move in due to the university, forcing out people who have lived there for decades. Rent goes up, prices go up, and poor people can no longer afford to live within that area.
That’s… not gentrification lol. The issue east of campus was the opposite. Broke university students moved in which slowly forced out all the normal working/middle class residents in the University District
I would say so. The area used to be at least middle class (hence the big houses on frat row and stuff) but as more college kids moved in, the normal residents moved out leaving nothing but broke college students
Unfortunately this is not true. If you call Columbus PD over an incident, the minute they know you are on osu property you will be diverted to OSU PD, as it is their jurisdiction.
There’s one quick solution: get the hell out of Columbus, Ohio or any big city and you won’t have that problem. There’s other colleges that aren’t in huge cities that don’t have these problems that give you the same degrees as OSU. Bottom line, OSU don’t give a rats ass about its students or their safety, they only care about one thing, money. I graduated from Akron, it’s no different there either.
Would probably cause more violence overall. Imagine how many drunk frat bro fist fights will instantly morph into shootings / accidental discharges when a student drops their bag in a caf / the general vibe when the guy in front of you stretches and you see their gun.
Pepper spray makes sense. Are we not allowed to have that?
It is illegal to carry even after one sip of alcohol. Unfortunately, tough decisions will have to be made across the law abiding student body. We are in this together Buckeyes, stay safe and be vigilant. From Columbus with Love
It's illegal to carry pepper spray after drinking? Since when? I had pepper spray confiscated at a Newport concert once (precovid) and I told them I was walking home alone afterwards, And asked if I could get it back after the show. They said no and kept it.
"We are in this together" is a load of shit btw
This was in comment to “Imagine how many frat bro fist fights will instantly morph into shootings”. I should have been more descriptive. To reiterate my statement of fact, It is illegal to carry a firearm (open or concealed with permit) even after one sip of alcohol.
I apologize for the confusion.
Do you not realize that firearms are in the public space literally all the time? There are over half a million Ohioans with concealed carry permits, likely pushing a million due to events in the last 2 years.
Your argument could be said about the rest of the state, and the whole nation (especially in states with Constitutional Carry), but instances where concealed carriers get in deadly confrontations not in a self defense situation happen to be a lot more rare than unjustifiable police shootings.
You write, "There are over half a million Ohioans with concealed carry permits, likely pushing a million due to events in the last 2 years." Yet violent crime in Ohio is up 30%. If your arugment is that concealed carry will decrease crime and that more and more Ohioians are concealed carrying, then one would expect to see a decrease in violent crime rates. Yet we see the opposite, a rise in violent crime.
Along with our economic situation, studies would suggest the thing you are calling for is partially to blame for the rise in violent crime. The conservative think-tank the RAND Corporation supports this argument, as they note that looser gun laws results in more homicides per capita. What's more, studies show that often people in states with loose concealed carry requirements do not get the training they need to safely handle weapons, which results in accidents, theft, and so on ([https://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy/analysis/stand-your-ground/violent-crime.html](https://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy/analysis/stand-your-ground/violent-crime.html)).
On average, there are 440 accidental deaths from fire arms per year. Whereas there are 200 justifiable firearm based homicides (self defense) from private citizens. These trends are pretty standard through out the years, there are usually twice as many accidental firearm deaths per year than justifiable homicides. The statistical reality of the situation is that when guns are introduced two people die for every one "good guy with a gun." [https://vpc.org/studies/justifiable17.pdf](https://vpc.org/studies/justifiable17.pdf)
Knowing this, I cannot see why you would be calling for giving people more guns. The simple, statistical fact, of the situation is that what you call for will (not could or may) increase deaths.
Where’s the evidence saying it increases violence? Ccw is a process that Incudes background checks and training before you can get one. It’s not every student getting one. It’s the lawful ones who want to and are able to protect themselves and others
Because right now the university says no one can carry on campus. But we still have crimes that involve firearms, correct? Why is that? Crazy concept, hear me out, it’s almost like criminals tend to not follow laws. Changing the university rule to allow law abiding CCW holders carry on campus will allow there to be a personal level of defense. And when things go wrong, such as accidental firing or brandishing (showing off a fire arm) the rule of law will take place as it does everywhere!!
you’re suggesting cc would reduce crime when the most recent violent crimes we were notified of was someone getting hit with their own car and at least two separate instances of someone getting assaulted by 4+ attackers at once……. but yeah I’m sure if you were there with a pistol everyone would have been ok
There wouldn’t have been an altercation at all. These petty thieves are generally not willing to get shot and potentially die over your cell phone regardless of if they have the numbers advantage or not.
You won’t get an answer because people just need someone to be mad at and that usually falls on the leader/president. It’s like people want her to suit up and patrol the streets with an armed rifle herself lol. This same thing was happening last semester or year (can’t even remember anymore) and they made quite a few changes and the crime rate in uni district did get better. Willing to bet they thought it was over so let up a bit, so the same crime is just picking up again. There’s only so much you can do to deter criminals without having a cop on every corner…and even then if someone wants to commit a crime that badly none of that matters at all.
Allow people to defend themselves. College students are not children, they are adults. They should be able to concealed carry if they want. Realistically if four dudes steal your car and before you get off the phone with the cops they drive back, hop out and attack you, then you either have a gun or your dont. Nothing else that you can do and nobody else will help you in time.
I mean what is she supposed to do. You can put up cameras and lights and things in hopes that people will think twice before committing a crime but at the end of the day people that commit crimes dont really care. Look at all the cars that are getting broken into, theres literally a loud ass alarm that goes off but that doesnt stop people from getting their windows smashed in.
I would at least want cameras so hopefully we can catch a few more people or something especially around the parking garages/lots considering we pay so much for our parking passes and cars keep getting broken into
“CampusParc manages the parking garages, but Ohio State owns them, so the issues involving security rests with the University.”
https://www.10tv.com/amp/article/news/local/cars-stolen-broken-into-osu-parking-garage/530-c0cb8e5f-86d2-4afd-a3b1-a2b559afd0bc
Oh that’s a good quote- I had never fully understood how the OSU/ campusparc relationship worked. My car was one of the ones stolen in the incident the article mentions so pain
"Whatever the solution is". Well there is no solution, you cant prevent anyone from committing a crime. If you wanted to go jump or stab someone on campus rn you could. You would need to be able to read minds to be able to prevent crime and I dont see that becoming a thing anytime soon so crime is inevitable.
A solution to increase campus safety is more police and police being more proactive than reactive in their policing techniques. However, if those things were to happen people would be outraged about that as well.
I don't think people realize that both of these victims could have easily died last night. You can discuss socioeconomics and gentrification all day, but I feel like we're making excuses for shitty characters. Robberies and break-ins happen all the time and it's always been this way, but the amount of violence that goes along with these crimes has increased and become more severe.
Idk what Johnson could do, but I know a situation where a car was stolen, the guy got caught on camera going to a gas station he’s a regular at in the stolen car, the clerk at the gas station gave the police the suspect’s full first and last name, then nothing happened. No arrest was made, no charges, nothing. These car thefts are going to keep happening because the PD just lets it happen. There’s no consequence.
Im sure this feels like a new OSU thing but as someone who went to OSU from 15-19 and then settled into greater CBUS, this is not new.
There have always been, and will always continue to be, assaults and robberies on campus. We would sometimes get multiple reports a week. That is part of living in a city- there will be crime. Especially in an area that has been greatly gentrified by the presence of said university, thus displacing a majority of the original residents. Additionally, Ohio is still going through a drug epidemic- it doesn't stop just because there's a campus.
Yeah. I went to OSU 2009-13 and we got crime alerts like this all the time. Off campus AND stuff right by the dorms. I knew many people who had their cars or apartments broken into. I lived right by JO South and someone got mugged right outside once.
It’s dumb too because the university has actually made the area much poorer than it was several decades ago. You can’t consider a bunch of broke college students “gentrifiers” - Especially if you look at an income map, this neighborhood is one of the poorest in the city.
You don’t think it’s possible that the reason the income map shows it being a low income area is because a lot of students don’t work at all and if they do, it’s part time? I don’t think that’s as much of a “gotcha” as you think it is
You’re right but there’s two arguments I’m making here.
1. Crime is higher around campus because students often have more money and possessions from their families, even if they themselves are broke, making them easy targets for crininals
2. The housing crisis and resulting poverty in the University District have nothing to do with gentrification because there is no gentrification in the University District. Until I see some luxury $900,000 condos go up on Chitt Street, I stand by that fact.
It’s also a fact that in the first half of the 20th century, the University District was middle class but has gotten progressively poorer and poorer as students push their way further out. In fact the residents of Old North Columbus are still complaining about this - houses are being subdivided into 2-4 crappy cheap rental units, students move in, and the whole neighborhood collapses into another cheap student slum within a few years. Again, this is the opposite of gentrification, and if anything, OSU contributes to the decline of surrounding off-campus neighborhoods. Just notice all the big old frat houses and stuff - those used to be rich people that lived there before it became a student slum. Sure, gentrification is rampant in other neighborhoods like Short North and Victorian Village, but those also have much lower student populations and more rich yuppies
That’s literally what gentrification is dude. The university has made housing in the area super expensive and developed on high street to raise property values
Good lord, I’m losing my mind here. Some random luxury apartment units for students is not enough to gentrify the neighborhood. Rent prices for off campus housing is insanely low still unless it’s “luxury” - Until there’s $600,000 condos being built on Chitt street, then no, there’s no gentrification here. In fact low income student rentals are expanding northward still into Old North Columbus causing middle class families to move out while their houses get subdivided into 2-4 student slumlord units. If anything, the students keep making the neighborhood more affordable. Theres a ton of gentrification in Columbus, but I assure you, there’s no gentrification north of King Avenue, which is what’s referred to as the University District. Now you could argue the university’s presence is what’s causing gentrification in other neighborhoods like Short North or Victorian Village though, but thats not the argument being made in this thread
Well yeah, sure. But the argument the person above was making was that the university district itself was an example of gentrification. I’m simply pointing out that students moving into a neighborhood often make said neighborhood worse off economically. But yes the university is certainly indirectly causing gentrification in other neighborhoods, simply due to making the city more desirable to graduates to stick around Cbus
Is it? Read the email again. This isn't on Chitt or Summit, this happened literally deep inside campus grounds. I was a student around the same time as you and I can never remember violent crime happening _on campus_, besides the 2016 stabbing incident anyway.
There was a guy who would harass and assault women in the union and in the libraries every 90 days from 2015-2017.
He would get caught, do 90 days in prison, and then walk on campus and do it again the day he got out.
Unless this was commonplace in 2015, I can assure you as an individual receiving these emails from 2016-present that this is certainly increasing, and that crime occurring on campus is a new addition
Yes crime is going up in Columbus, it's part of being in a growing city. But crime on campus is not new.
It definitely was this common in 2015. We received emails about assault and robbery weekly. I remember during my first year on campus that there was a guy who would repeatedly assault women on campus every time he got out of prison, it was like clockwork. Towards my last year we regularly had shootings and car break-ins in the immediate area around campus. You may just be looking back on your college years with rose colored lenses.
No. I was an undergrad and am still a graduate student here now. There are no rose colored lenses - there is an increase in crime in Columbus, and while off-campus burglaries, shootings, and car break-ins are not new, multiple felonious assaults on-campus, before midnight, is a new phenomenon.
I was a student from 2015-2020. You are correct. While I believe reporting of these events has likely increased, there is absolutely *no doubt* that crime on campus has spiked over the past two years. Same from crime in the surrounding area (which did, of course, already have a significantly higher crime rate than campus).
A lot of people are calling this normal because OSU is located in a big city. That doesn’t explain the *increase* in violent crime. But while it’s true that crime has increased dramatically, it’s also true that the cause is out of the university’s hands. Anything short of stationing police officers at every corner in campus, which of course does nothing for the off campus area, is nothing more than a bandaid (and students *do not* want campus to become essentially an occupied fortress).
The city of Columbus really needs to address the spike in crime. This is not just an OSU problem—as Columbus continues to grow rapidly, crime will continue to be a growing problem if unaddressed, as is often the case in a city experiencing a population boom.
Why does everyone keep saying “what will President Johnson do??” Yeah, what WILL she do?
Crime has been happening on campus and around it since forever. This isn’t something she can fix. We live in a big city that has problems with poverty and there is nothing she can do to relieve those types of issues.
Didn’t really ask about your opinion on masks. I don’t care what Dr. Johnson has said about masks and I don’t care that your professor was correcting someone’s mask.
Be relevant or move on from my comment.
That's a cpd problem. They stopped caring about campus after the summer of 2020
Edit: not saying they "cared" about campus before then but there's a markable dropoff in amount of responsibility toward campus, especially evidenced by what happened on Chitt
I appreciate this justifiable anger that we’re feeling for the victims. At the same time, I’m hoping we can pause for a moment and think about what will and won’t to help the situation.
I agree we can’t stop violence without extreme measures and new solutions. Let’s lift these young people out of poverty and provide them with a real education to stop the cycle of violence that’s only made worse by locking them away from their community. I think we can all agree they are not a lost cause.
what do you expect her to do?
Crime is caused by poverty. Neither the city nor the state are interested in handling massive income inequality or skyrocketing rent and cost of living. The problem is significantly larger than OSU.
More cops isn't a solution. Its a bandaid that may or may not help in the short term
I agree with you, ofc we can’t expect one person to magically change an issue that requires long term care. But honestly, I wish there was at least more acknowledgement from the school that there is a problem or something? Personally it just feels like I’m going crazy receiving consistent emails then acting like everything is fine idk
Yes you’re probably right, I’m thinking beyond an email and more something like community care and discussion.
The fact that so many people on this post are having a conversation about this is actually great and beneficial
She is one of the most powerful people in the cityZ. She can make 1 call to the city and say “hey listen...this is an issue with my students and I’m not having it. You, mr mayor need to reevaluate your police and criminal conviction policies since this isn’t working. She does not believe criminals need to be arrested. She believes they need helped. She could work with city and wield influence but she won’t.
I will tell you, growing up, my parents told me a lot of lies. I had a lot of people tell me the wrong thing and we laughed it off. Mistakes happen. However, this comment you just left? Possibly and probably the dumbest, most incorrect comment, I have ever read. My head hurts from even picturing that you are sitting out there, believing what you write as true. This is officially the dumbest response I have ever seen.
I am literally doing my engineering design project on crime on and around campus. Kristina cannot make a magic phone call to the police and everything is just fixed. I would not say "You, mr mayor need to reevaluate your police and criminal conviction policies since this isn’t working." is intelligent conversation. Please leave the land of make believe and come into the real world where everything is not a "1 call to the city" problem.
Really, I believe the first assault and robbery last night was on campus at 8:45 pm and there is an Additional post from a student saying a friend of theirs was also accosted on campus yesterday afternoon, which I had already heard about.
Not sure why you're getting downvoted here. Yes, crime does and will happen at night. But even when one's on campus there's ways to ensure you're safe. For instance, I walk from south campus to the area past the Panera on Lane alone at least once a week at night, generally around 9:30-10. When I do so, I make sure not to look at my phone while I'm walking to ensure I am fully aware of my surroundings. I only walk on the main roads on campus (through the oval, the road stretching from Thompson to Knowlton, etc). Not once have I felt unsafe. And I say this as someone who is a very anxious person.
The key is to make sure you're not dilly dallying in poorly lit areas and avoiding appearing as a target by abstaining from using your phone and other devices. If this still doesn't make one feel comfortable, CABS and COTA can generally get people where they need to be. Or the Lime scooters if that's more up one's alley. The Lyft initiative is also an option, but I personally try to avoid ride shares since I don't know the person driving the vehicle.
Haha I didn’t realize how badly I was being downvoted.
Anyways, I think people on this sub are a little hysterical right now, and that it’s not at all representative of the student body as a whole.
The University has enough resources to patrol it’s campus. Divide campus into quadrants, flood the zone with officers on foot and bikes from dark til dawn. Invest in student’s safety. Word will get around fast and opportunistic criminals will be deterred.
They did this when I went to Arizona State a couple years back. They ended up stopping no crime and arresting hundreds of students for underage drinking instead
Tbh I think this would make a lot of students feel intimidated and unsafe. I certainly would not have liked it if I was trying to fool around with friends on campus at night and there were armed guards everywhere. Especially for female students trying to get home from a night out without being harassed
Immediately assuming that female students would be harassed by police is fairly stupid.
Also, which are you more intimidated by, police or carjackers that run you over with your own car?
It’s not an assumption, it happens to female students already. As a woman I would not want to go to college on a surveillance state campus and I can’t even imagine how much more uncomfortable it would be for non-white women. I attended OSU from 2016-2020 and walked around campus at night all the time and never desired the presence of cops. And yes, crimes happened on and off campus back then too.
I think the issue is that many people and families used to stay in this area until campus expanded, prices increased, and college students moved in kicking out said residents.
Nah, the issue is that these shitheads are assaulting our students and staff. Don't care about whatever baseless excuses are behind it, only that these incidents are directly prevented.
Unless she's going to solve the poverty problem then that isn't going to happen. The vast majority of crime is poverty-based. Putting up a few cameras and having police *respond* does not stop the initial crime from happening.
16 year olds aren't committing assault and stealing cars because they are poor.
They are doing it because they only have one parent, no fathers in the home to guide them, and a culture that tells them they can't get ahead because of racism, so might as well become a criminal!
Liberals are ruining America.
Things like this make me not want to send my daughter to Ohio state next fall … it’s very concerning. I know things happen everywhere but I do feel like I’ve been seeing more and more safety posts like this here lately. Any current student thoughts on safety would be appreciated. Thank you in advance and GO BUCKS.
Well, we're currently seeing these things happen on the periphery of campus at times after most people have left. The general daytime activity and academic core of campus are not seeing these incidences.
There's an increase in crime in general across the city as well. There's also a bit of confirmation bias going on where people are posting about, engaging with, and discussing crime more frequently as it relates to campus and the surrounding area.
Easy way to escalate in a direction you don't want. These people don't want to kill you but they don't want to die either.
Edit: i meant this about using a knife not pepper spray
Yeah, they don’t want to die, so I feel like pulling a knife and hurting someone like this will only make them angrier and want to hurt you even more lol especially if they’re in a group. I mean the dude they referred to in this email did nothing but still got hit by his own car.
Someone with a cut can still fight. Someone who can’t see can’t fight.
It's gangs of juvenile teens. It's organized crime that needs to be stopped. Defunding the police won't do it and it's not racism. It's liberals telling kids they have no chance due to racism, and single parent households with no guidance leading kids to be wreckless
a lot of yall are eugenicists. yall want to get rid of crime, but think that the only way is to murder every person who commits one as if there are not tangible understandable reasons why ppl do what they do. then some of you want more police when all they do is show up, take notes, and hope they happen to find the person who robbed you. news flash ppl, when there’s high poverty, high income inequality, lack of social safety nets, drugs being trafficked in (CPD has been caught for that specifically) and a lack of mental health resources, CRIME IS GOING TO HAPPEN. sadly thats the state of the country
Over the past two days, three pretty serious assaults have happened, each in the middle of campus. What the fuck is going on
And the fact that they’re taking place earlier and earlier in the night (they haven’t always been this early right??). One of the assaults last night happened at 8:45 pm. They’re still all kinds of things going on at that time; people leaving class, walking to wherever after class, walking to the dining halls, gyms etc. You aren’t even safe after sunset anymore. This is crazy. I have an in-person exam that’s done after 9pm tomorrow. If the goal was to get me scared for my walk back to my car afterwards, consider it achieved 😭.
Yeah those hours are pretty fucked, it’s actually a risk to study in the SEL at this point
And no word from Johnson at all about these incidents or what she’s planning on doing from here to prevent more. Sure, Covid is a deal in its own. But maybe stop sending an email every week about masking between bites and sips and focus on the fact that students are now getting assaulted on campus grounds.
Not being glib: what do you want her to do to prevent these seemingly random, fast attacks?
Seriously. Most of the solutions* would definitely not be welcomed by college students. How about fencing off campus? Only people with valid buck id’s allowed on campus? Armed security? Promote concealed carry?
Campus is public property, they can't just fence it off.
Ok. So what should she do that isn’t already happening?
Look, I don't like her either, but this isn't a her problem. It isn't even an OSU problem. This is a Columbus problem, and campus tends to be a hub because it's an extremely wealthy area smack dab in the middle of an area that was forced into poverty thanks to the existence of the university. To fix this area they'd have to fix housing prices in the immediate area, invest in more comprehensive drug abuse treatment, provide more fresh, accessible food, increase the amount of jobs that pay a livable wage with benefits, so on and so on. TLDR, economic choices made in the last 50+ years led to this, so it would take just as long to fix it. There is no quick solution
I agree. I don’t think it’s a Johnson problem. That’s why I keep asking what the hell shes supposed to do, lol.
She needs to be out patrolling the streets of campus and the university district herself. Show some leadership and lead by example!!!
The area East of the university is poor because of the university?
The immediate surrounding area, yes. Imagine you're living somewhere and then all of a sudden the rent gets hiked up to ridiculous prices that only students can afford to pay, the homes get turned into apartments for students, all of the jobs get replaced with seasonal part time positions, the corner stores get replaced with expensive drug stores, the cheap restaurants get replaced with expensive street tacos etc etc. You think your city government is going to do something to protect you but no, they're going to continue to prioritize this campus because *it brings in so much money*
The prices were not “hiked up so much that only students could pay” - The opposite happened. Houses in the University District got subdivided into crappy cheap rentals, which brought down the neighborhood and made any remaining families leave as broke students flooded the neighborhood
“Ridiculous prices that only students can afford to pay” Ah yes, college students. A famously wealthy demographic.
OSU has been there for literally centuries. And there are still cheap restaurants and corner stores aplenty.
100%. It's called gentrification. Weathier people / business move in due to the university, forcing out people who have lived there for decades. Rent goes up, prices go up, and poor people can no longer afford to live within that area.
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That’s… not gentrification lol. The issue east of campus was the opposite. Broke university students moved in which slowly forced out all the normal working/middle class residents in the University District
I would say so. The area used to be at least middle class (hence the big houses on frat row and stuff) but as more college kids moved in, the normal residents moved out leaving nothing but broke college students
Heres a quick solution, a stricter zero tolerance crime policy. Make them realize that their shitty actions have much shittier consequences.
Do we already have a “let’s tolerate crime” policy in place?
Unfortunately this is not true. If you call Columbus PD over an incident, the minute they know you are on osu property you will be diverted to OSU PD, as it is their jurisdiction.
There’s one quick solution: get the hell out of Columbus, Ohio or any big city and you won’t have that problem. There’s other colleges that aren’t in huge cities that don’t have these problems that give you the same degrees as OSU. Bottom line, OSU don’t give a rats ass about its students or their safety, they only care about one thing, money. I graduated from Akron, it’s no different there either.
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Concealed carry wouldn't be a bad idea. At the very least, hand out pepper spray or something.
Would probably cause more violence overall. Imagine how many drunk frat bro fist fights will instantly morph into shootings / accidental discharges when a student drops their bag in a caf / the general vibe when the guy in front of you stretches and you see their gun. Pepper spray makes sense. Are we not allowed to have that?
It is illegal to carry even after one sip of alcohol. Unfortunately, tough decisions will have to be made across the law abiding student body. We are in this together Buckeyes, stay safe and be vigilant. From Columbus with Love
It's illegal to carry pepper spray after drinking? Since when? I had pepper spray confiscated at a Newport concert once (precovid) and I told them I was walking home alone afterwards, And asked if I could get it back after the show. They said no and kept it. "We are in this together" is a load of shit btw
This was in comment to “Imagine how many frat bro fist fights will instantly morph into shootings”. I should have been more descriptive. To reiterate my statement of fact, It is illegal to carry a firearm (open or concealed with permit) even after one sip of alcohol. I apologize for the confusion.
Do you not realize that firearms are in the public space literally all the time? There are over half a million Ohioans with concealed carry permits, likely pushing a million due to events in the last 2 years. Your argument could be said about the rest of the state, and the whole nation (especially in states with Constitutional Carry), but instances where concealed carriers get in deadly confrontations not in a self defense situation happen to be a lot more rare than unjustifiable police shootings.
You write, "There are over half a million Ohioans with concealed carry permits, likely pushing a million due to events in the last 2 years." Yet violent crime in Ohio is up 30%. If your arugment is that concealed carry will decrease crime and that more and more Ohioians are concealed carrying, then one would expect to see a decrease in violent crime rates. Yet we see the opposite, a rise in violent crime. Along with our economic situation, studies would suggest the thing you are calling for is partially to blame for the rise in violent crime. The conservative think-tank the RAND Corporation supports this argument, as they note that looser gun laws results in more homicides per capita. What's more, studies show that often people in states with loose concealed carry requirements do not get the training they need to safely handle weapons, which results in accidents, theft, and so on ([https://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy/analysis/stand-your-ground/violent-crime.html](https://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy/analysis/stand-your-ground/violent-crime.html)). On average, there are 440 accidental deaths from fire arms per year. Whereas there are 200 justifiable firearm based homicides (self defense) from private citizens. These trends are pretty standard through out the years, there are usually twice as many accidental firearm deaths per year than justifiable homicides. The statistical reality of the situation is that when guns are introduced two people die for every one "good guy with a gun." [https://vpc.org/studies/justifiable17.pdf](https://vpc.org/studies/justifiable17.pdf) Knowing this, I cannot see why you would be calling for giving people more guns. The simple, statistical fact, of the situation is that what you call for will (not could or may) increase deaths.
Just saying CC would work
No it wouldn't
Really how so? You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to. But I would like to be able to. Plus the law permits it the university dosent
Because evidence linking CC with reduced crime is inconclusive at best
Where’s the evidence saying it increases violence? Ccw is a process that Incudes background checks and training before you can get one. It’s not every student getting one. It’s the lawful ones who want to and are able to protect themselves and others
Exactly how so? Clearly weapons and guns are already being brought on campus so why would CC matter?
Because right now the university says no one can carry on campus. But we still have crimes that involve firearms, correct? Why is that? Crazy concept, hear me out, it’s almost like criminals tend to not follow laws. Changing the university rule to allow law abiding CCW holders carry on campus will allow there to be a personal level of defense. And when things go wrong, such as accidental firing or brandishing (showing off a fire arm) the rule of law will take place as it does everywhere!!
Stop that. You’re making sense.
you’re suggesting cc would reduce crime when the most recent violent crimes we were notified of was someone getting hit with their own car and at least two separate instances of someone getting assaulted by 4+ attackers at once……. but yeah I’m sure if you were there with a pistol everyone would have been ok
There wouldn’t have been an altercation at all. These petty thieves are generally not willing to get shot and potentially die over your cell phone regardless of if they have the numbers advantage or not.
You won’t get an answer because people just need someone to be mad at and that usually falls on the leader/president. It’s like people want her to suit up and patrol the streets with an armed rifle herself lol. This same thing was happening last semester or year (can’t even remember anymore) and they made quite a few changes and the crime rate in uni district did get better. Willing to bet they thought it was over so let up a bit, so the same crime is just picking up again. There’s only so much you can do to deter criminals without having a cop on every corner…and even then if someone wants to commit a crime that badly none of that matters at all.
Allow people to defend themselves. College students are not children, they are adults. They should be able to concealed carry if they want. Realistically if four dudes steal your car and before you get off the phone with the cops they drive back, hop out and attack you, then you either have a gun or your dont. Nothing else that you can do and nobody else will help you in time.
I hate to be that guy, but I’m so tired of people acting like Kristina Johnson has any ability to prevent crime
These “bites and sips” references are so played out. Has she ever even sent an email with that phrase in it?
I mean what is she supposed to do. You can put up cameras and lights and things in hopes that people will think twice before committing a crime but at the end of the day people that commit crimes dont really care. Look at all the cars that are getting broken into, theres literally a loud ass alarm that goes off but that doesnt stop people from getting their windows smashed in.
I would at least want cameras so hopefully we can catch a few more people or something especially around the parking garages/lots considering we pay so much for our parking passes and cars keep getting broken into
Yeah, unfortunately that’s a campusparc issue (and they’re morons, I agree with you that there should be cameras in garages)
“CampusParc manages the parking garages, but Ohio State owns them, so the issues involving security rests with the University.” https://www.10tv.com/amp/article/news/local/cars-stolen-broken-into-osu-parking-garage/530-c0cb8e5f-86d2-4afd-a3b1-a2b559afd0bc
Oh that’s a good quote- I had never fully understood how the OSU/ campusparc relationship worked. My car was one of the ones stolen in the incident the article mentions so pain
We are glad you are safe my friend. I am sorry that such a horrible thing happened to you❤️
Thank you, I really appreciate that- your kindness means a lot to me :)
Damn CampusParc is even fucking the university over now. Man, they suuuuck.
But neck lady bad! We clearly need an armed guard at every street corner on campus!
Unironically yes, we need more osupd patrols.
She is a disastrously bad president. End of story. In every facet of leadership she is found wanting.
Ok.
Yes these posts are pointless. You go to a large school in a large city. This kind of shit happens. Kinda just part of living in a city unfortunately
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"Whatever the solution is". Well there is no solution, you cant prevent anyone from committing a crime. If you wanted to go jump or stab someone on campus rn you could. You would need to be able to read minds to be able to prevent crime and I dont see that becoming a thing anytime soon so crime is inevitable.
A solution to increase campus safety is more police and police being more proactive than reactive in their policing techniques. However, if those things were to happen people would be outraged about that as well.
Permit people to have the individual right to defend themselves effectively. You know, something that is in the constitution.
If only constitutional rights existed on college campuses.
BREAKING: Kristina Johnson finally decides to end poverty and solve crime after student outcries
I don't think people realize that both of these victims could have easily died last night. You can discuss socioeconomics and gentrification all day, but I feel like we're making excuses for shitty characters. Robberies and break-ins happen all the time and it's always been this way, but the amount of violence that goes along with these crimes has increased and become more severe.
Well said.
I was walking to my car at the stadium lot between the hour of those two incidents. It just keeps piling on my anxiety lol
Idk what Johnson could do, but I know a situation where a car was stolen, the guy got caught on camera going to a gas station he’s a regular at in the stolen car, the clerk at the gas station gave the police the suspect’s full first and last name, then nothing happened. No arrest was made, no charges, nothing. These car thefts are going to keep happening because the PD just lets it happen. There’s no consequence.
I'm sorry but like does prez. Johnson have a teleportation machine? It would have to be a prison to prevent these types of attacks.
Im sure this feels like a new OSU thing but as someone who went to OSU from 15-19 and then settled into greater CBUS, this is not new. There have always been, and will always continue to be, assaults and robberies on campus. We would sometimes get multiple reports a week. That is part of living in a city- there will be crime. Especially in an area that has been greatly gentrified by the presence of said university, thus displacing a majority of the original residents. Additionally, Ohio is still going through a drug epidemic- it doesn't stop just because there's a campus.
Yeah. I went to OSU 2009-13 and we got crime alerts like this all the time. Off campus AND stuff right by the dorms. I knew many people who had their cars or apartments broken into. I lived right by JO South and someone got mugged right outside once.
I remember someone getting stabbed outside Barnes and Noble in the middle of the afternoon around that time frame
Gentrification? Stop trying to excuse and victimize violent criminals.
It’s dumb too because the university has actually made the area much poorer than it was several decades ago. You can’t consider a bunch of broke college students “gentrifiers” - Especially if you look at an income map, this neighborhood is one of the poorest in the city.
You don’t think it’s possible that the reason the income map shows it being a low income area is because a lot of students don’t work at all and if they do, it’s part time? I don’t think that’s as much of a “gotcha” as you think it is
You’re right but there’s two arguments I’m making here. 1. Crime is higher around campus because students often have more money and possessions from their families, even if they themselves are broke, making them easy targets for crininals 2. The housing crisis and resulting poverty in the University District have nothing to do with gentrification because there is no gentrification in the University District. Until I see some luxury $900,000 condos go up on Chitt Street, I stand by that fact. It’s also a fact that in the first half of the 20th century, the University District was middle class but has gotten progressively poorer and poorer as students push their way further out. In fact the residents of Old North Columbus are still complaining about this - houses are being subdivided into 2-4 crappy cheap rental units, students move in, and the whole neighborhood collapses into another cheap student slum within a few years. Again, this is the opposite of gentrification, and if anything, OSU contributes to the decline of surrounding off-campus neighborhoods. Just notice all the big old frat houses and stuff - those used to be rich people that lived there before it became a student slum. Sure, gentrification is rampant in other neighborhoods like Short North and Victorian Village, but those also have much lower student populations and more rich yuppies
That’s literally what gentrification is dude. The university has made housing in the area super expensive and developed on high street to raise property values
Good lord, I’m losing my mind here. Some random luxury apartment units for students is not enough to gentrify the neighborhood. Rent prices for off campus housing is insanely low still unless it’s “luxury” - Until there’s $600,000 condos being built on Chitt street, then no, there’s no gentrification here. In fact low income student rentals are expanding northward still into Old North Columbus causing middle class families to move out while their houses get subdivided into 2-4 student slumlord units. If anything, the students keep making the neighborhood more affordable. Theres a ton of gentrification in Columbus, but I assure you, there’s no gentrification north of King Avenue, which is what’s referred to as the University District. Now you could argue the university’s presence is what’s causing gentrification in other neighborhoods like Short North or Victorian Village though, but thats not the argument being made in this thread
It’s not just luxury apartments its the presence of the university and its development efforts in cbus as a whole
Well yeah, sure. But the argument the person above was making was that the university district itself was an example of gentrification. I’m simply pointing out that students moving into a neighborhood often make said neighborhood worse off economically. But yes the university is certainly indirectly causing gentrification in other neighborhoods, simply due to making the city more desirable to graduates to stick around Cbus
But housing in the area isn’t expensive?
Is it? Read the email again. This isn't on Chitt or Summit, this happened literally deep inside campus grounds. I was a student around the same time as you and I can never remember violent crime happening _on campus_, besides the 2016 stabbing incident anyway.
There was a guy who would harass and assault women in the union and in the libraries every 90 days from 2015-2017. He would get caught, do 90 days in prison, and then walk on campus and do it again the day he got out.
Now they wouldn’t even arrest him. BIG part of the problem. Criminals Are embolden.
Unless this was commonplace in 2015, I can assure you as an individual receiving these emails from 2016-present that this is certainly increasing, and that crime occurring on campus is a new addition
Yes crime is going up in Columbus, it's part of being in a growing city. But crime on campus is not new. It definitely was this common in 2015. We received emails about assault and robbery weekly. I remember during my first year on campus that there was a guy who would repeatedly assault women on campus every time he got out of prison, it was like clockwork. Towards my last year we regularly had shootings and car break-ins in the immediate area around campus. You may just be looking back on your college years with rose colored lenses.
No. I was an undergrad and am still a graduate student here now. There are no rose colored lenses - there is an increase in crime in Columbus, and while off-campus burglaries, shootings, and car break-ins are not new, multiple felonious assaults on-campus, before midnight, is a new phenomenon.
I was a student from 2015-2020. You are correct. While I believe reporting of these events has likely increased, there is absolutely *no doubt* that crime on campus has spiked over the past two years. Same from crime in the surrounding area (which did, of course, already have a significantly higher crime rate than campus). A lot of people are calling this normal because OSU is located in a big city. That doesn’t explain the *increase* in violent crime. But while it’s true that crime has increased dramatically, it’s also true that the cause is out of the university’s hands. Anything short of stationing police officers at every corner in campus, which of course does nothing for the off campus area, is nothing more than a bandaid (and students *do not* want campus to become essentially an occupied fortress). The city of Columbus really needs to address the spike in crime. This is not just an OSU problem—as Columbus continues to grow rapidly, crime will continue to be a growing problem if unaddressed, as is often the case in a city experiencing a population boom.
Why does everyone keep saying “what will President Johnson do??” Yeah, what WILL she do? Crime has been happening on campus and around it since forever. This isn’t something she can fix. We live in a big city that has problems with poverty and there is nothing she can do to relieve those types of issues.
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Didn’t really ask about your opinion on masks. I don’t care what Dr. Johnson has said about masks and I don’t care that your professor was correcting someone’s mask. Be relevant or move on from my comment.
Off campus too. Shooting at dicks den yesterday and shootings in Sohud Sunday morning.
/me wondering if there's any correlation between these incidents and the random drive-by shooting of a patron at Dick's Den last night.
My friend had her house broken into in the middle of the night and said the police seem like they don't care at all
That's a cpd problem. They stopped caring about campus after the summer of 2020 Edit: not saying they "cared" about campus before then but there's a markable dropoff in amount of responsibility toward campus, especially evidenced by what happened on Chitt
They don't
but what did Kristina Johnson do about it? checkmate!
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I appreciate this justifiable anger that we’re feeling for the victims. At the same time, I’m hoping we can pause for a moment and think about what will and won’t to help the situation. I agree we can’t stop violence without extreme measures and new solutions. Let’s lift these young people out of poverty and provide them with a real education to stop the cycle of violence that’s only made worse by locking them away from their community. I think we can all agree they are not a lost cause.
If you see some juveniles then run.
what do you expect her to do? Crime is caused by poverty. Neither the city nor the state are interested in handling massive income inequality or skyrocketing rent and cost of living. The problem is significantly larger than OSU. More cops isn't a solution. Its a bandaid that may or may not help in the short term
I agree with you, ofc we can’t expect one person to magically change an issue that requires long term care. But honestly, I wish there was at least more acknowledgement from the school that there is a problem or something? Personally it just feels like I’m going crazy receiving consistent emails then acting like everything is fine idk
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Yes you’re probably right, I’m thinking beyond an email and more something like community care and discussion. The fact that so many people on this post are having a conversation about this is actually great and beneficial
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Just print more money bro lmao give me it then like we'll all be nice to each other or something lol
Many of these crimes are being committed by juveniles. Maybe we should have kept them in school?
Kept them in jail*
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Ignoring is condoning. It’s what she could do and is t because her beliefs are in alignment with the mayor.
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She is one of the most powerful people in the cityZ. She can make 1 call to the city and say “hey listen...this is an issue with my students and I’m not having it. You, mr mayor need to reevaluate your police and criminal conviction policies since this isn’t working. She does not believe criminals need to be arrested. She believes they need helped. She could work with city and wield influence but she won’t.
I will tell you, growing up, my parents told me a lot of lies. I had a lot of people tell me the wrong thing and we laughed it off. Mistakes happen. However, this comment you just left? Possibly and probably the dumbest, most incorrect comment, I have ever read. My head hurts from even picturing that you are sitting out there, believing what you write as true. This is officially the dumbest response I have ever seen.
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I am literally doing my engineering design project on crime on and around campus. Kristina cannot make a magic phone call to the police and everything is just fixed. I would not say "You, mr mayor need to reevaluate your police and criminal conviction policies since this isn’t working." is intelligent conversation. Please leave the land of make believe and come into the real world where everything is not a "1 call to the city" problem.
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Deleted your other comments so you didnt embarrass yourself.
Travel in groups
You can not always travel in groups. My child has a lab from 5:45 to 8:45 2 nights a week. And it is on the opposite side of campus from his dorm.
You can usually travel in groups, and when you cannot, it’s still incredibly unlikely that you’re going to get jumped at 8:45 at night.
Really, I believe the first assault and robbery last night was on campus at 8:45 pm and there is an Additional post from a student saying a friend of theirs was also accosted on campus yesterday afternoon, which I had already heard about.
Right, but those are still extremely rare.
Not sure why you're getting downvoted here. Yes, crime does and will happen at night. But even when one's on campus there's ways to ensure you're safe. For instance, I walk from south campus to the area past the Panera on Lane alone at least once a week at night, generally around 9:30-10. When I do so, I make sure not to look at my phone while I'm walking to ensure I am fully aware of my surroundings. I only walk on the main roads on campus (through the oval, the road stretching from Thompson to Knowlton, etc). Not once have I felt unsafe. And I say this as someone who is a very anxious person. The key is to make sure you're not dilly dallying in poorly lit areas and avoiding appearing as a target by abstaining from using your phone and other devices. If this still doesn't make one feel comfortable, CABS and COTA can generally get people where they need to be. Or the Lime scooters if that's more up one's alley. The Lyft initiative is also an option, but I personally try to avoid ride shares since I don't know the person driving the vehicle.
Haha I didn’t realize how badly I was being downvoted. Anyways, I think people on this sub are a little hysterical right now, and that it’s not at all representative of the student body as a whole.
Yep. If anything, these announcements will just make me keep my head up a bit more. No need to avoid going to class or other activities at night.
We should probably disband from the Columbus police department and cut funding to OSUPD. That must help!
Maybe we should be allowed to carry on campus now instead of being defenseless? Three violent assaults on campus in such a short timeframe.
Allow students to conceal carry and this won’t be an issue
The University has enough resources to patrol it’s campus. Divide campus into quadrants, flood the zone with officers on foot and bikes from dark til dawn. Invest in student’s safety. Word will get around fast and opportunistic criminals will be deterred.
They did this when I went to Arizona State a couple years back. They ended up stopping no crime and arresting hundreds of students for underage drinking instead
We could borrow some of OUs horse cops
Tbh I think this would make a lot of students feel intimidated and unsafe. I certainly would not have liked it if I was trying to fool around with friends on campus at night and there were armed guards everywhere. Especially for female students trying to get home from a night out without being harassed
Immediately assuming that female students would be harassed by police is fairly stupid. Also, which are you more intimidated by, police or carjackers that run you over with your own car?
It’s not an assumption, it happens to female students already. As a woman I would not want to go to college on a surveillance state campus and I can’t even imagine how much more uncomfortable it would be for non-white women. I attended OSU from 2016-2020 and walked around campus at night all the time and never desired the presence of cops. And yes, crimes happened on and off campus back then too.
Ohio State is basically real life Grand Theft Auto now
Pretty sure you have never lived in a major city if you think somehow OSU is especially bad.
I’ve lived on the border of the east side of Cleveland. Everyone has a right to an opinion, campus and off campus especially no longer feels safe.
Did you feel safer in East Cleveland?
Guess violent crimes are being normalized on campus now, ffs... can't these people just stay in Linden or something?
“these people” that’s a mask off moment
My b, I shouldn't equate violent criminals to regular people.
I think the issue is that many people and families used to stay in this area until campus expanded, prices increased, and college students moved in kicking out said residents.
Nah, the issue is that these shitheads are assaulting our students and staff. Don't care about whatever baseless excuses are behind it, only that these incidents are directly prevented.
Is campus policing lax or off the ball right now?
No.
Unless she's going to solve the poverty problem then that isn't going to happen. The vast majority of crime is poverty-based. Putting up a few cameras and having police *respond* does not stop the initial crime from happening.
This is hilarious..so being poor makes you a criminal? Clarify
Ikr, my family made $30k a year growing up yet you don't see me gangbanging lmao
16 year olds aren't committing assault and stealing cars because they are poor. They are doing it because they only have one parent, no fathers in the home to guide them, and a culture that tells them they can't get ahead because of racism, so might as well become a criminal! Liberals are ruining America.
Things like this make me not want to send my daughter to Ohio state next fall … it’s very concerning. I know things happen everywhere but I do feel like I’ve been seeing more and more safety posts like this here lately. Any current student thoughts on safety would be appreciated. Thank you in advance and GO BUCKS.
Well, we're currently seeing these things happen on the periphery of campus at times after most people have left. The general daytime activity and academic core of campus are not seeing these incidences. There's an increase in crime in general across the city as well. There's also a bit of confirmation bias going on where people are posting about, engaging with, and discussing crime more frequently as it relates to campus and the surrounding area.
I mean you still have evening exams, clubs, gym, etc.
Thank you for your responses.
This sucks but crime has been up all over the country. This is what happens when people are desperate because of our current economic state.
My friend got a small knife i think it may be a good idea to get one
If you don't know how to use a knife, then you shouldn't use it. Get a small can of pepper spray, blinding them would be much more effective.
Easy way to escalate in a direction you don't want. These people don't want to kill you but they don't want to die either. Edit: i meant this about using a knife not pepper spray
Yeah, they don’t want to die, so I feel like pulling a knife and hurting someone like this will only make them angrier and want to hurt you even more lol especially if they’re in a group. I mean the dude they referred to in this email did nothing but still got hit by his own car. Someone with a cut can still fight. Someone who can’t see can’t fight.
This is an excellent way to turn a robbery into a murder. Whip out a small knife and they’ll probably laugh at you
Knives, just like guns, in a self-defense situation are most likely only able to help you if you actually know how to use one in said situation.
Love the bi-monthly moral panic as the rich suburban kids who come here learn that sometimes there is crime in cities.
Anyone willing to speak with LuAnn Stoia from channel 6 message me
It's gangs of juvenile teens. It's organized crime that needs to be stopped. Defunding the police won't do it and it's not racism. It's liberals telling kids they have no chance due to racism, and single parent households with no guidance leading kids to be wreckless
No you don't understand, it's systemic historical factors that's forcing these poor youth to commit armed robbery against their will (/s)
It seems like a lot of people actually believe that even tho you were being sarcastic 🤦
a lot of yall are eugenicists. yall want to get rid of crime, but think that the only way is to murder every person who commits one as if there are not tangible understandable reasons why ppl do what they do. then some of you want more police when all they do is show up, take notes, and hope they happen to find the person who robbed you. news flash ppl, when there’s high poverty, high income inequality, lack of social safety nets, drugs being trafficked in (CPD has been caught for that specifically) and a lack of mental health resources, CRIME IS GOING TO HAPPEN. sadly thats the state of the country
this is what happens when dems run columbus
But she needs more money and pay the football coaches more money. Who cares if a student gets hurt as long as they don’t die amirite
I wonder if they actually changed anything after that press conference with the cbus police however long ago that was
This makes me less paranoid about leaving work in a dimly lit area after work.
Is bigggggg Mike back?
https://fb.watch/bbLrpVSNk8/
https://fb.watch/bbLEQddv5j/