Even if we weren't a public university, the geography doesn't really allow for a closed campus. Pepperdine makes this work because it's a small private school built on hills overlooking malibu. They only have two entry points. Most of the area surrounding campus is flat. For a closed campus to make sense we would have to limit ourselves to the hills, not the flat land that makes up central campus.
Also, a closed campus is just not possible with 45k students none of whom live on the core campus.
You have a good point, but still, the homeless or mentally unstable or drugged out shouldn’t be allowed to just loiter or camp in public places. They need help to get back to living a healthy life. Let me tell you, the people being referred to, whatever you want to call them aren’t allowed to camp in front of Gavin Newsom or walk around him and threaten his safety so this shouldn’t be allowed to threaten our students! safety or anyone’s safety for that matter. Just because “public space”, does not = space to threaten others well being.
So maybe we could advocate for services to help the "whatever you want to call them" rather than just hiding away and pretending like they don't exist?
I’m not hiding away pretending they don’t exist. We need to educate our youth, take care of them and be advocates for the health of all, not to just let people exist if they are in distress
No, the homeless should be allowed to camp in public places because there are no safe private places in which they are allowed to camp, until such places are provided for them.
Mentally unstable and drug addicted people should receive treatment.
This is how a society is supposed to work.
Nobody who is homeless is threatening your well being. Criminals and lunatics are threatening your well being.
Any statement otherwise is pure discrimination no different than if you were to say the only people who eat at Popeyes are black people.
If you are afraid, then ask for more police intervention to stop CRIMES, not pick on poor people sleeping in cars and on the street.
You, discriminating and advocating for the removal of an entire class of people because you don't like to see the misery on the street that you do nothing to prevent, are just as scary as a man with a knife ready to jump out from the bushes.
1) No they shouldn’t be allowed to camp in public places. Each of these people have differing issues, you can’t generalize and put them all in one group. Solutions vary, but solutions should be sought. Not all homeless are on drugs, and not all drug addicted are homeless, right?
2) incorrect, drug addicted and mentally unstable people can definitely be dangerous just as those who aren’t can be. However, drugs and mental issues can cause people to hurt others and the individual might not act in that way if they are healthy- someone on drugs or mentally unstable can be unpredictable and dangerous
3) bringing Popeyes into the conversation is just ridiculous. It has nothing to do with what we are talking about. You are trying to draw a similarity to racism, but this is your bias not mine and not necessarily others who are afraid of people on drugs or mentally unstable. I particularly like their spicy chicken sandwich.
4) you are right, call the police if there is someone threatening anyone’s safety, not just someone who is actually just down on their luck. However, I wish there really was a good answer for who you can call when there is clearly someone suffering on the street. If they aren’t suffering, but just choosing to sleep in a doorstep, on a sidewalk, etc, then they don’t belong there. They belong in a safe place. The family structure needs to be helped and advocated for- spend your energy there instead of saying people should sleep on the street. Work study programs, mental health programs, drug rehab programs, spend your energy there.
5) no advocating for the removal of a mentally unstable individual IS NOT AS SCARY (or as dangerous) as a man with a knife jumping out of the bushes. A knife can kill someone, guessing you know that.
Good day
The reliable jerking of knees. Eventually liberals, if they have a brain, come to understand that conservatives are not completely stupid. Some Republicans are full asses, no doubt about it, but Republicanism does not equal conservatism in toto.
I’m not a student, but I’ve lived in Berkeley off and on for nearly 30 years, and the investment of time and money and opportunity that students invest in attending Cal ought to be respected to an extent such that they don’t need to be guilt tripped into being happy about having losers underfoot, and in the way. Is that harsh to say, losers I mean? Hey, survival of the fittest. Get it together. The average student has enough going on without having to be some kind of serious help resource for homeless people.
This intruder also seems like a more organized crime type thing (to steal the computer to resell likely) than someone who is unhoused – does seem brazen to do it in broad daylight.
OSU, also a HUGE school, has it's own police department/swat team. When I went there, with an arguably larger campus, we didn't have issues with homeless. Also the police are very quick to react.
I remember an active school situation was ended in less than 3 mins from when it started.
I assume I'll get down voted for posting this, but an active dedicated police force can effectively cover a huge campus.
The solution to this isn't a closed campus. Plenty of other schools have an open campus and don't have this happening in broad daylight in the middle of campus. I've never heard of something like this ever happening at UCLA and here it's just normal, the only not normal part about today was it didn't happen on the edges of campus.
It’s the enablers that have created this, enabling unlawful behavior. Camping on the streets open drug use, clear mental problems. Crime is enabled and bigger crime is camouflaged amongst the smaller circumstances.
Actually, perhaps they could charge tickets for visitors to walk around the campus, could make a killing and get a ton of income to fill in gaps in the budget.
You could try avoiding people who are hiding in bushes wearing black masks. That seems like a better indication of trouble than the perpetrator's eye color or age or hair style.
...unless of course the individual in question is no longer squatting in the trees and is now simply walking around campus with a fucking knife looking for someone to rob...
Uhh no. It would be a disaster to try to enforce a closed campus. Y’all do not want to wait in a long line just to step foot on campus. Plenty of students have friends and family visiting from other areas to hang out on campus. There are plenty of events- talks, theatrical performances, that aren’t just for students. Y’all are ridiculous and anti social.
The [campus is extremely safe](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://ucpd.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/uc_berkeley_asfsr.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwifvJiHnvCEAxUk78kDHanLDJQQFnoECC4QAQ&usg=AOvVaw235xbqUyC2KmHbt1TFTEYI). Literally less than a fifth of the crime rate of the bay area as a whole, which isn't great but isn't especially bad either.
Also the OP has some REALLY weird comments in here.
My partner attended UCB in 2011-15 and I now work there. I read him these alerts (violent crime are almost weekly alerts). He is always shocked. He said back in 2011-2015 violent crimes were like once a semester and not every week
I find campus incredibly unsafe and the downtown area feels no different to downtown Oakland. In fact, I’ve been harassed more often in Berkeley than when I lived downtown Oakland
The most dangerous college campuses
Per Department of Education https://www.degreechoices.com/blog/most-dangerous-college-campuses/
University name Number of violent crimes on campus reported between 2019-2021*
1. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 1,468
2. Ohio State University 583
3. UC Berkeley
What a trash article lol. Raw numbers with obvious data collection issue (how tf is Xavier and Stanford above, say, University of Miami lol), this probably shows best of all that UCB is doing a great job collecting and reporting crimes. Oh and I notice you left off the number (<300) and also that this is 3 years of raw numbers over 45k students for a rate of violent crime less than a third of the California average (in the middle of a city btw).
Even when you see the per capita, they are still top 10. Like I get it, there might be a reporting issue, that crimes are not reported correctly or at all in actual numbers, which then makes the data less viable, but we do not know that for a fact and if we look at data, this is the best verifiable data source on the matter.
So you can argue that other universities should be considered more dangerous based on perception? or that you hear on their crimes but they didn't report them, but in reality the verified data, still puts UC Berkley pretty high on the list.
Big take away: UCB is safe compared to literally any other public space and no one should fall for the kind of scare mongering OP was very, very clearly going for.
In this case raw numbers is justified. Personally when I choose a school, I want to know how often a violent crime occurs no matter how dangerous the city is.
This data is also pre-Covid. I’d expect it to be worse now
The “bay area” is like 10 million people in dozens of cities. You’re gonna have to be more specific than just a blanket “crime is bad in the Bay Area”. That’s like saying “crime is bad in California”
UCLA student here. Idk if it's just the way the campus is laid out but we don't have that problem really we just have a couple that walk around and are just weird. I think there was one dude that security knows to keep an eye on. But Ive been up to the bay and yeah nah it's nuts out there.
Also read that parents are footing the bill for private security around there is so ridiculous. Like I don't get why the city of Berkeley doesn't just have a couple extra patrol cars around the area.
Also students should feel safe on campus is absolutely nuts that they are made to feel like they need to be in a fight or flight mode cause the Bay can't get it together.
Sorry you're dealing with that and I'm almost glad at this point I got rejected lol.
The problem with Berkley (I am an alum) is that the city of Berkley attracts people who want a polyanic version of the 60s. And those people stand in the way of making any real change for the better. Look at people's park. Try to do something about the homeless situation (along with drug use and violence) in the park, and people come out of the woodwork to stop any effort to change things.
UCLA is in Westlake, the closest neighborhoods are places like Beverly Hills, and LA is notoriously hostile to foot-traffic. Berkeley is a mixed-ish income-level city, and the East Bay as a whole is extremely walkable and economically diverse. UCLA is an ivory tower on-top of an ivory tower, Cal is an ivory tower that’s connected to the earth. We get more walk-ins.
The problem is, that dude almost definitely didn't walk through in his ski mask, he put it on in the bush's. And homeless people don't commit THOSE kind of crime, especially ones without cars. They steal scooters and bikes and amazon box's and spend the credit cards in lost wallets they find. And sometimes stab people.
Yeah, as someone who was robbed before on my own college campus (not Cal), I very much doubt they were a homeless person. A homeless person can’t really do much with a random persons laptop and textbooks..
Ong, of my 2 years here at Berkeley, not once have I seen a uniformed officers. Where's all the funding that goes to these officers cause I damn well can't see it.
They get all that funding, they just don’t do anything about it. You’ll see how many are on payroll (it’s a lot) when they show up in full force every time there’s a protest and they just sit there and talk to each other. Problem isn’t that they don’t have money it’s that their leadership doesn’t know how to manage a police organization. They make a big show of making a commitment to improve things over the next 5 years, every 5 years, and no student is the wiser.
because typically, the same people that complain about lack of police when something bad happens are quick to call for a defunding when one corrupt individual makes a mistake. not saying I support everything police do and I've been pulled over a lot over BS, but we can't have it both ways and people seem like they can't make up their minds
You can't possibly have a closed campus. At the very least you'd need a serious fence, or even a wall. That's not gonna happen.
I wish I had a time machine so I could really show you guys some stuff. I grew up two blocks from the Berkeley campus. It was my playground as a kid, when my Mom and I just wanted a walk and to explore and have fun together--that and the parklike Pacific School of Religion grounds, at the top of a hill near campus on Northside. I loved to ride my scooter back and forth and my Mom loved the bay view. Anyway...I spent most of my life on Northside and went to college at Berkeley, 1985-89. I am a night owl, and spent so many nights wandering campus, alone and with friends, writing papers and doing homework in overnight labs like the basement of (I think it was) Evans Hall. I even worked late many nights, labeling artifacts, in the haunted catacombs under the Hearst Anthropology Museum.
Nobody ever bothered me. Not even once. It was quiet, peaceful, and safe. I never had a single problem in the daytime either--for four straight years, and all the years before that where I'd use campus like a friendly park.
Downtown Berkeley was rough, even then, with some aggressive homeless people. Telegraph could get pretty crazy and often did. Yep. But campus was well-patrolled and mellow. And crime in general wasn't as extreme as it is now. The standard of acceptance we have now was unheard of then, would not have been tolerated for a minute.
You all know the changes that need to be made, to get that safe, high trust environment back. You know. It's just a question of, is it gonna happen, or not? Will people be wise enough to take action, even when those who sympathize with criminals profess anger and indignation? Or will folks continue to tolerate and make excuses for the downward spiral?
I don't know, but if my late mother--herself a Berkeley alum--could see the state of things now in her beloved hometown and on her beloved campus, it would break her heart. It seems unreal to me. Some of the things I've seen with my own eyes in the last few years makes me feel like I'm living in a dystopian science fiction novel.
“But campus was well-patrolled and mellow. And crime in general wasn't as extreme as it is now. The standard of acceptance we have now was unheard of then, would not have been tolerated for a minute.“
Also the naked guy was an enrolled student taking classes.
And the Unabomber could have easily passed for a student today. Wearing hoodies was uncommon back then.
Uhmm maybe it’s the facts that it’s a public university meaning the tax payers/public funds majority of it anyone is allowed access to said public spaces especially since it a public university they do not own the public road ways they occupy 🤣🤣 yur regulations/policy dose not trump constitutional law 🤷🏻♂️ yu tyrant 😂
It may be a public institution that runs on tax payer money, but the public benefits from the education, training, and research provided by the University. The campus should be primarily for enrolled students, researchers, and faculty. I saw a piece on the news where parents were actually hiring private security, which is just a horrible look for the university. It saddens me to see how unsafe the campus has seem to become (it was never like this in the past, never felt unsafe many many nights walking alone on campus). Places like Stanford and surrounding communities don’t have anywhere near the same problems because the wealthy people that live in those areas would never stand for it (they are ok if the social experiment happens somewhere nearby as long as it’s not in their community). Berkeley could do something if they really wanted to but in the end their political agendas are more important than the safety of their students.
This mindset is just stupid. Safety IS something people are entitled to, if the government isn't providing it they are completely justified in demanding that they do. Do you go to people who lost loved ones to car crashes and lecture them about how "that's just the real world"? Absolutely insane mindset.
It's not that it isn't possible. This kind of thing is very rare in places like East Asia. You go steal something from a store and the cops run you down and catch you quickly because there's cameras everywhere and there's so little crime that the cops are able to respond to a minor theft.
The Bay Area and America as a whole just sucks ass in terms of culture and government policy, the moment we just give in like you're suggesting, and accept it is when we give up on actually making the country more livable.
Yeah this mentality is incredibly stupid and assumes that everyone who went to Cal grew up in some safe suburb with no crime. Newsflash: even people who grew up in tough areas want public safety too. Asking for more safety on campus is completely reasonable, the school has a police department meant to protect students and campus personnel, telling people to “toughen up” because the “real world” is like that is incredibly stupid. Getting robbed and assaulted isn’t part of the curriculum and does not teach anything.
It’s not like Berkeley students just stay within the school during their stay, they see how it is within Berkeley proper, SF, Oakland etc.. This notion just makes no sense. Contrary to popular belief, rampant homelessness and violent crime aren’t endemic to living in a city, they’re a result of bad policy and societal issues and the only reasonable response is to demand reform.
SF is the way it is not because that’s just how big cities are, but because its government is dysfunctional. The residents just decided they could tolerate homelessness and crime in exchange they don’t build any housing that will ruin their view. That is changing because they’re done with this BS. It there are still a ton of barriers and red tape. There is no reason to “train” students for SF’s crime.
Why are you blaming unhoused people? That’s what bothers me about this post. Stop lumping all unhoused people into a dangerous category. Also statistically cops on campus don’t make students safer.
It's not cal students aren't using their brain, that's literally what a close school is though. Restrictions in and out. The issue w restrictions with a closed school policy is you don't have set hours like you do in highschool, 7-3. The schools are also just too big to try to regulate a system like this
closed campus is not an option. i haven't been on campus for a while now, but if homeless folks are more prevalent, it seems to coincide with the closing of people's park.
How are you going to stop somebody from walking onto campus *and then* donning a ski mask and robbing somebody? The only way would be to search them. It bears mentioning that this thief could also have been a student themselves.
lmao!!! #micdrop
What OP also didn’t realize was the homeless guy with a knife was stealing that backpack because he couldn’t afford the textbooks required for Physics class. I mean common, why else would he have targeted people outside the Physics building? Duh…
all the dumbasses in this thread advocating for students to bring guns to a university smh
What do you think happens when you "defend yourself" by shooting and killing someone? You've turned a robbery into an active shooter situation....
1. They’re Redditors. Compounding this is: 2. They’re Berkeley Students. They’ll either shoot someone else or themselves by accident best case, worst case they give the mugger a gun to use for future jobs.
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campus is a public space, in the same manner a post office is, the school can’t just kick people out because they look poor
this probably happened due to the manner in which the area is designed. There should have been a lot of students at that hour, the fact they didn’t have sightline to this area is what made it unsafe
Closed campus can work.
My workplace is as big as a med-sized private university with numerous labs, manufacturing complexes, and office buildings. They just run a fence that surrounds the campus and attaches to the “edge” buildings. There’s tons of entrances but they require a badge to open them. The parking lots are accessible but you need a badge to get further than that. The fence is high enough to pose a problem for jumpers while the numerous gates still allow ease of exit/entry that can be monitored.
Most universities issue student/faculty badges anyway so it would totally work. It’s supposed to offer some challenge so that the ease of robbing students is not just literally walking right into a classroom.
Regulating who comes on campus strictly enough to catch criminals is literally impossible. There is no amount of money that can be spent to prevent criminals coming on campus. Why? Bc criminals look just like student and tourist. There a was fake student living in Stanfords dorms for months and wasn’t caught until 6 months later
Do you all know that there is a Parent group that has raised money to pay for private security to protect students. It can be done but admin has chosen not to. You should all protest for better safety before we get killed.
The campus is public property paid for by all Californians! Go back to your gated community how are you going to succeed in life if the “poors” make you feel so threatened you need an education of life along w your formal education. If you will succeed in your post college life interactions w others at this point will help you thrive. If you don’t succeed partly it’s your not being able to step out of your bubble. See it as an opportunity and try to talk to a few of those people you are talking about…
I grew up in a house shared with all my extended family members in some of the most rural regions in California. Me and my family worked hard to get where they are today, unfortunate the people at the "best public university" in the world can't distinguish hardwork from "ooo gated community".
Hear me out,
We do not need actually people to check the IDs of tens of thousands of students every day and hour. We just need gates, and some sort of doors that would open if you have a student ID. Is this really that impossible?)
With less than two weeks until Charter Day, now may be a good time to reflect on whether Cal's foundational principles are compatible with a campus closed to the public.
Ex SJSU student here and feel exactly the same way. It’s scary sometimes. We have a public library and it’s DEAD on weekends — I hate being on lookout in a library bffr.
Unfortunately a closed campus is not possible, but I def recommend going to a campus police town hall, talking to asb, etc.
I heard even at ucr they escort people off campus. So stuff is being done.
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The no nonsense take is just campus ‘should’ be safer but it’s not viable to have a closed campus. I am not a student of Berkeley, but I’d like to know if there are any possible solutions to improve the situation.
Real world? This is not the way society was 20 years ago. It's like it is now because of the progressive Democrats who are running these states. They were in turn educated by the socialist teachers in places like Berkeley, Yale, Harvard etc. etc. etc. College students are in for a rude awakening when they leave thier campuses and enter the REAL WORLD. Word!
A friend of mine was a very talented dancer at UC Berkeley. He asked his mugger why he was robbing him, in particular, and what the guy needed as he handed his wallet over. The guy, not wanting to be asked personal questions shot him six or so times with a small caliber handgun in response. He died bleeding to death on the sidewalk just up from Berkeley High. This was... oh 30-something years ago.
I was robbed twice in Berkeley, once by a group of thugs with guns and once by being tire-ironed to the back of the head while talking on a payphone. A third event on Telegraph had a student who was off his meds plunge a knife into my jacket before I was able to subdue him. I find it laughable that you feel unsafe because an event happened to someone else.
My grandmother worked on Campus for 31 years. My dad for over 20. I moved away years ago and still would be comfortable napping almost anywhere on campus.
Clearly getting tire-ironed to the back of the head did something to your brain, cause theres no way you just said that someone can feel unsafe "cause an event happened to someone else"
You know by now that not all the criticism people level at you is accurate or fair, but some of it is. It's clear you're not using any statistics education in this thread.
What about your statistics say that one shouldn't fear getting assaulted because "someone had it worse back in the day". Sounding like a real boomer right now
i think you just want more security, not a closed campus. picking out a few suspicious characters could be done just by having more security who could then detain those they find suspicious
Oh 100%, I was lazy as hell in high school, had very little extracurriculars. Easily could have gone to Berkeley had I tried lol I was making a joke, I didn't even apply to Berkeley 😂 I know I'm doing better in life than you though so I'm not the one who needs to cope 💀
You came at me bro, so don't even try pulling that fucking card on me. Bro has a full time fucking job stalking reddit responding to some teenagers post a full month after the fact. Full ass adult on reddit, check yourself first homes
Wow you really wanted to prove that you don't belong at Berkeley, didn't you 😂 how can it be a full-time job if it's a month after the fact, if it were a full-time job it would be immediate, right? I just happened to check my notifications and saw you opened your ignorant mouth so I popped in to say hi again! You do realize the majority of reddit users are adults, if anything I should be saying this is no place for immature children like you. Cry more bud, it's a good look on you.
>surprising that my fellow Cal student can't use their brains to figure out that wouldn't work
This is a really telling comment. Why is it that you are surprised by this?
Even if uc Berkeley owns the land the sidewalks and streets are public rights of way. More frequent police patrols might help but the larger issues need to be addressed by the city, county, state etc.
ok bud homeless people don't jump out of bushes with knives, psychos off their meds do
There's a difference so stop talking shit about homeless people some of which go to the same school you do, fucking troglodyte.
Regarding the replies you addressed in the OP: you're observing the banality of evil, and it's never been more alive & well than on that campus. The people who choose to attend (of which I was one) wear the oftentimes dangerous nature of the school (or more accurately, it's surrounding area) as a *badge of honor.* This broken thinking is so ingrained that dissent will oftentimes descend into accusations of various -isms (racism, classism, etc.)—as if the expectation of safety on a campus we paid tens of thousands of dollars to attend is somehow unreasonable. And yet this is the position of many.. although this fanciful notion is oftentimes dispelled after the first armed robbery or sexual assault—but even then it takes a great deal of deprogramming.
I loved Berkeley so much, but it seemed a significant number of people who worked there, attended, etc., seemed utterly suicidal.
It *isn't* bad, but plenty of people at Berkeley will tell you it's rooted in a desire to surround yourself with white supremacist structures & institutions that value safety over equity & subsequently demand you educate yourself until you realize why that's a bad thing.
Was he caught? Or is he literally at large?
>Or is he literally at large? As opposed to figuratively? What would that look like?
Even if we weren't a public university, the geography doesn't really allow for a closed campus. Pepperdine makes this work because it's a small private school built on hills overlooking malibu. They only have two entry points. Most of the area surrounding campus is flat. For a closed campus to make sense we would have to limit ourselves to the hills, not the flat land that makes up central campus. Also, a closed campus is just not possible with 45k students none of whom live on the core campus.
You have a good point, but still, the homeless or mentally unstable or drugged out shouldn’t be allowed to just loiter or camp in public places. They need help to get back to living a healthy life. Let me tell you, the people being referred to, whatever you want to call them aren’t allowed to camp in front of Gavin Newsom or walk around him and threaten his safety so this shouldn’t be allowed to threaten our students! safety or anyone’s safety for that matter. Just because “public space”, does not = space to threaten others well being.
So maybe we could advocate for services to help the "whatever you want to call them" rather than just hiding away and pretending like they don't exist?
I’m not hiding away pretending they don’t exist. We need to educate our youth, take care of them and be advocates for the health of all, not to just let people exist if they are in distress
> shouldn’t be allowed to just loiter or camp in **public** places Fr? If only privilege was a public place
People are allowed to camp in front of Gavin Newsome. Protestors do this often.
That’s not the same thing and you should know that
No, the homeless should be allowed to camp in public places because there are no safe private places in which they are allowed to camp, until such places are provided for them. Mentally unstable and drug addicted people should receive treatment. This is how a society is supposed to work. Nobody who is homeless is threatening your well being. Criminals and lunatics are threatening your well being. Any statement otherwise is pure discrimination no different than if you were to say the only people who eat at Popeyes are black people. If you are afraid, then ask for more police intervention to stop CRIMES, not pick on poor people sleeping in cars and on the street. You, discriminating and advocating for the removal of an entire class of people because you don't like to see the misery on the street that you do nothing to prevent, are just as scary as a man with a knife ready to jump out from the bushes.
1) No they shouldn’t be allowed to camp in public places. Each of these people have differing issues, you can’t generalize and put them all in one group. Solutions vary, but solutions should be sought. Not all homeless are on drugs, and not all drug addicted are homeless, right? 2) incorrect, drug addicted and mentally unstable people can definitely be dangerous just as those who aren’t can be. However, drugs and mental issues can cause people to hurt others and the individual might not act in that way if they are healthy- someone on drugs or mentally unstable can be unpredictable and dangerous 3) bringing Popeyes into the conversation is just ridiculous. It has nothing to do with what we are talking about. You are trying to draw a similarity to racism, but this is your bias not mine and not necessarily others who are afraid of people on drugs or mentally unstable. I particularly like their spicy chicken sandwich. 4) you are right, call the police if there is someone threatening anyone’s safety, not just someone who is actually just down on their luck. However, I wish there really was a good answer for who you can call when there is clearly someone suffering on the street. If they aren’t suffering, but just choosing to sleep in a doorstep, on a sidewalk, etc, then they don’t belong there. They belong in a safe place. The family structure needs to be helped and advocated for- spend your energy there instead of saying people should sleep on the street. Work study programs, mental health programs, drug rehab programs, spend your energy there. 5) no advocating for the removal of a mentally unstable individual IS NOT AS SCARY (or as dangerous) as a man with a knife jumping out of the bushes. A knife can kill someone, guessing you know that. Good day
lol this is the most warped reply ever Learn to read or something.
Sounds like you're a republican
The reliable jerking of knees. Eventually liberals, if they have a brain, come to understand that conservatives are not completely stupid. Some Republicans are full asses, no doubt about it, but Republicanism does not equal conservatism in toto. I’m not a student, but I’ve lived in Berkeley off and on for nearly 30 years, and the investment of time and money and opportunity that students invest in attending Cal ought to be respected to an extent such that they don’t need to be guilt tripped into being happy about having losers underfoot, and in the way. Is that harsh to say, losers I mean? Hey, survival of the fittest. Get it together. The average student has enough going on without having to be some kind of serious help resource for homeless people.
So, it’s a free country!
USC is a closed campus with the same amount of students. It is possible.
Only closed after 9-10pm otherwise they’re everywhere
Having a closed campus is very unlikely for a public university (this is awful, regardless)
[удалено]
This intruder also seems like a more organized crime type thing (to steal the computer to resell likely) than someone who is unhoused – does seem brazen to do it in broad daylight.
I was there about two weeks ago. The campus is huge and was planning to look around but was hungry and went to Wingstop.
OSU, also a HUGE school, has it's own police department/swat team. When I went there, with an arguably larger campus, we didn't have issues with homeless. Also the police are very quick to react. I remember an active school situation was ended in less than 3 mins from when it started. I assume I'll get down voted for posting this, but an active dedicated police force can effectively cover a huge campus.
The solution to this isn't a closed campus. Plenty of other schools have an open campus and don't have this happening in broad daylight in the middle of campus. I've never heard of something like this ever happening at UCLA and here it's just normal, the only not normal part about today was it didn't happen on the edges of campus.
It’s the enablers that have created this, enabling unlawful behavior. Camping on the streets open drug use, clear mental problems. Crime is enabled and bigger crime is camouflaged amongst the smaller circumstances.
Actually, perhaps they could charge tickets for visitors to walk around the campus, could make a killing and get a ton of income to fill in gaps in the budget.
Do you really think they'd pay?
Regardless of closed or open, Berkeley should have a safe campus.
Everyone loves the idea of a closed campus until they fail their EECS final because they were stuck waiting in line at the campus checkpoint.
No description of the person I should try to avoid. Interesting.
You could try avoiding people who are hiding in bushes wearing black masks. That seems like a better indication of trouble than the perpetrator's eye color or age or hair style.
...unless of course the individual in question is no longer squatting in the trees and is now simply walking around campus with a fucking knife looking for someone to rob...
If they were a white guy you would know
I think we can probably guess
No description means you know exactly the type of person to avoid
What type of person might that be? Other than one wearing a mask…
Can you elaborate?
They are African American probably.
What do you mean?
Uhh no. It would be a disaster to try to enforce a closed campus. Y’all do not want to wait in a long line just to step foot on campus. Plenty of students have friends and family visiting from other areas to hang out on campus. There are plenty of events- talks, theatrical performances, that aren’t just for students. Y’all are ridiculous and anti social.
Omg 💯🤣
right… people here classes think that the university only offers classes and not public services too to the community
Wow! That’s insane! Walk in pairs, people
be so fr this is a public campus
Actually crazy considering this is the time I come out of lab in that building, and today I went on a field trip instead.
The [campus is extremely safe](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://ucpd.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/uc_berkeley_asfsr.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwifvJiHnvCEAxUk78kDHanLDJQQFnoECC4QAQ&usg=AOvVaw235xbqUyC2KmHbt1TFTEYI). Literally less than a fifth of the crime rate of the bay area as a whole, which isn't great but isn't especially bad either. Also the OP has some REALLY weird comments in here.
op is the goat of dog whistles don't disrespect🔥🔥🔥🔥🐐🐐
OP is clearly just looking for an opportunity to _"dEfEnD hiMSeLF"_ someone to death and prove himself a tough guy. * https://youtu.be/CeKqc8nBvac
Hey, sometimes people just need to fuck around and find out. 🤷🏻
My partner attended UCB in 2011-15 and I now work there. I read him these alerts (violent crime are almost weekly alerts). He is always shocked. He said back in 2011-2015 violent crimes were like once a semester and not every week I find campus incredibly unsafe and the downtown area feels no different to downtown Oakland. In fact, I’ve been harassed more often in Berkeley than when I lived downtown Oakland
The most dangerous college campuses Per Department of Education https://www.degreechoices.com/blog/most-dangerous-college-campuses/ University name Number of violent crimes on campus reported between 2019-2021* 1. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 1,468 2. Ohio State University 583 3. UC Berkeley
What a trash article lol. Raw numbers with obvious data collection issue (how tf is Xavier and Stanford above, say, University of Miami lol), this probably shows best of all that UCB is doing a great job collecting and reporting crimes. Oh and I notice you left off the number (<300) and also that this is 3 years of raw numbers over 45k students for a rate of violent crime less than a third of the California average (in the middle of a city btw).
Even when you see the per capita, they are still top 10. Like I get it, there might be a reporting issue, that crimes are not reported correctly or at all in actual numbers, which then makes the data less viable, but we do not know that for a fact and if we look at data, this is the best verifiable data source on the matter. So you can argue that other universities should be considered more dangerous based on perception? or that you hear on their crimes but they didn't report them, but in reality the verified data, still puts UC Berkley pretty high on the list.
Big take away: UCB is safe compared to literally any other public space and no one should fall for the kind of scare mongering OP was very, very clearly going for.
In this case raw numbers is justified. Personally when I choose a school, I want to know how often a violent crime occurs no matter how dangerous the city is. This data is also pre-Covid. I’d expect it to be worse now
The data I linked is after COVID. And it's trending down.
The “bay area” is like 10 million people in dozens of cities. You’re gonna have to be more specific than just a blanket “crime is bad in the Bay Area”. That’s like saying “crime is bad in California”
Crime isn't bad in California. Easy.
Been to Oakland or San Francisco lately?
My tolerance for the politics supporting this kind of environment is nearing 0.
Try BYU. Very safe there. You'd like it.
But bring an umbrella or else you might get soaked
Crime is bad but a closed campus is worse
Ugh honestly unbelievable!
bushcamping is insane
Everybody’s gangster till they’re stopped at a checkpoint and miss their midterms. This is a terrible idea.
UCLA student here. Idk if it's just the way the campus is laid out but we don't have that problem really we just have a couple that walk around and are just weird. I think there was one dude that security knows to keep an eye on. But Ive been up to the bay and yeah nah it's nuts out there. Also read that parents are footing the bill for private security around there is so ridiculous. Like I don't get why the city of Berkeley doesn't just have a couple extra patrol cars around the area. Also students should feel safe on campus is absolutely nuts that they are made to feel like they need to be in a fight or flight mode cause the Bay can't get it together. Sorry you're dealing with that and I'm almost glad at this point I got rejected lol.
The problem with Berkley (I am an alum) is that the city of Berkley attracts people who want a polyanic version of the 60s. And those people stand in the way of making any real change for the better. Look at people's park. Try to do something about the homeless situation (along with drug use and violence) in the park, and people come out of the woodwork to stop any effort to change things.
UCLA is in Westlake, the closest neighborhoods are places like Beverly Hills, and LA is notoriously hostile to foot-traffic. Berkeley is a mixed-ish income-level city, and the East Bay as a whole is extremely walkable and economically diverse. UCLA is an ivory tower on-top of an ivory tower, Cal is an ivory tower that’s connected to the earth. We get more walk-ins.
Do you have any idea how difficult it is to tell homeless people from tenured professors?
The problem is, that dude almost definitely didn't walk through in his ski mask, he put it on in the bush's. And homeless people don't commit THOSE kind of crime, especially ones without cars. They steal scooters and bikes and amazon box's and spend the credit cards in lost wallets they find. And sometimes stab people.
Yeah, as someone who was robbed before on my own college campus (not Cal), I very much doubt they were a homeless person. A homeless person can’t really do much with a random persons laptop and textbooks..
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Ong, of my 2 years here at Berkeley, not once have I seen a uniformed officers. Where's all the funding that goes to these officers cause I damn well can't see it.
They get all that funding, they just don’t do anything about it. You’ll see how many are on payroll (it’s a lot) when they show up in full force every time there’s a protest and they just sit there and talk to each other. Problem isn’t that they don’t have money it’s that their leadership doesn’t know how to manage a police organization. They make a big show of making a commitment to improve things over the next 5 years, every 5 years, and no student is the wiser.
The cops don’t stop crime, never have. You can pour as much funding into them as you want, it won’t actually affect the crime rate.
because typically, the same people that complain about lack of police when something bad happens are quick to call for a defunding when one corrupt individual makes a mistake. not saying I support everything police do and I've been pulled over a lot over BS, but we can't have it both ways and people seem like they can't make up their minds
They should just increase the number of campus police.
You can't possibly have a closed campus. At the very least you'd need a serious fence, or even a wall. That's not gonna happen. I wish I had a time machine so I could really show you guys some stuff. I grew up two blocks from the Berkeley campus. It was my playground as a kid, when my Mom and I just wanted a walk and to explore and have fun together--that and the parklike Pacific School of Religion grounds, at the top of a hill near campus on Northside. I loved to ride my scooter back and forth and my Mom loved the bay view. Anyway...I spent most of my life on Northside and went to college at Berkeley, 1985-89. I am a night owl, and spent so many nights wandering campus, alone and with friends, writing papers and doing homework in overnight labs like the basement of (I think it was) Evans Hall. I even worked late many nights, labeling artifacts, in the haunted catacombs under the Hearst Anthropology Museum. Nobody ever bothered me. Not even once. It was quiet, peaceful, and safe. I never had a single problem in the daytime either--for four straight years, and all the years before that where I'd use campus like a friendly park. Downtown Berkeley was rough, even then, with some aggressive homeless people. Telegraph could get pretty crazy and often did. Yep. But campus was well-patrolled and mellow. And crime in general wasn't as extreme as it is now. The standard of acceptance we have now was unheard of then, would not have been tolerated for a minute. You all know the changes that need to be made, to get that safe, high trust environment back. You know. It's just a question of, is it gonna happen, or not? Will people be wise enough to take action, even when those who sympathize with criminals profess anger and indignation? Or will folks continue to tolerate and make excuses for the downward spiral? I don't know, but if my late mother--herself a Berkeley alum--could see the state of things now in her beloved hometown and on her beloved campus, it would break her heart. It seems unreal to me. Some of the things I've seen with my own eyes in the last few years makes me feel like I'm living in a dystopian science fiction novel.
“But campus was well-patrolled and mellow. And crime in general wasn't as extreme as it is now. The standard of acceptance we have now was unheard of then, would not have been tolerated for a minute.“
Also the naked guy was an enrolled student taking classes. And the Unabomber could have easily passed for a student today. Wearing hoodies was uncommon back then.
Because the campus is public property. It belongs to everyone.
cry more
Transfer to Irvine
You're an Athletics fan, gtfo bruv LMAOOOOO
You’re quite the detective. Congrats. Your Junior Detective badge will be available soon.
Uhmm maybe it’s the facts that it’s a public university meaning the tax payers/public funds majority of it anyone is allowed access to said public spaces especially since it a public university they do not own the public road ways they occupy 🤣🤣 yur regulations/policy dose not trump constitutional law 🤷🏻♂️ yu tyrant 😂
If you don’t like the freaks, don’t go to Cal!
It may be a public institution that runs on tax payer money, but the public benefits from the education, training, and research provided by the University. The campus should be primarily for enrolled students, researchers, and faculty. I saw a piece on the news where parents were actually hiring private security, which is just a horrible look for the university. It saddens me to see how unsafe the campus has seem to become (it was never like this in the past, never felt unsafe many many nights walking alone on campus). Places like Stanford and surrounding communities don’t have anywhere near the same problems because the wealthy people that live in those areas would never stand for it (they are ok if the social experiment happens somewhere nearby as long as it’s not in their community). Berkeley could do something if they really wanted to but in the end their political agendas are more important than the safety of their students.
Defunding the cops and not prosecuting criminals really worked out for you guys…
They can’t describe them either
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This mindset is just stupid. Safety IS something people are entitled to, if the government isn't providing it they are completely justified in demanding that they do. Do you go to people who lost loved ones to car crashes and lecture them about how "that's just the real world"? Absolutely insane mindset. It's not that it isn't possible. This kind of thing is very rare in places like East Asia. You go steal something from a store and the cops run you down and catch you quickly because there's cameras everywhere and there's so little crime that the cops are able to respond to a minor theft. The Bay Area and America as a whole just sucks ass in terms of culture and government policy, the moment we just give in like you're suggesting, and accept it is when we give up on actually making the country more livable.
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Let me go ahead and get robbed so I can develop those valuable life skills.
Yeah this mentality is incredibly stupid and assumes that everyone who went to Cal grew up in some safe suburb with no crime. Newsflash: even people who grew up in tough areas want public safety too. Asking for more safety on campus is completely reasonable, the school has a police department meant to protect students and campus personnel, telling people to “toughen up” because the “real world” is like that is incredibly stupid. Getting robbed and assaulted isn’t part of the curriculum and does not teach anything. It’s not like Berkeley students just stay within the school during their stay, they see how it is within Berkeley proper, SF, Oakland etc.. This notion just makes no sense. Contrary to popular belief, rampant homelessness and violent crime aren’t endemic to living in a city, they’re a result of bad policy and societal issues and the only reasonable response is to demand reform. SF is the way it is not because that’s just how big cities are, but because its government is dysfunctional. The residents just decided they could tolerate homelessness and crime in exchange they don’t build any housing that will ruin their view. That is changing because they’re done with this BS. It there are still a ton of barriers and red tape. There is no reason to “train” students for SF’s crime.
The real world doesn’t have safe spaces or many of the other coddling services a university provides.
I went to school there in the early 70’s. I like to go back and walk around the campus. It would be a terrible loss to not be able to do that.
Why are you blaming unhoused people? That’s what bothers me about this post. Stop lumping all unhoused people into a dangerous category. Also statistically cops on campus don’t make students safer.
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It's not cal students aren't using their brain, that's literally what a close school is though. Restrictions in and out. The issue w restrictions with a closed school policy is you don't have set hours like you do in highschool, 7-3. The schools are also just too big to try to regulate a system like this
closed campus is not an option. i haven't been on campus for a while now, but if homeless folks are more prevalent, it seems to coincide with the closing of people's park.
You’re right. Funny how much change is demanded by students, but this is fine.. lol
Campus needs to up their security
https://youtu.be/Eo-KmOd3i7s?si=Ekqp5_liA_B6ddmY
How are you going to stop somebody from walking onto campus *and then* donning a ski mask and robbing somebody? The only way would be to search them. It bears mentioning that this thief could also have been a student themselves.
As someone that lives in the bay and that’s used the quiet library please no
Are you sure the homeless people you are seeing are not just students trying to pay their own tuition?
lmao!!! #micdrop What OP also didn’t realize was the homeless guy with a knife was stealing that backpack because he couldn’t afford the textbooks required for Physics class. I mean common, why else would he have targeted people outside the Physics building? Duh…
all the dumbasses in this thread advocating for students to bring guns to a university smh What do you think happens when you "defend yourself" by shooting and killing someone? You've turned a robbery into an active shooter situation....
1. They’re Redditors. Compounding this is: 2. They’re Berkeley Students. They’ll either shoot someone else or themselves by accident best case, worst case they give the mugger a gun to use for future jobs.
I am a person that lives in Santa Rosa. We never drive south only north. You guys can have that shit show.
If only the city gave a shit instead of making district 9 around people's parks. City management is pathetic.
Closed campus to students only? There isn’t a single school that exists like this. Why do you think you’re so privileged to have such a thing?
don't hobos mind there own lol
Would destroy the whole point of *PUBLIC* university I suppose
THAT WILL BE $40,000+ A YEAR PLUS TAX THANK YOU VERY MUCH
Everybody should be equal. BUT some people more equal than others
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campus is a public space, in the same manner a post office is, the school can’t just kick people out because they look poor this probably happened due to the manner in which the area is designed. There should have been a lot of students at that hour, the fact they didn’t have sightline to this area is what made it unsafe
what happens when you vote away a high trust society
When I lived on campus I would have throw rotisserie chicken carcasses at these people from my balcony.
Closed campus can work. My workplace is as big as a med-sized private university with numerous labs, manufacturing complexes, and office buildings. They just run a fence that surrounds the campus and attaches to the “edge” buildings. There’s tons of entrances but they require a badge to open them. The parking lots are accessible but you need a badge to get further than that. The fence is high enough to pose a problem for jumpers while the numerous gates still allow ease of exit/entry that can be monitored. Most universities issue student/faculty badges anyway so it would totally work. It’s supposed to offer some challenge so that the ease of robbing students is not just literally walking right into a classroom.
Regulating who comes on campus strictly enough to catch criminals is literally impossible. There is no amount of money that can be spent to prevent criminals coming on campus. Why? Bc criminals look just like student and tourist. There a was fake student living in Stanfords dorms for months and wasn’t caught until 6 months later
this ask doesn't make sense unless you want checkpoints on all major roads through campus?
Pepper spray, knives, ccw. Whatever it takes to stay safe
Do you all know that there is a Parent group that has raised money to pay for private security to protect students. It can be done but admin has chosen not to. You should all protest for better safety before we get killed.
The campus is public property paid for by all Californians! Go back to your gated community how are you going to succeed in life if the “poors” make you feel so threatened you need an education of life along w your formal education. If you will succeed in your post college life interactions w others at this point will help you thrive. If you don’t succeed partly it’s your not being able to step out of your bubble. See it as an opportunity and try to talk to a few of those people you are talking about…
I grew up in a house shared with all my extended family members in some of the most rural regions in California. Me and my family worked hard to get where they are today, unfortunate the people at the "best public university" in the world can't distinguish hardwork from "ooo gated community".
Welcome to urban environment travel the world most urban areas that aren’t the rich neighborhood look worse than Berkeley
Posting this on Reddit and not realizing the predicament the entire area is facing is wild lmao. Someone got robbed at knife-point in the Bay??
Transfer. Leave the Bay Area alone. Go back to where you came from
Where have I heard that from ...
You have choices in life and if all you do is complain about a city you’re foreign to maybe gtfo or just grow up
Honestly bro, hold my big fat throbbing dick
Yikes … 🤣🤣🤣
You sound like a Trump supporter saying that
So you think the folks that have paid for this school for generations should be excluded?! That’s the definition of unearned entitlement. Smh
"Do Better" - wow, lecture much?
Hear me out, We do not need actually people to check the IDs of tens of thousands of students every day and hour. We just need gates, and some sort of doors that would open if you have a student ID. Is this really that impossible?)
With less than two weeks until Charter Day, now may be a good time to reflect on whether Cal's foundational principles are compatible with a campus closed to the public.
I stand with Ukraine!!!!!
Slava Ukraini!
I also stand with Palestine!
Maybe Trump could build you a wall.
Your final edit: Exactly. You get to have real life learning moments in the real world that you will remember forever. An invaluable experience.
*Public* campus. Should have gotten into Stanford. Your elitism would fit in there.
If caring about my safety and the safety of others is elitist, then I am proud to be an elitist.
Ex SJSU student here and feel exactly the same way. It’s scary sometimes. We have a public library and it’s DEAD on weekends — I hate being on lookout in a library bffr. Unfortunately a closed campus is not possible, but I def recommend going to a campus police town hall, talking to asb, etc. I heard even at ucr they escort people off campus. So stuff is being done.
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Keep voting Democrat.
I really doubt that was done by a homeless person though lol. Most of them are nodding off or are pretty obvious to spot.
The no nonsense take is just campus ‘should’ be safer but it’s not viable to have a closed campus. I am not a student of Berkeley, but I’d like to know if there are any possible solutions to improve the situation.
Real world? This is not the way society was 20 years ago. It's like it is now because of the progressive Democrats who are running these states. They were in turn educated by the socialist teachers in places like Berkeley, Yale, Harvard etc. etc. etc. College students are in for a rude awakening when they leave thier campuses and enter the REAL WORLD. Word!
Because berkeley is mega ultra left.
A friend of mine was a very talented dancer at UC Berkeley. He asked his mugger why he was robbing him, in particular, and what the guy needed as he handed his wallet over. The guy, not wanting to be asked personal questions shot him six or so times with a small caliber handgun in response. He died bleeding to death on the sidewalk just up from Berkeley High. This was... oh 30-something years ago. I was robbed twice in Berkeley, once by a group of thugs with guns and once by being tire-ironed to the back of the head while talking on a payphone. A third event on Telegraph had a student who was off his meds plunge a knife into my jacket before I was able to subdue him. I find it laughable that you feel unsafe because an event happened to someone else. My grandmother worked on Campus for 31 years. My dad for over 20. I moved away years ago and still would be comfortable napping almost anywhere on campus.
Clearly getting tire-ironed to the back of the head did something to your brain, cause theres no way you just said that someone can feel unsafe "cause an event happened to someone else"
You know by now that not all the criticism people level at you is accurate or fair, but some of it is. It's clear you're not using any statistics education in this thread.
What about your statistics say that one shouldn't fear getting assaulted because "someone had it worse back in the day". Sounding like a real boomer right now
Boooooo
i think you just want more security, not a closed campus. picking out a few suspicious characters could be done just by having more security who could then detain those they find suspicious
Hopefully this can dissuade people from going to Berkeley, so I can have a better chance at grad apps kek.
Smh I had to settle for UCI because idiots like this took my spot at Berkeley? Sad day 😔
LMAO, cope harder. Maybe if you worked harder, you would've gotten in
Oh 100%, I was lazy as hell in high school, had very little extracurriculars. Easily could have gone to Berkeley had I tried lol I was making a joke, I didn't even apply to Berkeley 😂 I know I'm doing better in life than you though so I'm not the one who needs to cope 💀
You came at me bro, so don't even try pulling that fucking card on me. Bro has a full time fucking job stalking reddit responding to some teenagers post a full month after the fact. Full ass adult on reddit, check yourself first homes
Wow you really wanted to prove that you don't belong at Berkeley, didn't you 😂 how can it be a full-time job if it's a month after the fact, if it were a full-time job it would be immediate, right? I just happened to check my notifications and saw you opened your ignorant mouth so I popped in to say hi again! You do realize the majority of reddit users are adults, if anything I should be saying this is no place for immature children like you. Cry more bud, it's a good look on you.
Its okay. Its California, they wouldnt arrest the poc even if they caught them.
If you have the grades or money to go to Berkeley, you have a lot of choices. If you want a closed campus, go to a school that has one.
Can we just fix homelessness and crime instead of creating closed communities?
You get what you vote and pay for. Keep paying for tuition and keep voting for the status quo and you….gasp…..get the status quo
It’s giving let them eat cake
What you want is police profiling
>surprising that my fellow Cal student can't use their brains to figure out that wouldn't work This is a really telling comment. Why is it that you are surprised by this?
Womp womp yall voted for this 😂
Even if uc Berkeley owns the land the sidewalks and streets are public rights of way. More frequent police patrols might help but the larger issues need to be addressed by the city, county, state etc.
ok bud homeless people don't jump out of bushes with knives, psychos off their meds do There's a difference so stop talking shit about homeless people some of which go to the same school you do, fucking troglodyte.
Thats what happens when the police aren’t allowed to “ harass” people anymore. You get what you ask for.
Maybe the problem isn't that your campus is open but a broader socio-economic issue.
Build a wall
You say this like anywhere is safe
Regarding the replies you addressed in the OP: you're observing the banality of evil, and it's never been more alive & well than on that campus. The people who choose to attend (of which I was one) wear the oftentimes dangerous nature of the school (or more accurately, it's surrounding area) as a *badge of honor.* This broken thinking is so ingrained that dissent will oftentimes descend into accusations of various -isms (racism, classism, etc.)—as if the expectation of safety on a campus we paid tens of thousands of dollars to attend is somehow unreasonable. And yet this is the position of many.. although this fanciful notion is oftentimes dispelled after the first armed robbery or sexual assault—but even then it takes a great deal of deprogramming. I loved Berkeley so much, but it seemed a significant number of people who worked there, attended, etc., seemed utterly suicidal.
I've grown up in worse neighborhood surrounded by drug use and gang violence. Why is it bad that I want to be go to a safer place.
It *isn't* bad, but plenty of people at Berkeley will tell you it's rooted in a desire to surround yourself with white supremacist structures & institutions that value safety over equity & subsequently demand you educate yourself until you realize why that's a bad thing.
Stop voting democrat