On Nov. 20, our campus received alarming news that, at 6 p.m. the night before, a student was kidnapped on central campus, taken off campus and sexually assaulted. Because UC Berkeley’s administration has failed to prioritize student safety, our campus is now hurting.

According to a recent report by The Daily Californian, crime has been skyrocketing in Berkeley in recent years. Our campus sadly has the most property crimes of all 49 California public schools, as reported by the FBI. This includes more than 1,000 property crimes in 2014, such as burglary and theft. UC Berkeley is also ranked as the UC campus with the second highest violent-crime-per-student rate of any undergraduate UC campus.

Truthfully, our campus lighting does not provide sufficient lighting for the walkways students use daily. This is deeply troubling considering UCPD’s daily incident logs that demonstrate a surge in the number of violent crimes once the sun has set. Without proper lighting, crimes are more likely to occur.

Last semester, the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Student Services and Fees rejected a student proposal to fund the installation of off-campus streetlights. This year, the campus administration has an opportunity to reverse its negligence and improve campus and off-campus lighting. For example, funding for more lighting could come from the Life Safety Fee, which generates approximately $2.25 million and is mandated to improve the safety of student services, buildings and facilities.

Furthermore, UCPD should make more of an effort to actively protect students. In order to do so, UCPD should redistribute their attention away from monitoring student parties and peaceful demonstrations, and instead toward providing services for night safety.

As for the safety education provided by UC Berkeley, Bear Pact adequately introduces campus resources as well as ways to prevent alcohol abuse and sexual assault. Moreover, the recently launched student initiative, [email protected], has made strides in reducing alcohol-related risks and harm. But more can be done; UC Berkeley should host more safety workshops throughout the year that expand student awareness about night safety and violent crime prevention.

Ultimately, it’s been nearly two weeks since Nov. 19’s abduction and sexual assault, and students have yet to receive a formal notice from the campus administration. Neither Chancellor Nicholas Dirks nor UCPD has released a statement in response to the incident. The campus also has yet to lay out a concrete plan to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

We are students first — and that means UC Berkeley has an obligation to protect our safety. If these constant crime reports are not enough to promote appropriate responses from the campus administration, then it is on us as concerned student leaders to make our voices heard. After all, we have a right to safety.

Contributors: Student Action ASUC Senators Rachel Schuster and Will Morrow.

André Luu is a Student Action senator of the Associated Students of the University of California.

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