DANGEROUSLY DARK areas of campus that have been the site of several attacks on students will be ‘reclaimed’ in a march organised by YUSU’s Women’s Committee.
Women’s officers Amal Ali and Ellie Kuper Thomas are running the ‘Reclaim The Night’ march on Monday Week 10 to highlight how poorly lit areas of the University are putting students at risk.
The route will focus on some of the most notorious danger spots on campus, including ‘rape alley’ between the new Vanbrugh blocks and The Retreat, the Siwards Way subway, Windmill Lane and the unlit side of the lake.
Signs around these areas warn students not to use them at night, but Ali and Kuper Thomas believe that this is not good enough.
“Most students tend to ignore the warnings, and they are not an adequate response to ensuring student safety,” explained Ali. “The majority of the reported attacks have occurred in these marked areas.”
During freshers’ week last year an unusually high number of attacks on students forced the University to increase security patrols around Halifax College.
Since then, there have been a number of attacks on students on and around campus, including an attempted sexual assault on a female student in May and an accusation of rape on Heslington Lane last December, that was later withdrawn for unclear reasons.
Ali and Kuper Thomas hope that the march will draw attention to these dangers and are urging the University to improve lighting around the poorly lit campus.
“With better lighting, the likelihood of being attacked and assaulted will be greatly reduced,” said Kuper Thomas. “Our call is to the University to improve the lighting around campus to ensure that all students feel safe at all times.”
But the University has already hit back at the campaign. University press officer David Garner stated: “The campus is not badly lit”.
“If there are any areas of concern then students can raise these and the University will look at them,” he added.
Traditionally, ‘Reclaim The Night’ marches focus on issues such as rape and male violence, with the main purpose of giving women one night when they can safely walk the streets without fear.
However, Ali and Kuper Thomas believe that the inadequate lighting on campus puts both female and male students at risk. They reckon that it is about time the University addressed the issue and took responsibility for student safety.
In the mean time the University advises students to carry a personal alarm, walk with friends and avoid the darkest areas around the campus.
The march, featuring speeches from the NUS Women’s Officer and a speaker from the Women’s Studies department, takes place Monday Week 10 6pm-8pm. Meet at Market Square from 5.30pm. Both male and female students welcome.
I seem to remember we ran a feature on this about a year ago, highlighting the dark spots on campus- looking at broken lights, and areas where there were no lights at all. As for the uni saying the campus isn’t badly lit- when do they walk around campus at night, or down Windmill Lane?
York feels deceptively safe, especially if you’re from a city where the ‘threat’ of rape or attack is much more tangible, but as this article points out, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.
With less portering as it is, I reckon the least the uni could do is make sure we can see attackers coming; that way when security services turn up an hour later, we can give them a description.
York is indeed very safe, but there is a diff between being safe and feeling safe.
the new bridge renovation between central hall and physics shows just how well the rest of campus should be lit up and we can only hope that the rest of campus does become as well lit as that area does soon!
furthermore if the uni did re-do all the lights on campus it could replace them with energy saving bulbs and make a big PR stunt about being green!? win win for all, in that case.