The area immediately surrounding the campus is fine. Once you get five or six blocks away to the north and east, you start seeing houses with bars over the windows. (I’ve seen the same type of neighborhoods near lots of universities.) There’s nothing to the east of the campus except light industrial and warehouses. Just to the south are a bunch of museums (including the Space Shuttle Endeavour) and the Coliseum.
People always exaggerate how dangerous various places are, especially when they’ve never actually been there.