<p>No, I’m not a ■■■■■. Yes, what I’m about to say actually happened. I swear on it. I’m a member of NYU Class of 2016. I visited NYC yesterday to see a Broadway show. To make a long story short, I got mugged by six huge black dudes, I had a guy pretend to hold a door open for me and then slam it in my face, calling me a “pompous ass,” and I dealt with a rude remark every 10 minutes even though I did nothing wrong. Seriously, are all Manhattan residents jerks? Is the city always this dangerous? As you can imagine, this turned me off from NYU now considering a lot of this stuff happened in the Village.</p>
<p>Hmm this has never happened to me. I always walk around with a tough look on my face and don’t look around the surroundings too much, just keep your eyes towards where you’re going. otherwise, you look like a tourist</p>
<p>Yea, I learned that lesson. Don’t move your eyes around. Look forward. However, it’s pretty hard when you don’t know where you’re going.</p>
<p>To answer your question- no it doesn’t get any worse… Only better!
I’m upset that all of that happened to you on your visit to NYC and NYU. I personally have never been accosted like that before, and contrary to what the previous person said, sometimes a wander around aimlessly with a smile on my face, not a determined, hard face on. (Though I must say, most of the time I do have somewhere to be and walk like a bat out of hell.) I’m very tall, a stick-like figure, and pretty queer, which a lot of people tell me to be careful being so vulnerable looking, but I’ve never had a problem. Hell, I grew up in San Diego and Orange County CA, and I’ve felt more unsafe there than I’ve ever felt here. Plus, now I live in Bushwick, Brooklyn, which is a tad more “dangerous” than most of Manhattan, and yet nothing has ever become of it.<br>
I would say, once the NYU crowd comes back around to the village, people you’ll feel much safer. (Though can you blame some Manhattanites for being fed up with 60,000 NYU students around the village each and every day?).<br>
But, that being said, don’t wear your heart on your shoulder. People in NY are brash, no-bs kind of people. They are dealing with dumb tourists, rude people, and god knows what else each and every day. Gets a little fatiguing, and it shows sometimes.</p>
<p>I really hope your experiences only get better when you get here in the Fall. You are going to love it. If you’re in CAS, and are signed up for the College Cohort Program, this will be a valuable resource, as well. I’m a college leader for the program and if you ever need anything, all of the CL’s are there to help!</p>
<p>Oh, and btw, if you were seeing a Broadway show in Midtown/Times Square area, these locations are festering with people who prey on tourists seeing Broadway shows at night/afternoon. It’s usually never like that in the Village. :)</p>
<p>Not to be a jerk, but I feel like you must’ve done something to make this happen… You must’ve made yourself a target somehow or garnered attention in one way or another. Were you wearing extra flashy clothes? Why were you alone?</p>
<p>None of these are justifiable reasons for people to do these things but the reason I ask is because these stories seem extremely uncommon especially all in one visit. I’ve been to NYC at least a hundred times and I can say that I have never experienced something similar to your story. Always try to not “stand out” as a target and you’ll be fine. NYC has one of the largest police presences of any major city so chances are that this will never happen again. Don’t walk by yourself and use common sense!</p>
<p>I was wearing a plain t-shirt and shorts, nothing out of the ordinary. I was with one other friend who had taken karate, but he decided to not help me because “he didn’t want to get entangled.” </p>
<p>GreenwichGarcon, what exactly is the College Cohort Program, and how would I get involved in it?</p>
<p>Wednesdaytomato, don’t be discouraged. It is rare that things like that happen. I too was in city yesterday to see a show on Broadway. My D has been in city for the past 4 years at NYU and has never experienced what you have. One word of advise, walk with detemination, not wandering aimlessly or a lost look on your face. I disagree ith the poster about times square. It is one of the safest areas because of all the people present including tourists.</p>
<p>Whaaaaaat? That’s crazy, I’m sorry that happened to you. The area around NYU is VERY nice, and in my experience, very safe. Where I’m originally from, you’re pretty much guaranteed to get mugged if you have headphones on. It took me a while to get used to seeing 1 out of every 3 people wearing Beats. Last year, there were a few times that I walked a mile back to my dorm from campus after midnight, and I had no problems (there are actually a lot of people still out).</p>
<p>Also, I wouldn’t say that you have to look tough when you walk around… that’s just NYC tough-guy B.S. I’m a 5’3 Asian goofball who refuses to accept that New Yorkers won’t make eye contact on the street. I’d be ready if things got real, but I never felt that I had to change who I was to avoid being targeted.</p>
<p>Not all New Yorkers are jerks, and you’re going to meet a lot of people who aren’t from New York anyway!</p>
<p>You can’t even handle 6 black dudes and you wanna live in NYC??? are you kidding me?? if you wanna live you gotta be a Bruce Lee like everyone else here.</p>
<p>Hey WednesdayTomato-
To answer your question about the college cohort program, if you are CAS, you should automatically be placed into the CCP. It is linked with your Freshman Seminar that you will be taking in the fall. Stern has the same program; CAS just decided last year to assimilate the same structure. Other schools have different programs to engage incoming freshmen. </p>
<p>~Hope that helps~</p>
<p>And to the person who commented saying that Times Square is one of the safest areas because of all the people, I would have to disagree. Especially to the West of Times Square… It isn’t dangerous, it’s just not nearly as inviting and safe as Greenwich Village.</p>
<p>Where exactly did all this take place? What time of day? You certainly weren’t seeing a Broadway show in the Village, right? You were somewhere where someone was holding a door for you? There were no other people around aside from the “six black dudes”?</p>
<p>Well I’ve been to New York only a couple times and stayed in Times Square both times. Past 1:00am there were not many people out on the streets in Midtown and even in Times Square. In fact, it was sort of depressingly deserted. However, there WERE a lot of black guys out that I didn’t see during the day. I noticed they hung out on the sidewalks and outside clubs, often in groups of 2-4. They didn’t look particularly intimidating, however, like the ones you’d find in South Central LA or Richmond CA. So even as a tourist, I never had a problem with them. Of course, I walked fast and just kept going. </p>
<p>And then there’s the giant rats. OH GOD. I actually saw them couple times running across the street at night. Combine that with the tepid steam that rises from the sewers and stench of trash that people leave on the sidewalk and NYC/Times Square at midnight looks like a scene out of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie. </p>
<p>During the day, however, I couldn’t have felt any safer. 90% of the people walking around are tourists. Even if they’re wearing peacoats and walking fast, they’re tourists. 
You can tell because the actual New Yorkers will carry a briefcase and be walking up and down the subway steps. ;)</p>
<p>Wow, nice racial profiling.</p>
<p>So by calling a black person “black” I’m racist? I would have easily said “6 huge white dudes” if that had been the case. Get over yourself.</p>
<p>WednesdayTomato I think cartoon heart was talking about the comment made by grabbit rather than the one made by you.</p>
<p>Oh, whoops. I didn’t notice that. Now I feel stupid. :P</p>
<p>Yes that was a nice racial profiling by grabbit! In this day an age no doubt. Stay out of NY we don’t need your types!</p>