<p>As long as you stay ON campus and don’t wander off?</p>
<p>I often love programming well into 3 AM at night.</p>
<p>It’s important to use common sense. I lived in Hyde Park for several years and never had a problem and I have traveled many places around the world and have never had a problem.
But I’m a tall guy, etc. If I were a woman, I would probably think twice about some things I don’t think about as a guy. I also took the vans or buses or umbrella coverage from time to time.
I NEVER rode the el from Hyde Park to downtown the entire time I was in Chicago. My roommate had a friend of his from high school, who was about to enter UChicago, come to visit just before school started. They decided to take the el downtown one night. I told them it wasn’t a good idea but they didn’t listen. They got mugged and roughed up. I think they got $1,000 in cash from the friend, who didn’t want to tell his parents because he was scared they would make him come home. So he went all quarter without any money.</p>
<p>Now, I lived in Chicago for ten years and never had a single problem. Because I use the brain that UChicago gave me. :)</p>
<p>Take the bus, and don’t “wander.” Just go from Point A to Point B.</p>
<p>I don’t think you’ll necessarily be mugged if you’re walking in lit areas, but it simply doesn’t feel very safe unless it’s right after a security alert (in which case there are policemen patrolling each and every block around campus). But normally, I always end up looking over my shoulder quite a bit when I’m walking around campus past 1 AM by myself.</p>
<p>Not really dangerous on campus at all at 3 am. A few people were mugged at night on the quads fall quarter, but I think the same person was responsible in the end. I end up walking around campus at 2 am most nights, and I’ve never felt threatened in the least really. You could probably get home safely to other locations in Hyde Park walking alone almost every night, but there are shuttles running every 20 minutes until 2 or 3 am and safe ride so you don’t even have to try.</p>
<p>Well, Powell’s brags how it’s open til 11 pm, Open Produce is open very late, and now with a 24 hour diner on 53rd street… I’m not an economist, but simple supply and demand suggests that students are walking around Hyde Park at all hours of the day. </p>
<p>My general advice, as a former Hyde Parker, is to look both ways before crossing the street. Don’t bring your valuables out to play if you can help it, don’t walk alone if you are not sober or with headphones on. Walk on well-lit routes when you can and know who else is out on the street. If you don’t want to walk, know your options.</p>
<p>“My general advice, as a former Hyde Parker, is to look both ways before crossing the street. Don’t bring your valuables out to play if you can help it, don’t walk alone if you are not sober or with headphones on. Walk on well-lit routes when you can and know who else is out on the street.”</p>
<p>This is very good advice for ANY big city.</p>
<p>The bad guys aren’t stupid - they prey on weakness. If you are drunk or alone or wearing headphones, you are a target.</p>
<p>I am pretty sure at 3:00AM it is as dangerous as walking around 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Washington DC 20500, on campuses in Cambridge, MA 02138 , Providence, RI 02912 , New Haven, CT 06520, and Philadelphia, PA 19104 .</p>
<p>1) Learn the Chicago walk. You know exactly where you’re going, even if you have no idea where you’re going.
2) Be aware. Don’t carry around your valuables. Don’t wear headphones, especially the white ones which tell people you’re lugging expensive Apple gear. Don’t be drunk and by yourself. Try not to be by yourself at all.
3) Know which services the University offers to keep you safe and how to access them. Shuttles, umbrella coverage, etc.</p>
<p>Hyde Park isn’t much more dangerous than any other urban area, but it’s still urban and you still need to practice common sense. If you like programming into the wee hours of the morning, consider programming in your room so you don’t have to worry about wandering at night.</p>
<p>Yeah, I agree with OxalisWombo - Hyde Park is an urban place, and it requires a little urban common sense. I’m a second-year girl, and I often find myself in the library until 3am, but if I walk home I do so with a couple of friends, or I call umbrella coverage if I’m really by myself. It’s never that much of an issue.
Just ensure that you are aware of your surroundings. There’s a really handy iPhone/Android app that tracks the shuttles and buses in Hyde Park, so you always know where they are.</p>
<p>Yes, it is completely safe. It’s in south Chicago. Big deal. I’m going to go ahead and assume that most of the people commenting saying that you should practice caution, and never ride the L at night are slightly racist, but would defend themselves against that accusation by saying that they’re not because they have multiple black friends. My point here is to ask if you really and truly think that there is a chance that someone is going to kill you, or even threaten to harm you. That would mean that they’re willing to risk several years of prison to hold up a completely random stranger in the hopes of getting maybe an iPhone and some pocket cash. Especially if you’re white, and even more so that you’re a woman, no functioning criminal would even think about going near you. I think the real problem is people’s paranoia of low-income, high-minority areas. I would bet that you could walk down any street on south side with a wad of cash in your hand, and you would come into no harm.</p>
<p>By the way, the University of Chicago employs the second largest private police force of any university in the United States (whether they need to or not). That might put your mind at ease.</p>
<p>Someone just had to toss in the race card. Ugg.</p>
<p>There are about 500 violent crimes a year in the UofC patrol area. That is far more than many other Chicago neighborhoods and far less than others. 500 a year is enough to tell you not to temp fate. A feel horrible when I hear of someone mugged at 2am but also feel like yelling at the victim to not tempt fate.</p>
<p>I used to live in the area and still get down to Washington Park for soccer and softball every summer. I have been the victim of a few crimes in Chicago but actually, none near Uof C. (One was a smash & grab through the bars of an apartment window on busy LaSalle Street. </p>
<p>That said, I would never walk alone at 3am. Senseless.</p>
<p>If you must be out alone that late (and I can’t see why) walk under lights, away from the buildings and doorways. Walk in the street if you have to.</p>
<p>This advice applies to those of any race creed or color.</p>
<p>jjredwine: Your post is uninformed and inaccurate. You are suggesting that UChicago students don’t need to practice caution when in an urban area, and that is completely unfounded.</p>
<p>Yes, UCPD is a great resource. Yes, they make things much safer around campus. But it’s still an urban area, and UCPD does not make the south side a safe haven.</p>
<p>We can offer this advice without invoking racism by invoking statistics. As a resource to everyone concerned about safety, I offer the UCPD’s daily incident reports. Everything reported is posted online. [UCPD</a> Daily Incident Reports | The University of Chicago](<a href=“http://www.uchicago.edu/php/safety/incidentReports.php]UCPD”>http://www.uchicago.edu/php/safety/incidentReports.php)</p>
<p>To get a clearer picture regarding exactly what we’re talking about here, look back to the fall, as crime slows in the winter.</p>
<p>I’m not sure why everyone is jumping on jjredwine. His post certainly merits serious consideration, whether he is ■■■■■■■■ or not. </p>
<p>We all know crime can, and does, occur in Hyde Park. It’s not really tempting fate to walk about in Hyde Park at 2 am any more than it is to walk around on the north side at 2 am. A lot of prospective students and their parents get the unfortunate impression that it is unsafe for their kids to venture off-campus by more than a few blocks, day or night. This is simply not true–Hyde Park is a thoroughly gentrified community, in all corners. It’s nowhere near unsafe as most other communities in the south side. A lot of credit goes to the UCPD, of course, but that doesn’t mean we’re at a constant war with the communities around us, either. </p>
<p>Citing a statistic that encompasses the areas of roughly 2.5 neighborhoods and then comparing it on a single neighborhood basis is horribly misleading. The UCPD patrol area extends from 39th street to 64th, yet you claim this figure on violent crimes proves Hyde Park is a relatively dangerous neighborhood. Most of the violent crimes you’re citing actually occur in the outer boundaries of that region (i.e. away from the U of C and Hyde Park). </p>
<p>Racism, meanwhile, is a real and pressing issue here. It’s not something we can scoff at and move on. Most people in the U of C community like to pretend the south side does not exist, and completely avoid venturing south of 61st street or west of Washington Park. There’s an attitude present that goes beyond rational comparisons of crime rates and into the realm of the emotional, from profiling students on safe ride to refusing to live west of Ellis Ave. to shying away from the Green and Red Lines. For instance, there was a conversation in my house recently about sexual assault prevention in which someone claimed that—living in the south side–we’re in the right place for this sort of training. But the statistics don’t actually show we’re at any more of a risk than the average community in Chicago. According to the 2009 annual report (<a href=“https://portal.chicagopolice.org/portal/page/portal/ClearPath/News/Statistical%20Reports/Annual%20Reports[/url]”>https://portal.chicagopolice.org/portal/page/portal/ClearPath/News/Statistical%20Reports/Annual%20Reports</a>), there were only 9 instances of criminal sexual assault in Hyde Park that year—well on the low side for the city (this is in addition to assuming that a higher number of cases successfully indicates that one is more likely to fall victim to sexual abuse from strangers while walking down the street, and that preventative training could play a significant role in reducing these numbers). On violent crime the relative statistics for Hyde Park are even better. And while the crime rates for some of the surrounding communities could certainly do with improvement, this doesn’t justify the incredible segregation we foster with attitudes like this: <a href=“Redirecting...”>Redirecting...;