Two students injured in off-campus shooting

Colleges & Universities University of Southern California
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<p>[Two</a> students injured in off-campus shooting|Daily Trojan](<a href=“http://dailytrojan.com/2011/09/04/two-students-injured-in-off-campus-shooting/]Two”>Two students injured in off-campus shooting - Daily Trojan)</p>

<p>not trying to throw this in USC’s face, just read it on LAist and thought people might want to read it too.</p>

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<p>That is certainly scary, and I hope LAPD can get the suspect in custody soon, but why are you so obsessed with USC? I don’t get it. Everytime there is something even slightly negative that happens at or near USC or involving someone affiliated with USC you seem to take perverse pleasure in posting it here. It’s kinda pathetic.</p>

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<p>Every major school has at least one, trojanchick. It is sad and pathetic indeed.</p>

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<p>First, my prayers are with these students and their families. </p>

<p>Second, a few things to point out to those who don’t know USC/the area very well:

  1. This was married student housing, which (according to the article) is a ways north of campus and not where the majority of undergraduates would be spending their time.
  2. This was also a private house party off-campus. If a student attended a party at a campus owned or operated location (or a Greek house), there would be a decent amount of security. </p>

<p>I feel very safe at USC. A few nights ago, I was on campus until sometime after midnight. My dad (a Trojan who graduated in the 70’s) was in awe of the amount of security on and around campus. He was also stunned to see how nice the neighborhood looked. USC is safer now than it ever was and it’s only getting safer. </p>

<p>My advice? Stay in secure areas. Don’t go to random house parties. Don’t hold open parties. Be careful when you open your dorm building (the dorms require a keycard to enter the building and the elevators. The stair key only lets you enter at your floor) and travel in groups.</p>

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<p>I hope they catch the guy too and wish the best to those injured.</p>

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<p>This is a known “bad area” of campus and like victoriaheidi said, where mostly graduate, married or international students live. Most undergrads live in the North Campus area, which is much safer. I NEVER went on the west side of campus because it is very, very unsafe; you are running a risk by venturing there late at night.</p>

<p>I don’t know why a UCLA student feels the need to post things here that shed a negative light on USC all the time, though. I wish there was a way we could stop it; it’s not like we went and posted articles about the UCLA groper/molester when that was happening last year. UCLA also has a huge homeless problem, but I don’t feel the need to ru n around broadcasting that. Los Angeles is a big city and like any other big city, it’s going to have its fair share of bad eggs.</p>

<p>I always felt safe (and usually pretty protected by the locals) when I was an UG at USC. Most people actually love the school and the students; it’s just a few hoodlums and wannabe thugs that feel the need to cause problems (usually teens and early 20 year old males from the surrounding areas).</p>

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<p>Prayers out to them and their families. Doesn’t seem to be a USC related problem though. Just an altercation that could have happened almost anywhere. Sad to say the least. </p>

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<p>I think beyphy made sure to make it pretty clear that his intentions were more on the informative and sincere side rather than the “in your face” rivalry side. I wouldn’t mind if people posted informative things in the UCLA board even if sometimes they are negative and unfortunate circumstances. Maybe it’s just me, but I’d rather feel knowledgeable and wise (with the good and the negative info) than blissfully ignorant. Maybe it’s the opposite for USC students? </p>

<p>Man, the hostility to us here is somewhat distressing.</p>

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<p>There are UCLA students who post here about any event that appears to show something negative about SC. I was curious to see how much crime there is reported on the UCLA CAMPUS-- not blocks away from campus. The fact is campus crime occurs across the nation each year and even small rural campuses are not immune.</p>

<p>These numbers are from the official FBI report of crime on the UCLA campus for the year 2010. Numbers are not available for 2011 at this time. These are numbers from the UCLA website. Reported crimes are listed.</p>

<p>I did not include crimes such as trespass or minor crimes.</p>

<p>Offenses:
Robbery 12
Forcible rapes 10
Assaults 70
Burglary 179
Thefts 654
Motor Vehicle Thefts 23
Arson 2
Forgery 78
Sex Offenses 20</p>

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<p>g0ld3n= If you look on the list of threads started by bephry you will notice that he/she posts many threads on the USC site meant to portray USC in a negative manner. My son who chose USC over UCLA never even LOOKS at the UCLA site- he is happy with his choice and could frankly care less what is happening in Westwood. After reading bephry’s posts I don’t think that his intentions are as innocuous as you claim :)</p>

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<p>firstly, there’s no “r” in my user name. </p>

<p>Secondly, i’ll create whatever threads i like, for whatever reasons i wish, as long as they don’t break the rules; I don’t care who you are, or what you think of me and my intentions. This is a forum. We discuss things in forums. Why did i make this thread ? because this is something i wanted to discuss. I don’t see what’s so hard to follow about that. I also don’t see what’s so terrible about cross-posting an article that was already on the DT.</p>

<p>getting back to the discussion…On the article, on the DT, a lot of people are complaining about DPS. How have your (USC students) experiences with DPS been?</p>

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<p>bnbsmom, I don’t think that not looking at a certain school’s board/looking at a certain school’s board on CC is an indicator if one is happy or not of his/her college choice. I am glad your son is happy at his choice, and so am I. :slight_smile: However, I am always curious to know what is going on in the entirety of the city, even the rival school across town. </p>

<p>With that said, I admit that beyphy’s post right above this is pretty fiery to say the least. I’m not taking any sides although the general consensus among USC students is that if I am on these boards it’s because I’m up to no good which is something I really despise. </p>

<p>One difference to note between the people perusing the UCLA and USC boards I noticed from spending time on BOTH boards is that USC students mind their own business more and stay on their own board while the UCLA students either are curious or like to be mischievous/cause raucous. The main issue here is that USC students tend to be on “high alert” for some reason and assume that if a bruin is caught on their board something is awfully wrong and they are up to no good. I haven’t seen this prejudice happen at all on the UCLA board but maybe that’s just because like I said, USC students tend to mind their own business and keep themselves to their own territory. </p>

<p>Moral of the story: I try really hard not to cause mischief. I admit that it’s pretty hard if not impossible to try to argue that you’re not causing mischief when you post an article like this, however, it’s still not right to assume someone is up to no good if they are not like you. Some people are curious and go on other boards, post threads on other boards, and discuss things on other boards. I noticed USC kids don’t do this at all and stay on this board, that doesn’t mean in any way shape or form bruins are up to no good if we are seen on these boards.</p>

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<p>Lots of people are/will be talking about this (DT, LAT, probably on campus, etc.) and the commentary, from what i’ve seen on DT/LAT is pretty bad. This isn’t some rivalry thing. This is about a situation that will probably have large political impacts for USC even without the existence of some thread on CC. This thread was created to spur discussion, not for petty rivalry. </p>

<p>This was a terrible situation and it angers me that i’m being accused of publishing this story to throw it in USC’s face. Lots of people are talking about this. Even a dean from USC posted a comment on the article at the LA times. </p>

<p>Honestly, i encourage you to join the discussion; you should defend your university (if you’re wondering ‘from what?’ just read the comments on either the DT or LAT articles)</p>

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<p>Beyphy is just a ■■■■■.
He is entitled to post whatever he wishes. His true desire is to get a rise out of Trojans by using this forum as his personal soap box. His skewed belief of USC should matter to no one on this forum. IMHO, next time Benphy posts something, someone should just hi jack the thread and start a new one on the topic. </p>

<p>When ■■■■■■ lose their audience, they either move on or change their screen name. ;o)</p>

<p>Back to the topic…
I lived in a very tough Chicago neighborhood (Woodlawn) adjacent to University of Chicago. Victims of crimes around U of C involved mostly neighborhood residents but did sometimes involve college students. My son and I were very familiar with sounds of gunfire in and around the neighborhood. One U of C student was murdered a few years ago during an armed robbery. </p>

<p>Even in rural midwest, violent crime still exists. In rural DeKalb, IL, everyone has heard about the shooting at NIU. Just recently, a Indiana University coed went missing last spring and has yet to be found. </p>

<p>My two cents is that violent crime can take place anywhere. People may respond to my post saying that certain campuses are more risky than others. That is possible true. But USC is not alone in being surrounded by high crime neighborhoods. There are several IVY league campuses that are surrounded by high crime area. </p>

<p>Here is a link to a 2009 article about the high crime around Yale
[Safety</a> in New Haven: a tale of two cities | Yale Daily News](<a href=“http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2009/sep/15/safety-in-new-haven-a-tale-of-two-cities/]Safety”>http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2009/sep/15/safety-in-new-haven-a-tale-of-two-cities/)</p>

<p>The only common element I can find regarding campus crime is that the older the university, the greater likelihood that the surrounding neighborhoods will have higher than average crime rates.</p>

<p>In the end, wherever students do attend college, they must always be cognizant of their surroundings and always stay in groups. Crime knows no address.</p>

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<p>Living west of Vermont and throwing an open party was a bad idea.</p>

<p>I suppose that’s the bit of advice that can be gleaned from this unfortunate incident – unless you’re already familiar with urban living, stick to university housing or housing that’s otherwise geared towards students. If you’re gonna live in the 'hood, you better know what you’re getting into.</p>

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<p>The thing is, USC students KNOW about these things when they happen because we receive emails and text alerts after major incidents on campus. (Ranging from something like this, or even something like a chemical alert that happens in a science lab.) G0ld3n’s claim that behphy makes these posts to “inform” the USC community is laughable at best; we already know what goes on around campus and it’s not like we wander the Internet blissfully unaware of what goes on in the neighborhood.</p>

<p>What was the mistake here? It wasn’t going to USC, it wasn’t living in a low income neighborhood — it was letting someone you or your guests DO NOT KNOW into your house during a party. That’s a stupid mistake no matter what school you go to or where you live; it could result in something as extreme as what happened here, or something more “tame,” like the random person puking all over your brand new couch. If you aren’t monitoring who is coming and going from your house, something bad is bound to happen. At any party I threw or my boyfriend threw at our houses while we were at USC, we had friends manning the door in shifts making sure we saw who was coming in and out; prevented a LOT of problems from happening.</p>

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Are you saying that only people you don’t know puke all over your new couch, and that only strangers bring trouble into your life? Interesting take. Another difference between USC and UCLA student views I guess.</p>

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<p>that was a pretty bad strawman.</p>

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<p>my point in posting this was to discuss it, and…isn’t that what we’re doing? i’d say point accomplished.</p>

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<p>This sounds like you’re trying to blame the victim, which common sense tells us we should never do. </p>

<p>Most parties don’t have people ‘manning the doors’ (i’ve never been to one that did.) I’ve seen one UCLA party (with security guards) and it looked pretty dumb. But i guess things do happen so it’s understandable. But for a regular house party, really? The truth is that most people don’t do this. And in most reasonable places, people don’t randomly bring guns to whatever parties they’re going to, and then shoot people who confront them. But the victims are not to blame, they never are. Especially not for things like living in a known ‘bad area’ or not keeping up with who is allowed in their own house.</p>

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<p>It’s not victim-blaming to point out a mistake. It IS a mistake to not keep track of the people you let into your home. They aren’t to blame (of course they aren’t), but, for future reference, keep track of who comes into your home. Do not hold open parties in a private home. These are practical tips for anyone living anywhere. </p>

<p>I live not too far from UCLA and I don’t necessarily feel safe in Westwood. I went with a relative into Westwood for a night and we were a little nervous as we walked to our car (after dark, of course). It’s fine during the day, but I don’t feel particularly safe there at night. </p>

<p>As for this only happening in “bad neighborhoods,” Ronnie Chasen was shot in Beverly Hills. </p>

<p>I just don’t think it’s fair to come to a USC message board and post this. Especially because I’ve never seen you post anything positive on this board. I personally don’t buy into the whole UCLA/USC rivalry thing (my dad is a Trojan and my mom is a Bruin) and I wish everyone could just step back and realize that both UCLA and USC are awesome schools. USC isn’t even in a bad neighborhood anymore-the immediate area is actually a safe place. </p>

<p>It would seem a lot more genuine of you if you chose to post positive and negative threads, not just negative ones.</p>

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<ol>
<li>USC isn’t my school, and i don’t keep up with the daily trojan.</li>
<li>It’s hard to find any noteworthy news about USC that isn’t about football or donations.</li>
<li>I don’t post such ‘positive’ threads about my own school (even though i easily could)</li>
<li>Even if i did post positive threads here, i’m fairly certain that the community would nonetheless see me as an outcast (as it seems they treat g0lden, who’s been nothing but supportive on this forum)</li>
</ol>

<p>some threads i post here are neutral, some negative. Some of my posts here are negative, others positive. My post about latin wasn’t particularly negative:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/12972977-post2.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/12972977-post2.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>neither was my post on forbes (although some still interpreted it that way:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/1189321-new-forbes-rankings-out-today.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/1189321-new-forbes-rankings-out-today.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>and my comment on USC’s reputation was actually positive:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/12956303-post14.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/12956303-post14.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>yet EVERY SINGLE TIME i make a post on this forum, i hear: </p>

<p>“beyphy, you go to UCLA” Oh, i go to UCLA? Damn, i didn’t know that. “what are you doing here/you’re ■■■■■■■■/etc.”</p>

<p>the truth is that people on this forum are unaccepting of nearly anyone who’s a UCLA student (something that ISN’T echoed on the UCLA forum.)</p>

<p>additionally, at the UCLA forum, we don’t try to suppress the truth no matter who it comes from. (there were plenty of threads on the ‘asians in the library’ video, we just dealt with it and moved on.)</p>

<p>people here are angry and they want me to leave the forum. What they need to do is grow up and realize that sometimes in life you’re going to have to deal with people you don’t like. That’s just how it is.</p>

<p>/rant.</p>