GUEST COLUMN: Remembering Moez–What Can We Learn From His Death?

Last August I bumped into Al-Moez Alimohamed in DRL. Moez was my friend. I first met him in May of this year and have to admit that I never met someone as gentle and kind as Moez. He was an exceptional person and I looked forward to cultivating a friendship with him. He taught a math course during the summer and I was one of his students. Moez was probably the most innovative teacher we ever had. I was so impressed with his teaching style that on July 12th I wrote the Mathematics Department Chair to express how pleased I was in Moez's class. I know I speak for everyone in that class in saying that we all felt very attached and affectionate towards him. It was hard not to. He then asked me where I was living. "I am living downtown next year, I want to live." When I said this I thought to myself that maybe I was becoming too paranoid about living in West Philadelphia. After all, crime is prevalent in every city and some students blow it out of proportion. "Escort Service, Penn Police, Department of Public safety, they've got all bases covered" or so I thought. Moez is dead today. After being robbed and beaten he was shot. He died on his way to the hospital. I will not dishonor Moez's memory by cooling off and not reacting with indignation and anger at a University that has evidently not done enough to secure the lives of its students. I will not dishonor his memory by keeping quiet in light of "community relations" and the feelings of the West Philadelphians who are insulted when told the truth about their crime-infested neighborhood. And I will not dishonor his memory by letting President Rodin and her administration forget his death, the fact that it could have been prevented and the fact that the University was responsible for providing a healthy and safe atmosphere in which Moez could have finished his degree and pursued his dreams. It is wrong to suggest -- as some have -- that Moez's death is just inner city crime independent of university policy (or lack thereof). Some have said they would only expect Penn to provide them with safety when "on-campus." I will just cite three examples that seem to illustrate that it is not a matter of "On-Campus" or "Off-Campus" in West Philadelphia. We are at risk wherever we are in West Philadelphia. Two weeks before Moez's death an undergraduate student was shot at 39th and Pine. Last year a student was robbed at gunpoint at 34th and Chestnut. She was then beaten, raped and shot in the face. Another student last year was shot at an "on-campus" SEPTA station. Are these incidents close enough to warrant University action? The University is clearly not responsible for every occurrence in every day of every student's life. However, it is the University's responsibility to provide us with a healthy atmosphere in which we can learn and thrive without having to fear for our lives. This atmosphere is our part of the city, University City. Moez's death occurred in the absence of such an atmosphere. Some will say that he was not within the "jurisdiction" of Penn. "Jurisdiction" or not, we are unsafe at the University itself and in West Philadelphia. Period. University Police informed me that in the past twelve month there have been more than 100 gunpoint robberies reported to the Penn police (think how easily any of these could have been fatal), 16 knife robberies, 55 robberies involving physical threats, 5 incidents of aggravated assault with a firearm ("aggravated assault" means "severe bodily injury"), 5 incidents of aggravated assault with a knife, 6 incidents of aggravated assault with other weapons and 14 incidents of aggravated assault involving physical violence. These incidents involved students, faculty and staff at Penn and only stretch back to last September. If we take a look at what actually happens in the time span of one degree at Penn we are talking about West Philadelphia as a living hell. Let us suppose for an instant that we would be safe "on-campus." What are those in West Philadelphia who live beyond "on-campus" meant to do? The University does not have housing for all of its students. Although some choose to live in Center City and the suburbs, others have no choice but to live in West Philadelphia. No effective plan has been devised to ensure their safety. Do we have to protect ourselves with bullet proof vests? Walk around as if we were in New Jack City? Will we have to get so accustomed to crime in West Philadelphia that soon we will only protest when someone is shot on Locust Walk? Aren't these meant to be "the best years of our lives"? Some of us are only here for four years. Is anything to be done before I graduate? Will the class of 2000 ever find out about Moez or will they have to be jolted into demanding action once they experience themselves the atmosphere in our "community"? Before I came to Penn nobody told me about Meera Ananthakrishnan, a student that lived in Grad Tower. Meera was stabbed to death in her Residential Living apartment. Cyril Leung was another Penn student. Cyril was not living in Grad Tower, he was living "off-campus" and was beaten to death on 42nd and Baltimore. In a few weeks, when some of you have forgotten who Moez was, and after the rhetoric has died down, after the wonderful "committees" have been formed and some new security position created... where will we be? I dread to think that we will be a few weeks closer to another student being shot in University City. Unfortunately only time will show us President Rodin's success or failure. If she can ensure that Moez's death will not go down as another statistic, if she will take responsibility for securing the University and the area in which students live, she has our support and cooperation. If she cannot, she should let someone who will take that challenge step into her place. Regardless of what is done, the University should at least be fair to prospective students and their parents and stamp the next set of applications with a warning: "It may be hazardous to your health to attend Penn, it may be deadly to live in West Philadelphia." Thor Halvorssen is a junior History major from Caracas, Venezuela.

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