The grass is not always greener

I am a dirty, lowly transfer student. Last fall, I arrived at Penn after spending my freshman year at Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y. Colgate is one of those places where "it's always winter, but never Christmas." After a year at Penn, there aren't too many things that I miss from my time at Colgate.

However, I do miss Colgate's campus safety blotter. At Colgate, the crime report was the funniest section in the entire newspaper.

Some gems from Colgate's safety blotter so far this semester include the following:

- "A resident of Andrews Hall was injured while cutting a bagel and transported to Community Memorial Hospital by Campus Safety."

- "Student injured after walking into an open window at Little Hall was provided first aid by Campus Safety."

- "Residents of Newell Apartments were found in possession of candles."

Penn's campus safety blotter is a bit less funny: It mostly describes far more serious crimes, such as robbery, theft, burglary and even assault.

Our campus has seen an unusual amount of crime recently, with more than a dozen robberies and assaults in the Penn Police district over the past three weeks. Incensed students, parents and administrators have understandably thrown out a lot of ideas about why this mini-crime wave is occurring and what should be done to stop it.

There are a number of ideas floating around in this discussion that should be done away with.

The first is the idea that spending millions of dollars to put cameras up around campus is a good use of money and an adequate long-term strategy. The 200-plus video cameras that are allegedly watching over our campus are never seen or noticed by anyone, students and felons alike.

The resources of Penn's police department should be focused on preventing crime by hiring more officers for night patrols. Spending millions of dollars to make a fuzzy tape of a crime does little to prevent it from happening.

The second idea revolves around allowing students to carry guns on campus and creating a kind of "Penn minuteman" neighborhood patrol to supplement the dedicated work of the Penn Police.

Allowing students to bring guns into classrooms or patrol the streets on weekend nights is an obvious path to some kind of ugly incident or lawsuit. Also, anyone who really wants to carry guns on campus or patrol the streets on weekend nights is exactly the kind of person who shouldn't be doing so.

Another problematic attitude is that campus safety officials are blaming the recent crime at Penn on the crime spike in North Philly. While one cannot expect Penn to magically escape all of Philadelphia's problems, the University City police district is an area where we should hold higher expectations for personal safety.

The city of Philadelphia spends about $317 per person annually for police work and public safety. In contrast, Penn spends about $2,300 per undergraduate. With that kind of investment, everyone living in the Penn Police district should expect a safer environment than is found in most areas of the city.

The final -- and most problematic -- idea that I've come across is that students should stop coming to Penn because we have a "crime problem."

I am very sensitive to the victims of the recent incidents; during high school, people tried to mug me on three separate occasions. While none succeeded in getting any money from me, I understand what it's like to walk around your usual stomping grounds after your sense of security has been violated.

Yet, in the broad scheme of things, Penn is still a very safe place. I can say with total honesty that I feel safe walking around campus late at night and that Penn isn't being menaced.

Still, there are some realities that we can't ignore as an Ivy League school in the middle of a city still recovering from years of stagnation and still plagued by an inept municipal government.

When I was at Colgate, the worst repeat offender was the skunk that would camp out in front of dorms at night and spray people. There is undoubtedly more crime at Penn than at Colgate, Dartmouth, Williams or any small, boring place that you could have gone to college.

But take it from someone who has seen the other side: It's better here. On the balance, I much prefer the small risk of something happening to me in Philadelphia over going to college in a place where nothing -- good or bad -- ever happens at all.

Eric Obenzinger is a junior history major from New York. Quaker Shaker appears on Wednesdays.

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