There's no 'wrong place'

The fact that a Penn student was shot so close to campus is bad enough. But the University's response to the incident has been even worse. When asked about the shooting, Penn spokeswoman Lori Doyle said that the Engineering sophomore caught in the crossfire was in the "wrong place at the wrong time."

38th and Sansom streets -- located immediately beside a major student housing complex and within a block of three campus bars and the home of University President Amy Gutmann -- should never be the "wrong place."

Neither should anywhere else on or near campus.

Last week, following the Christmas Day murder of William Hurt at Philly Diner, The Daily Pennsylvanian called on the University community to avoid overreacting to the incident and to realize how much University City has changed for the better over the last decade.

We still stand by that opinion, but the recent shooting over the weekend -- in which three people, including a Penn student, were injured -- gives us much cause for concern.

Penn's Division of Public Safety often touts that safety is a shared responsibility, but in this shooting the victim was doing just that. She was not walking home by herself on 45th Street -- she was traveling a popular pedestrian corridor on a Saturday night with two other people.

The incident at Philly Diner was a personal dispute that escalated out of control -- something that could not easily have been prevented. But the attempted carjacking and ensuing shooting on Sunday is much more threatening to students' sense of safety because it was a premeditated crime committed practically on campus.

Penn has undeniably come a long way in the last decade, a fact highlighted only a few days ago in a Washington Post article. But this shooting is a wake-up call for Penn: its mission is far from complete.

Penn students who practice common sense have a right to feel safe on their own campus, and the University must do more to protect its students than simply make excuses.

If criminals are not taking the University's security measures seriously, Penn must try harder. And whatever the administration decides to do, making excuses will not cut it.

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