Campus Safety is important. How safe you feel on a college campus can vary drastically based on location. But even if you’re in the safest neighborhood of the whole universe, walking back to your dorm late at night can still not feel too great.
My college is small. We have public safety that is available 24/7 and blue buttons throughout campus that can be pushed in an emergency. But I don’t always feel safe. While most of my friends live on one side of the campus, I live on the complete opposite. As you can guess, whenever we hang out after class, I am stuck walking ten minutes back to my dorm room at night.
That also means I am walking back to my dorm, by myself, after eleven or even twelve at night (sorry mom). Most of the time, I don’t see other students walking around that late.
As a person who has seen one too many episodes of Criminal Minds, I always want to make sure I stay safe walking at night. Here are a few ways I do that.
College Campus Safety
Life 360
I have an app called Life 360, that allows my parents to see the location of my phone. So, if I stay out late and need to walk back, I just text my mom. She then watches the location of my phone as I move across campus, to make sure I get back to my dorm.
FaceTime
I occasionally FaceTime my friends during the walk back. Most of my friends continue to hang out while I walk back because they live so close to each other. I start a FaceTime while I am still in their dorm and we talk while I am walking back to mine. This makes me feel more relaxed and less alone. Also, if someone were to approach me, my friends would be able to hear and see it.
Noise Alarm Keychain
I have a noise alarm that I can attach to my keychain when I need it. If someone tried to attack me while I was alone, I could pull down on the alarm and it would set off a loud, ear screeching sound. Hopefully, this would surprise an attacker and give me enough time to run and get help. The noise can also be heard from hundreds of yards away alerting others if I am in trouble.
Pepper Spray
If your college is like mine, maybe Pepper Spray is not allowed on campus. But let’s be real, the majority of us carry it around anyway when going out at night. It is more important that we keep safe, even if we have to be a little hush-hush about our methods. When walking home alone at night, it is good to have this within arms reach. Not tucked at the bottom of a backpack. The last thing I would want is someone to try and attack only for me to ask them to hold on a moment while I fish out my pepper spray from all my stuff.
Good Ol’ Fashioned Keys
Another way I protect myself is with my keys. If you ever talk to a group of women about safety, one of them will problem mention keys. Just put a key in between your knuckles as a makeshift weapon. So if anyone tries to attack, you can easily shove the edge of the key into their face or eyes. It may not provide a lot of protection but it is an easy way to get a bit of protection if you have nothing else.
These are just a few ways I practice campus safety when walking alone on campus. If you are a college student, hopefully I gave you some ideas on how to stay safe on a college campus.
