safety

I think that EVERY woman EVERYWHERE needs to take the right precautions day and night no matter where she is. You really never know. For the most part, the campus is safe and there are a lot of things that the university has in place to keep it that way. Utilize those things and use good sense, and you will be able to avoid making yourself vulnerable to dangerous situations:)

Does the university do anything to protect off campus students? I heard that almost everyone has no choice but to live off campus after freshman year so it seems like they should have security around campus too. Do y'all walk home to off campus areas? I'm talking about the strip or the areas right around- I know they can't police everywhere but it is kinda scary to me

Honestly, I think that is bad advice to walk across campus alone late at night & that things should not be left to "luck."

There is ALOT in the media right now about off campus bars in Tuscaloosa too.. so never leave alone there either.

The campus does offer 348-Ride which is basically a free ride wherever you need to go. They usually run from 9 pm - 7 am, and sometimes run during the day if there are darties and football games. The ride takes people all across campus as well as to a few miles off campus. So, if your apartment complex is within a few miles of campus, you always have 348-Ride.

Personally, I don't feel like that is enough. I think that the campus itself is definitely safe, but I feel like off campus areas aren't the best. As someone said, Tuscaloosa is a city and crime does happen... Unfortunately, people like to target college students since it's an easy target. Though the university does offer 348-Ride it only goes so far off campus, and I know there are many apartment complexes in which they don't go out to. I know at USC (Southern Cali) it's the same situation with housing, so a lot of students have to get off campus apartments and the area isn't safe, so the university partnered with Uber and now offers free Ubers to all students so they can get home safely.

I'm not saying any of this to scare y'all, but I think that the university definitely needs to see that the safety of their students should come first. We shouldn't wait for more people to get hurt to make a change... If the university literally cannot offer on campus housing for upperclassmen then they need to offer transportation to and from student apartments.

do you all think it would be good to carry a knife & pepper spray?

You can contact al.com, the news, the newspaper, the city council, all anonymously if you prefer. If enough do, it will get publicized and maybe we will get some Action.

I mean I honestly don't think campus is dangerous, but I think it can be. It's a good policy to not walk alone at night and to stay in more lit areas. If I had to walk somewhere at night I would always go out of my way to stay in the better lit areas. UAPD also has their own app where you can request them immediately or like if you don't get where you going in so much time it will call them and I recommend that. They are also alllll over campus and have the blue light system. Mostly just use common sense and trust your gut. It's a bad idea to go places alone in the dark, campus being safe or not has nothing to do with it