Elon Administration’s Response to Crime, is it Enough?

Oh look there’s another email notification from John Dooley. Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay.

Crime on college campuses is normal. In fact, crime everywhere isn’t unusual and there is not much we can do to stop it. However, there have been several criminal incidents at Elon university in the past year—notably, the recent shooting at Paulie’s Bar and Grill, stolen vehicles, and intimidating car parades through campus. 

The issue is less about the actual crimes because as a magazine, The Edge has far less of an ability to make an impact. Rather, we are concerned about the way that the university goes about handling these situations. When a crime happens at Elon, it’s not talked about. Instead, students receive an email from Jon Dooley when a crime occurs, explaining the situation.

These emails are helpful to students as they inform them what happened, but the emails are very nonchalant and just state the incident which occurred without emotion or many details. For example, recently, there was a shooting at Paulie’s Pub and Grill which is just a few minutes from Elon University’s campus. An email was sent out to the student body about the incident and a few details were given. 

The issue with the emails is that they not only cause panic for students but also do not create effective discourse about the situations. Many Elon students and parents were worried and scared when this most recent incident occurred and they felt as if they were not provided with the correct resources to understand the situation. 

“For an actual shooting happening two minutes from campus it should have been addressed more,” says first-year Mary Kate Egan. “My parents were freaking out and we only got one email and that was the end of the conversation.” 

This is not just a singular issue as this problem has occurred many times. Luckily, crimes are not super common at Elon, but when they occur, time and time again, an email is the only step taken to inform the community about it. The situation is not explained nor spoken about publicly. 

The real issue here is that students have been scared. A shooting occurred a few minutes from campus and no staff spoke about it in classes and no administration came out and offered a helping hand or support for students.

“I would have felt more comfortable on campus if the administration opened up and talked to the students about what happened,” says first-year Lauren Grossi. “It would have seemed like they cared more.”

At the beginning of the school year when political car parades were happening throughout campus, harassing students, there was much conversation around the school. Some students believed that the school handled this specific situation very well, as professors spoke about it and support was offered by many staff members. 

This same support has not been reciprocated lately when a crime occurs on campus. Students have been left in the dark and certain crimes are not talked about because they do not occur directly on campus. 

“I think the fact that the school did not address the shooting was bad because I believe they are very aware that a lot of the student body spends time there, therefore it’s important to inform students of the precautions they need to take in order to be safe,” an anonymous first-year student says. “I saw people going back to the bar the next day after there was a shooting because they were not aware of the danger and crime which occurred there. We need to inform students to keep them safe, not hide the issue and dismiss it.”

If Elon wants their number one priority at all times to be making students feel safe, then changes need to be made.