The mood on campus has changed.

“Three weeks ago I would have felt fine running home by myself” late at night, said Kansas University senior Lindsay Poe, a resident at Watkins Scholarship Hall. “We’re not letting anybody leave the house by themselves.”

Such fears have prompted a new student-escort service — and criticism of university parking policies that sometimes make students walk long distances from parking lots to residence halls.

It’s not just students. Parents, concerned in light of two recent assaults on female students, also have been expressing concern.

“We are getting some e-mails and letters just asking, ‘What do you plan to do about the safety of my student?'” said Donna Hultine, KU parking director. “Right now, I think a little fear is a good thing. It’s going to keep people safer, or at least aware of their surroundings.”

Early on the morning of Oct. 3, a man wearing a ski mask grabbed a female student in a Lied Center parking lot and held her at knifepoint until she was able to pull away, the student told police. At the time of the attack, the student was walking from Ellsworth Hall across a bridge to an overflow parking lot on the other side of Iowa Street.

The reason: The university routinely oversells its $85 residence-hall parking passes by as much as 30 percent, a fact that means residence hall dwellers must park in overflow lots far from their living quarters. For residents at Ellsworth and the four other residence halls in the Daisy Hill area of campus near 15th and Iowa streets, that can mean a hike to and from the Lied Center.

The connection between oversold lots and long late-night walks wasn’t lost on Richard Boyd, a nontraditional student who lives in Jayhawker Towers apartments. In an e-mail to the Journal-World, he voiced his anger at KU administrators for overselling the lots, and said many residents of the towers simply don’t go off campus at night because they know they’ll have to park a half-mile away at the Lied Center when they get back.

Because parking spaces adjacent to the Kansas University residence halls on Daisy Hill are so hard to come by, many students must walk across the bridge over Iowa Street to their parked cars in the lots near the Lied Center. Walking to their cars Thursday are, from left, KU freshmen from Leawood, Jeff Anderson, Andy Udell and Mark Davies.

Hultine acknowledges “it’s a problem.”

Steps toward safety

The university has taken steps to make the walk between the Lied Center and Daisy Hill safer, she said, such as the removal of evergreen trees on the east side of Iowa Street about two years ago. But she said the KU parking commission — a group of students, faculty and staff that recommends policy — had not considered limiting overselling of lots in all residence halls.

The group probably would be open to the idea, Hultine said, but one challenge would be making the system fair and making up for the loss of money.

“If we sold fewer permits, likely parking rates would go up or fines would go up,” she said.

Fears not new

The Sept. 17 sexual assault on a KU student who was walking off campus on 11th Street near downtown also has contributed to students’ fears.

The uneasiness may have increased lately, but such fears are not new. A survey last year found that students didn’t feel safe walking late at night on campus.

That prompted a new Student Senate service called “JayWalk,” which starts Sunday. From 9 p.m. until 1 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, students can call 864-3222 or go by Anschutz Library to have a pair of students — a male and a female — meet them and escort them on foot.

“I’ve had a lot of people call about JayWalk and ask if there’s any way we can have people set up in the Lied Center parking lot,” said Poe, the program’s director.

Alternatives

Adding more parking garages near residence halls is another solution students suggest, but Hultine said that would put a financial strain on the entire parking system while serving only a small part of the university community. And some people think the garages are unsightly additions to campus.

Another solution is one Hultine routinely suggests to incoming students: Leave the car at home and get around using the KU and city bus systems.

The parking commission plans to conduct a forum next month in Alderson Auditorium of the Kansas Union to allow people to suggest changes to the parking system, Hultine said.

¢U.S. college campus crime statistics¢ Student escapes west campus attacker (10-4-03)¢KU crime stats¢KU campus emergency phones¢ 6News video: KU student survives attack