After a string of on-campus crimes like harassment and assault taking place in October 2024, the University of Washington contracted additional officers for campus security. DegreeChoices, which analyzes data published by the Department of Education, listed U.W. as having the 26th highest number of annual violent crimes among colleges with more than 500 students from 2019 to 2021. Consistent with overall trends in Washington state, motor vehicle theft and burglary have been the two most common types of crime on campus for the past four years; motor vehicle theft on campus has increased every year from just 20 occurrences in 2020 to 163 in 2023, and burglary has occurred between 60-120 times every year from 2020 to 2023.
Although crime rates have dropped in most areas since 2023, crime is still a major concern on campus. The university’s student-run newspaper, “The Daily,” published an editorial in March 2023 calling for campus security to do more to protect students. Despite the high crime rates, though, U.W. freshman and Inglemoor alumna Caroline Sheehan (she/her) said she generally feels safe on campus during the daytime.
“I feel like U.W.’s a pretty safe school within the student body,” Sheehan said. “You don’t really hear about stuff happening a lot, especially with sexual assault, compared to other schools.”
U.W. has a variety of services to help students feel and stay safe on campus. An automated alert system, UW Alert, notifies students through text messages, loudspeakers and a blog about crimes on or near campus, including major occurrences like stabbings, shootings and robberies. It also notifies students about other potentially dangerous incidents such as a recent gas leak. Also, around every 500 feet, there are blue and brown emergency phones on campus where students can summon campus security. However, despite the presence of UW Alert and increased security, some students say they still don’t feel safe in certain areas on campus and take additional precautions, especially at night.
“I work in U (Village), and we never hear anything of crime-related stuff, but the Ave — because I live on Greek Row, and we’re right next to the Ave, and the Ave is a little bit suspicious — I don’t really like walking alone on there, no matter what time of day, but definitely not at night,” Sheehan said.
UW Alert typically notifies students half an hour or more after an event transpires, U.W. sophomore and Inglemoor alumna Miriam Miller-Friday (she/her) said. She said the delayed notifications make this system unhelpful.
“It’ll be like, ‘Oh, two hours ago something happened.’ Is it still an issue in that area?” Miller-Friday said. “Should I still avoid that area or not? I know it’s probably hard for them to give all the details, but some more details or some faster notifications might be helpful.”
Many student safety concerns have centered around Greek Row and the Ave, which Sheehan said has a large homeless population. On Oct. 29, 2024, two suspects broke into more than 50 cars parked on Greek Row, smashing car windows and stealing valuable possessions.
“I’m not really scared for my life, but I’m scared for my stuff, because I’m not going to park somewhere where 30 cars got broken into, right?” U.W. sophomore and Inglemoor alumnus Arvin Shrestha (he/him) said.
Additionally, it is common for students to walk in pairs or groups between different parts of campus for safety, as many students don’t feel comfortable doing so on their own.
“We just have rules in the house where you shouldn’t walk alone,” Sheehan said. “If people are walking to the dorms, you make sure to walk with them. And the frats — the pledges are basically mandatory to walk you home. After a night out and you’re leaving, one of them will make sure to walk you or your group home, just (to) make sure you get there safe.”
The university itself also offers protective transportation aid to students through a program called Husky SafeTrip. From 6:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. every day, students and employees can receive a safe ride to a residence, parking lot or public transit stop.
“If you’re walking alone from a class late at night, you can call a phone number and then there will be someone to guide you back to where you want to go or drive you back to where you want to go,” Shrestha said.
While Miller-Friday said she believes that crime is inevitable at a university in a large city, she still thinks U.W. could make some improvements to support students.
“They are pretty open about the resources they have, but also maybe offering different self-defense resources or things like that, just for people who want to take that action.”
