Duke police notably absent from site of robbery

I am writing regarding the robbery that occurred on West Markham Avenue last Monday night. This corner, as many Duke students know, is the location of a certain “blue house.”

If you ask any resident of the “blue house,” or Duke student who has attended a social gathering there, they will tell you that every weekend night that corner is overflowing with law enforcement. You can’t walk half a block without seeing a Duke police officer drive by, and I’ve personally seen four police cars pull up to the house for a “noise complaint” on a Friday night.

However, last Monday night, when a Duke student actually needed a police officer for protection, there were none to be found.

This is an unfortunate message that the University is sending to its students: When you party too loud, we’ll be the first to lay down the law. However, when you actually need us the most, we’ll be nowhere to be found, and leave you to fend for yourself against Durham crime.

I have no problem with the University cracking down on noise complaints or trying to eliminate underage alcohol consumption. However, it has to work both ways. The University can’t be there to punish us on the weekends and not there on weeknights when we’re the most vulnerable. If Duke is going to expect us to uphold the Duke Community Standard, then it needs to uphold its end of the bargain and give us a safe community of which to be a part. And until I see four cops surrounding my neighborhood on a Monday night, I’m not buying any of the DukeAlert e-mails assuring me that effective safety measures are in place.

Whether or not you’ve been to the “blue house” before, we can all agree that Duke has a responsibility to protect its students—not just when they’re having a party, but every night of the week.

Zach Graumann Trinity ’10