Living in San Jose has always caused me to have certain precautions while residing here. However, I never thought that the violence that surrounds us would ever hit me so close to home. Last week, a member of my sorority Delta Gamma was horrifically taken from us in an act of violence. Shot while being in the wrong place at the wrong time with her boyfriend, Kristina passed away at the age of 20.
These types of stories are on the news daily. In fact, I did read this story on the news and thought how sad, another act of violence. It wasn’t until the next day when we were told that it was Kristina that I thought about how serious the violence in San Jose really is. Kristina was a wonderful individual, excellent student, kind hearted, and had no reason to justify being shot. I feel that the most chilling piece of this story to myself and the rest of the sorority women here at San Jose State is that this violent crime happened at 11am in the afternoon while she was with her boyfriend. Two of the very first things we are taught as we become members of a sorority or simply move to San Jose are don’t walk alone and don’t walk at night. Kristina wasn’t doing either of these, she was with someone she trusted and it was the middle of the day. From this the question arises, how can we stay safe?
Most 18-21 year olds thing that they are invincible. They believe they can drink as much as they want, do whatever they want, say whatever they want, and everything will be fine. As many times as we reinforce the importance of staying safe and following precautions, the systems currently put in place are simply not working anymore. How can I have faith on the SJSU alert system when 8 homicides happen in 1 week surrounding campus and students find out a week later via Mercury news? How can I have faith on the UPD escort service when the wait time can total 30 minutes and sometimes they simply never arrive? As leaders in the community and the individuals whom this most recent campus death has effected, it is up to us to create the change we need. Instead of demanding needs and complaining about the current system, we need to create alternatives and suggest improvements.
Groups around campus are stepping up to advocate for their safety yet the Greek community has yet to show the large support they have behind the cause. With groups such as students for campus safety creating petitions and providing solutions to the problems that are currently arising with campus safety, the Greeks need to ban together and support this effort. With the support of 1,200 Greek affiliated students, the individuals fighting for our safety will have a far larger support system. With the Greek community being some of the individuals affected the greatest, there is no reason why the Greek community should not come forth with their own safety procedures as well. Kristina’s incident is not the only time where our members are not safe. Simple activities such as walking to and from class and the fraternities are now no longer safe as well.
What can we as panhellenic women, or better yet, we as the Greek community do to resolve these concerns? First, we must get the entire community behind this effort. In instances such as this, it does not matter what organization or council you belong to, no one should have to go through what Kristina, her friends and family, or Delta Gamma had to endure ever again. There is no reason senseless crime should occur on or around our campus. To prevent this though, we must stand as an unified force. We also must not let chapter members walk anywhere alone. While only last semester it was considered ‘safe’ for a fraternity member to walk a sorority member home on the weekends, it is now not safe for any of them especially the fraternity member who is left alone to walk home. The buddy system is pertinent in situations such as this.
However, I believe that one of the main things we must do is realize we are not invincible. Our community is not alone in this thought, most college students believe that nothing bad will ever happen to them. I think we can all attest to this feeling. I read the news article of Kristina and Eric’s death not even thinking that it may be someone I knew personally. However, we need to stop thinking that we are able to take 15 shots, walk home from the fraternities alone at 3am, drive while texting. These are the kinds of situations that endanger our safety. When we as a community are able to realize that we are not invincible and we become conscience of our surroundings, we can begin to create the safety we deserve.
Let this be your call to action. The San Jose State community realizes the safety concerns, it is now up to us to determine what to do about it.
Wendee Lynn Meyers 