I will be in my second quarter here at Raymond Walter’s College. Never in my wildest dreams would I have even considered being a part of the UC family. But here I am.Even though Raymond Walters is nice, it will not be able to help me achieve my educational goals and aspirations.
I have dabbled here and there with what I want to do with my life. I know that being in the Public Safety profession is something that I have always wanted to do. I have relatives and ancestors who have either been police officers, firefighters, or paramedics. That is the reason why I have decided to enroll in the EMT program.
But (there is always a but somewhere) the majority of my discipline in college has been in the criminal justice field. I have contemplated finishing my Criminal Justice degree. There is one small problem with that, though. Currently at the present time, Raymond Walters does not offer bachelor degree programs. Oh no! That means I have to go down there…the Uptown Campus!
I really do not have a problem per se with the Uptown Campus. It is just that I find the following things a little difficult:
Parking. W here there is parking, you have to pay a fortune to make sure your car is safe.
Student Population. There are roughly about 37,000 students at main campus. At Raymond Walters, there are about 4,500 students. Big difference. I really like the small student body because it is easier to make friends with fellow students. It also easier to make friends and be able to work with your professors where the student-teacher ratio is fourteen to one. One thing that I have noticed about my professors and instructors is that by the end of last quarter, all my instructors knew me on a first name basis.
Crime around campus. There has not been a week that I have not received an email from the University Police Department concerning someone getting robbed or assaulted. I used to venture out into Corryville and hang out at the Highland Coffeehouse.
My concern is that, yes, crime on campus does not happen very much. But what about the neighborhoods surrounding campus? They are just as much a part of the University community because a majority of the students live in areas adjacent to campus.
I talked to a friend of mine, who happens to be a UC police officer and who will remain unnamed. She told me that the University had a memorandum of agreement with the City of Cincinnati concerning police patrols. The e-mails that we receive from the Police Department state “The Cincinnati Police are implementing additional police resources in the neighborhoods surrounding the Uptown campus. The University Police are also increasing their presence in these neighborhoods.”
If there is a supposed increase in police presence in the neighborhoods, then why do these things continue to happen and at an alarming rate? If some things are not done soon to combat the criminal element in the neighborhoods surrounding the Uptown Campus, I would not be surprised if students and some members of the community decided to apply for a concealed weapons permit.
Even though I dread the idea of going down “there” for school, I might just have to bite the bullet and make the best of it.