By Maggie Vancampen —

Despite the arrest of Alfred Kesseh for a string of burglaries and a sexual assault on Jan. 14, students are still concerned for their safety at University Pointe.

Senior chemistry major Rachel Jamrose said, “I was definitely relieved, but was also concerned when the email said he was arrested near U of L. I wondered why he was so close to campus, like maybe he was going to come and try to rob someone again.”

Senior criminal justice major Meredith Sergent said, “I was thankful that he was arrested but I’m still leery to be anywhere by myself anymore. It was shocking that it happened in secure buildings on campus, but it made me realize that lots of things still need to happen to protect students.”  

They had some suggestions on how to better security in the building in the future. One safety measure mentioned was activating the key pads on all the doors, and not just in the front.

Senior chemistry major Anna Davis said the lack of active key pads on the back doors prompts students to prop them open, thus creating a safety hazard.

“I think if campus housing treated us more like adults we wouldn’t feel the need to circumvent the arbitrary rules they put in place, which evidently is what endangered us in the first place,” Davis said.

“I know that the key pads were taken off the doors but the front one for security, but now people leave the doors propped to avoid walking to the front door. Obviously, this completely destroys the point in the security change,” Sergent said.

Sergent said another safety issue is having to walk from the yellow lot or risk getting a ticket on the street.

The return of security guards was a point all three agreed with.

“There was a security guard at the front desk during the night and they did floor security sweeps every night,” Sergent said.  “Since it switched to campus housing, there are CAs at the desk, but they do not do sweeps to my knowledge.”

Davis said, “I understand that employing students is important but I definitely feel safer in the night hours if I have someone slightly more trained to deal with crime on duty during the night hours.”

Jamrose said, “Maybe that wouldn’t solve everything or wouldn’t have prevented something like what happened, but it still made the residents feel a lot safer.”

“Statistically, U of L is a very safe campus.” Sergent said. “However, being safe and people feeling safe are not the same thing.”

Photo Courtesy / Louisville Metro Corrections