As the weight of the Office of Residential Life’s recent housing decisions begins to sink in for students, many are confronted with an unfamiliar path: life at The Lofts. A week after the results were made known, an alert went out to students who currently live in The Lofts warning of a carjacking incident that had taken place. As ResLife attempts to balance out the appeal of all Washington University living options by increasing amenities and lowering or raising prices accordingly, we at Student Life can’t help but feel that there is a fundamental inequity being ignored: safety concerns near the Delmar Loop.

If the Danforth Campus and the South 40 are a bubble, that bubble is quickly popped as students cross the Overpass from Danforth Campus to the Loop. Advice provided by Washington University Police Department—like to “always choose a well-lit path and avoid dark or vacant areas”—is difficult at many points along walks to The Lofts. As many students are unwillingly assigned to The Lofts, despite requests to live elsewhere, a question arises: who is responsible for ensuring student safety near The Lofts—the University or the students?

In the WUPD alert sent out after the carjacking, the University provided tips on how students can best prepare themselves for unsafe conditions. However, we are disappointed by the fact that the University failed to address what it, in turn, will do to make The Lofts a safer community for students.

Though students should always prepare themselves against potentially dangerous situations, the University cannot ignore its responsibility to assuage the worries of students who feel uncomfortable walking along the Loop. When the decision was made to build the off-campus housing community, the University essentially assumed additional responsibility for keeping students safe but has continually tried to displace that responsibility onto the students themselves. There are certainly more steps that the University can—and should—take to provide a safer environment for students assigned to The Lofts.

The precaution that we most adamantly advocate for is proper lighting along pathways. “Well-lit” pathways are not always available, especially as busy students sometimes have to stay on campus for classes or studying and then walk back at night. Compared to areas like the South 40, where almost every section is clearly visible due to streetlights, residential areas around the Loop are severely lacking. For students walking from the engineering buildings or Sam Fox School late at night, Skinker Boulevard has infrequent lighting. This includes blue emergency lights, which need to be—but currently aren’t—easily accessible from every path that students living near the Loop tread across.

Moreover, the University needs to be empathetic to these concerns of students. Student Life editorial board members have become aware of multiple instances when Residential Life trivialized or dismissed student concerns of safety, especially with regard to living assignments in The Lofts. There is an imbalance among the different sections of residential housing, and to ignore that is to put students who do voice those concerns in danger.

While the Student Life editorial board realizes that the entire burden of student safety can’t be put onto the University, with regard to The Lofts, the University holds an additional burden. Student input was not considered when building the newest residence, and as such, the University must listen to student concerns without judgment or condescension. Ignoring real student concerns not only hurts students’ well-being but also hurts the University’s reputation in the long run.