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 officials have been wondering how the June opening of 

 near the Minneapolis campus will affect campus safety.

During this past fall's spike in robberies, campus police noted that many of those committing the robberies didn't come from Minneapolis, but from metro-area suburbs.

And that was during a time when, as campus police Chief Greg Hestness says, the U has been "very difficult to get to. You really have to know how to get here."

So what will happen when the Minneapolis campus becomes much easier to reach?

At a campus-safety summit yesterday, Hestness told me the light rail is "a question mark."

President Eric Kaler called it "a wild card," and said, "We don't know exactly how it will play out."

Hestness says such concerns are "in the back of people's minds," but thinks the degree of safety  will depend in large part on how many people use it:

MetroTransit Police Chief John Harrington said he thinks it'll actually make campus safety easier.

It will bring more people into the campus community, he said, and "the safest days in my experience in any city and on any college campus are when there's a crowd there."

That said, he and campus officials discussed teaching students how to be more streetwise when the ride the train and wait at the stops.

Education News

On Campus Blog

Alex Friedrich

Author

University of Minnesota officials have been wondering how the June opening of three light-rail stations near the Minneapolis campus will affect campus safety. During this past fall’s spike in robberies, campus police noted that many of those committing the robberies didn’t come from Minneapolis, but from metro-area suburbs. And that was during a time when, 

University of Minnesota officials have been wondering how the June opening of three light-rail stations near the Minneapolis campus will affect campus safety. During this past fall’s spike in robberies, campus police noted that many of those committing the robberies didn’t come from Minneapolis, but from metro-area suburbs. And that was during a time when, Read more →


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