Imagine you are a student at a university, living in the hostel. If you wish to access an on-campus resource center such as the library that is 2 kms away from the hostel late at night, what would you do?
What are the factors – such as your fears or any distinctive advantages – that would influence your decision?
(Resource centres could also include spaces such as laboratories etc.)
I’ve been in a situation of this sort before. The first option that comes to mind is to find a few others who need / are willing to go to the library with me. If that works, great. If not, I would do the next best thing, which is to get a friend on a call and stay on the call until I reach the library – so they know where I am and I have a means to get them to get help if I need it. Finally, if there’s really no other option, I would probably honestly avoid going until the next day, given that it would help keep my anxiety down.
I would feel safer in the company of a friend to walk with, apart from having adequate street lighting.
Not been in this situation before, but I imagine my response would be to see if I can get a friend to come with me. If not, I would probably stay on call with someone while walking back. Depending on how isolated/well-lit the route is, it’s possible I would go alone. I would probably be more cautious if I was in a co-ed versus all-girls college.
If it’s on-campus, I wouldn’t mind going alone, but make sure I inform a friend, just in case. I like the idea of a library, or any resource centre for that matter, which is open even late at night, as it wasn’t available in my college, and there was a great demand for such among the students. From my experience as a hosteller on campus, I cannot think of any reason that should prevent a person from getting access to these spaces, even at night. However, this might be because I was in a women’s college, and entry of outsiders was restricted, and there were guards, and the campus wasn’t so wide. If the situation was not so, I might have to take a few other factors into consideration before going alone. However, I believe the idea is not to restrict mobility, but to enable safety on campus, and the two should not be seen as mutually exclusive.
I have not been in this situation before since I lived in a relatively small campus where the library was a minute away. However, if I were in this situation, I would probably not feel safe walking by myself. I would ask around to see if someone else also needs to go to the library & plan my visits accordingly.
I would try to find another friend to go with me to the library. If that did not pan out, I would wait until it is daylight. However, if it was really urgent, I would go alone after telling some people about my whereabouts.
It depends on factors like basic of security on the way to the library viz. security checkpoints, number of people walking around at night which is not subject to time but the feeling of safety. Thus, if you see more people walking around at night, its probably a good indicator of the safety of the area. Topographical features like, vast open spaces, proper lighting, number of buildings nearby, etc. also determines the perception of safety of urban spaces.
Taking friends along comes immediately to mind. The situation would differ from campus to campus. For women however, variations amongst campus cultures is not as important for men. Women are likely to feel insecure in most campuses. We’re I a woman, if I did not find friends to accompany me, I would not venture out at night.
First thing that comes to my mind is to take someone along. Or else, I might have to drop the idea of visiting the library altogether. This sometimes becomes frustrating because for a person who studies at night and requires resources for working on some project, you have to end up compromising on your studies because it “can” get unsafe inspite of CCTV cameras and apparent guards, guarding the area. This clearly reflects the carefree attitude of assaulters who can venture out fearlessly.
This is one of the most terrifying situations to be jn. As a woman especially, if I were in such a situation I would ideally look for a few other people who are willing to accompany me. If that doesn’t work out then, like someone mentioned above, I’d probably get someone to stay on call with me. However that would not be enough to ease the fear. Going to the resource center would depend upon a number of factors such as is the road well lit and safe, do I know a trustable public transport person (for example a frequent rickshaw guy who has proven to be safe in the past), how ‘shady’ the area is, which is to say what are the chances of someone walking out of the shadows and mugging me/assaulting me etc. However, these are just hypotheticals. In reality I would probably look for an alternate resource online, in the comfort and safety of my room, and if I am not able to find it then I will just leave it till next day morning, even if, unfortunately, my grades suffer.
I studied in IIT KGP. The campus was safe. It was okay for women to move alone freely – and having male students around always gave us a feeling of safety. The only harassment I faced in campus once in my 5 years was from a security guard. Ironically so.
I will most preferably accompany one of my hostel mates and make a plan with them before going and coming back with them after having spend enough study time in the university library .
Thank you.
I would either take auto and maybe ask a friend to join in if the area is indeed very shady. Walking or cycling along with a laptop won’ t be something I would be opting for.
I would like to share my experience of accessing TISS, Mumbai library late at night. I was staying around 1.5 km away from the campus and generally used to walk down to the campus in the evening. I leave sometimes around 2 am and some areas of the street are poorly lit and you will see very few people around. I avoid walking down on the way back and take an auto as an alternative.
I have studied in CEPT University. The hostel was around a mile far from our campus. If I ever needed to visit campus late night I would surely first find a friend to accompany me. Also, CEPT had assigned few rikshawalas who would wait at campus gate for students through out the day. Their vehicle number, id and phone number were registered with gate-keepers hence they were a reliable and safe mode to travel even during night time. I suppose not all campus have such facilities, but yes if brought in action we can achieve a safe model for every campus.
I think the issue is that this situation doesn’t really come to mind. Knowing that a 2-k.m. walk would take me around 20 minutes, that’s 40 minutes of un-safety time. It is much more likely that I will plan ahead and go to the library earlier in the day or the next morning.
I suppose in dire circumstances, I would need to be prepared with self-defense techniques and would probably just take a rickshaw to reduce time spent outside alone.
Having experienced similar situations many times, often a few times a week, I can say that for me and for many of my peers this involves taking various factors into consideration – the hour of the night, the route that needs to be taken, whether I am alone or with others and if so, how many others, the necessity of going out at night in the first place.
A situation like this would warrant asking someone to accompany me or if a friend were to be in a similar situation, insisting that I accompany them. Even if it’s a group of people, we have often called an auto or a cab for a distance that we would ordinarily walk had it been during the day, simply to avoid being out on the road that late at night.
Amongst friends, if anyone is going somewhere alone at night, they either share their live location on WhatsApp or share their ride status, and let the others know when they reach their destination safely. Sometimes this involves staying on the phone with another person till they reach their destination safely.