UGA Students Concerned about Safety After Tragic Death  

New Safety Concerns

Female students at the University of Georgia are changing their patterns and behaviors after concerns over safety on campus. Following the murder of Laken Riley, 22-year-old nursing student at Augusta University’s Athens campus and UGA alum, women feel a new sense of unsafety.

“You always hear about these things happening, but you never think it’s going to happen so close to home,” said Vasundhara Vaid, senior at the University of Georgia. 

Riley went for a jog in a forest area near Lake Herrick on the morning of February 22. After being reported missing by a friend, she was later found dead by police. 

Since then students have felt the need to make changes to their everyday routines. Jessica Evans, senior at UGA, started a running club for women to feel safer.

“The running club is majority Black women,” said Evans. “It’s one thing to be a woman running on your own, but it’s not the same when there are so many other forces. People were excited to see women coming together.”

After posting the idea on her social media, she now has over 50 runners join every Sunday. 

UGA Safety

On the day of Riley’s death, a female student at UGA started a petition to install emergency blue lights on campus. To date, the petition received almost 26,000 signatures. Five days after the petition was live, UGA announced new safety measures, totaling more than $7.3 million, to promote campus safety. The permanent 20% increase to UGA’s police department budget includes blue light call boxes, lighting upgrades, cameras and perimeter fencing in areas with high foot traffic. 

The tragedy marks the first homicide in nearly 30 years to happen on campus. Though a murder on campus is an anomaly, students have advocated for safety measures, like emergency blue lights, for years. UGA call boxes were installed from 1988 to 2004. According to UGA police, over an eight- year span, only seven calls were received from the call boxes. None of the calls were of an emergency nature.

In 2004, the boxes required a digital upgrade, one that would cost several hundred thousand dollars. The university determined “using cell phones to contact public safety personnel has become the new societal norm,” and removed call boxes. 

In 2017, UGA released the LiveSafe app – now the UGA Safe app – that offers a mobile blue light feature. In addition, it allows the user to share a location in real-time as well as a chat feature with UGA police. 

Changes in Behaviors

Female students are now reconsidering what they constitute as safe. Whether it is walking back from the library at night or going on a walk, there is a new burden. 

“I used to consistently go on solo walks on the trails of Athens”, said Madeline Krisko, senior at the University of Georgia. “I have decreased the frequency just because I get nervous.”

Grace Lee, senior at UGA, felt unsafe to walk alone. Now, she walks in pairs or groups.

“If it is after sundown, I don’t go anywhere alone,” said Lee.

Others fully avoid certain areas of campus. 

“I’m definitely sticking to areas that I know are going to be crowded,” said Vaid. “And even when I’m doing that, I’m doing that with friends. At this point, you can never be too safe.”

The feeling of unsafety expands beyond campus. Lee feels the need to take safety measures even in her own home.

“We didn’t lock our doors at all,” said Lee. “Like our apartment, our cars, none of my roommates did. Now we make sure to lock our doors.”  

New Safety Measures

In the announcement of increasing the police department budget, President Jere W. Morehead announced that “the protection of our students, faculty and staff at the University of Georgia is always top of mind for me and our senior administration, and we are continually evaluating our safety programs.”

In addition to changes on campus, the Clarke County Sheriff's Office now has a free Women’s Safety Workshop to empower women to defend themselves. 

Despite changes in the UGA and Athens community, female students are forced to navigate their daily lives with the constant questioning of their safety.