Eastern has recently received the honor of having Charleston be named the second safest college town in America by SafeWise for the second year in a row. However, it is important to keep in mind this data is based off of information gathered in 2015.

It does not take into account the tragedies which have happened in the last few years.

We must not forget Byron Edingburg, a now deceased young man, who lost his life last year to senseless gun violence.

We must also acknowledge that there have been other reports of issues involving firearms in Charleston.

In this situation the obvious question of whether or not Charleston will be considered one of the safest college towns in the future almost hides the more important question of how we as a community can come together to prevent such tragedies from happening in the future.

To ease people’s minds about the first question, crime in the Eastern community is nothing in comparison to other larger public university campuses in the country. Eastern’s smaller size as well as Charleston being the location of the Coles County sheriff’s office seems to ensure this.

When considering safety or anything else in life, not being the worst should not be a comfort. At Eastern we should strive to shape students into responsible, engaged citizens. This includes making sure each student has an invested interest in leaving the community a more safe and welcoming place than when they first stepped foot on campus.

It may be easy to think second place is safe enough. One deadly shooting may not seem of any significance to someone from a bigger city like Chicago, but at Eastern everyone deserves to feel safe, whether it be at a party or in a residence hall.

To address the second question, we need to include everyone in the community. It cannot be just an Eastern effort or just a Charleston effort. The university and the city are intertwined. So, when focusing on safety, both must be involved.

For Eastern, it could be something as simple as establishing safe ways for students to get back to their residence after a rough night. Both Charleston and Eastern can continue to build a greater sense of community through events which involve working together to allow community members to have fun and connect with one another.

Besides having safe social events, it is also important for Eastern and Charleston community members to come together to have discussions on how to improve safety.

Part of the solution could be extending the Safety Walk, which is held by the Student Senate to assess places that could be improved for safety reasons on Eastern’s campus, to include parts of Charleston students regularly visit.

Whatever the community does, tragedy will strike. It is impossible to avoid horrible accidents from time to time. However, taking precautions to limit the amount of tragic accidents that occur is important because the lives and safety of community members is vital.

Whether or not Charleston will be given this honor again in the future is unclear. In the meantime, we can take this recognition with a grain of salt and realize there is still much to be improved on.

Focusing on safety should be a continuous process that always has room for improvement. We should not stop until we are the best. Even then keep going because in this community, it is a priority.

The News Staff can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].