How safe is Cal Poly at night? Dark areas and story of Kristin Smart worry some students
Content warning: This article discusses gender-based and sexual violence, as well as harassment. Survivors of such violence and harassment can access virtual confidential services through Cal Poly Safer’s website, safer.calpoly.edu, or by calling SLO RISE’s crisis hotline at 855-886-7473.
Every day, Olivia Pisani looks out her window in Cal Poly’s Sequoia Hall to the green lawns and tall pine trees interspersed between each building of the South Mountain Residence Halls.
It’s a nice view of “a cute little courtyard,” she said.
That cute courtyard may have been adjacent to the scene of a rape and murder nearly 25 years ago, before Pisani was even born.
Pisani, a first-year construction management student, heard about missing Cal Poly student Kristin Smart on the popular podcast “Your Own Backyard.”
Smart vanished Memorial Day weekend in 1996 after leaving a party in San Luis Obispo.
In April, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office arrested Paul Flores, Smart’s Cal Poly classmate and the last person seen with Smart before she disappeared, on suspicion of her murder.
San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow said during an April news conference that the San Pedro man likely killed Smart during an attempted rape, adding that “we certainly believe that Mr. Flores’ dorm room was the crime scene.”
Now, Pisani sees her view of the housing complex commonly known as the Red Bricks — which includes Flores’s former dorm, Santa Lucia Hall — in a more foreboding light.
“It’s actually where something really scary and tragic happened,” she said. “And especially as a woman, when you’re walking alone, this campus is scary.”
“This is our first time living alone and this year we don’t have roommates” due to COVID-19 restrictions, she continued. “(The Smart case) just reminds us all to be more aware of how we’re walking, where we’re walking, who knows where we are — that way we don’t end up like the next Kristin Smart.”
Students worry about campus safety
Several students living on the San Luis Obispo university campus spoke to The Tribune about their safety concerns.
When asked about what resources they had to turn to, students had a variety of responses: “I don’t know. “Maybe I’d call the police.” “I would not even know what to do, maybe scream.”
Students said they carry pepper spray canisters in white-knuckle grips while walking late at night from their cars to their residence halls, while others said they call friends or family if they ever need to walk anywhere on campus at night alone.
It’s an atmosphere of fear that seems to especially impact women, but male students also shared their concerns with The Tribune.
“I have several moments where I’m like: ‘I’m alone right now; I don’t have anything that I can do if these people were to come at me or harass me.’ So that’s made me feel really threatened and vulnerable,” said first-year biology student Zachary Allen, who said he’s been harassed by other students because he’s gay.
What can he do in those situations? Allen said he “relies on his pepper spray” and “always makes sure to have a friend with me that I can trust.” Usually, he added, he tries “to walk a lot faster.”
There are safety measures in place at Cal Poly, including lights that illuminate dark areas of campus, security cameras in some places and so-called “blue safety poles” that have buttons that calls the on-campus police dispatch center.
In addition, there are resources students can call in an emergency, such as the Cal Poly Police Department or student resident advisers in the dorms.
If something bad happens, the university has counseling services and a Title IX department — although students told The Tribune that several accounts of experiences with the university’s counseling and Title IX programs shared anonymously on the Instagram page Shades of Cal Poly have eroded their trust in those systems.
Additionally, Cal Poly Safer is an on-campus resource dedicated solely to helping survivors of sexual assault, intimate partner violence, domestic violence, stalking, sexual exploitation and harassment. It’s part of the university’s Campus Health & Wellbeing services.
It’s important to note that “when we perpetuate the ‘stranger danger’ myth, we relegate sexual assaults as being perpetrated only by ‘monsters,’ ” Kara Samaniego, Cal Poly assistant director of wellbeing and Safer director, wrote in an email to The Tribune. “This type of dehumanization of the perpetrator allows us, subconsciously, to ignore the fact that the vast majority of these crimes are happening between people that know each other — our friends, roommates, coworkers, partners.”
Samaniego added that “stories like Kristin Smart’s show just how crucial it is to get to the root cause of violence and to bring our entire community together to address this widespread issue.”
Samaniego said she and her staff at Safer are trying to push the Cal Poly community to embody values such as respect and empathy, and to prevent violence from happening by putting “an end to our culture of entitlement.”
It’s a mission that students see and appreciate, they told the Tribune, but they want to see that same commitment from university President Jeffrey Armstrong and other campus leaders.
“A campus resident was probably killed and raped by another campus resident on campus, like, is that not just f------ shocking?” asked first-year history major Michelle Mueller. “And it shakes me to the core that nothing has been done by Cal Poly, it’s mind-blowing they don’t even acknowledge it. And it hurts. As a victim myself, it hurts.”
The way universities respond to individual incidents is important, said Abigail Boyer, the associate executive director of the Clery Center, a national nonprofit organization that is focused on promoting campus safety through training, policy and education.
She said that what a university “holds sacred” will show in what it talks about to its students, what its outreach is focused on and how it engages students in long-term efforts to change behaviors on campus.
“If campuses are talking about these issues and they’re tying it to the values of their institutional culture ... then it’s going to be more likely that these conversations are less about that individual incident and more about how this is a part of our climate, that we talk about these things and we have a culture of reporting,” Boyer said. “The way the institution does respond when there is an incident or when there is a conversation is really important, too, because this is an opportunity to maybe have public conversations in places where people weren’t invested before. And then as you build on that investment, there might be ways to engage those members of your community more long term as opposed to just in a temporary way.”
How many crimes are reported at Cal Poly each year?
When asked about campus safety, Cal Poly officials emphasize the university’s low rates of reported crimes, noting that the broader San Luis Obispo area sees the same trends.
That’s backed up somewhat by 2019 data from annual security reports for Cal Poly and other California universities — Cal Poly Pomona, UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara.
The annual security reports are mandated by the Jeanne Clery Act, which was signed into law in 1990. The act requires colleges and universities that receive federal funding to publish campus security policies and crime statistics each year.
For example, Cal Poly Pomona, which has about 24,000 students and is located in a city of about 152,000 residents, reported more drug law referrals, arrests for weapons law violations, aggravated assaults, motor vehicle thefts and burglaries than Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo.
UC Davis, which has about 30,000 students and is located in a city of about 68,000, reported far more incidents of motor vehicle theft, fondling and burglaries than the other universities.
And UC Santa Barbara, which has about 23,000 students in a city of about 91,000, reported nearly five times the number of liquor and drug law violation arrests and referrals than Cal Poly, and far more reports of stalking than the other universities.
Cal Poly reported more incidents of dating violence than the other universities, according to the security reports.
The San Luis Obispo university reported 20 rapes in 2019, whereas UC Santa Barbara reported 25.
In comparison, Cal Poly reported seven rapes in 2018, according to the security report data.
Cal Poly also saw spikes in the number of dating violence and stalking reports, with 48 reports total in 2019, according to the data. The university reported a total of four dating and stalking reports the previous year.
Looking at the crime statistics only presents one side of the picture, Boyer said.
“Sometimes there can be this misconception that if you have higher numbers, that means you have an unsafe campus,” Boyer said. “So one of the things we try to demystify with campuses is that actually if you are building a culture of reporting ... you’re more likely to have higher numbers.”
It is hard, Boyer noted, to distinguish whether a spike in crimes one year means that there were more incidents or that more students reported the crime to the university. Trends over time tell more, she said.
George Hughes, Cal Poly’s assistant vice president of public safety and chief of police, said that the university needs students to feel comfortable reporting crimes.
“It’s very difficult for us to address safety concerns if we’re not told about it,” Hughes said. “If there’s a crime that is occurring and it’s not reported to us or reported to us in a timely manner, it’s hard for us to then act upon and then try to mitigate some of those areas.”
Hughes said the university is working to encourage students to report crimes to the police, the Title IX department and other resources such as Safer through outreach.
What is SLO university doing to prevent crime?
Aside from encouraging students, employees and witnesses to report crimes, the university is taking steps to provide a safe environment on campus.
Cal Poly has increased WiFi access around campus to ensure there are no “dead zones,” said Jude Fledderman, the university’s executive director of facilities operations.
It’s also constantly updating lighting and checking whether the blue safety poles are working properly, he said.
Instrumental in those processes, Fledderman said, is student and employee input.
During annual “night walks,” Fledderman and a team of volunteers walk around campus at night to determine where areas are dark and may need additional lighting to improve safety.
Those walks have led to some areas — such as Deer Road behind the Sierra Madre housing complex and Via Carta near the baseball fields — either having new lighting or brighter light bulbs installed.
There are noticeable differences in how brightly lit areas of campus are at night.
For example, the new yakʔitʸutʸu residence hall complex near the Grand Avenue entrance of campus is much brighter than other areas, such as the Red Bricks or North Mountain housing complexes.
The blue safety poles are rarely used, Hughes said, but the university still maintains them in case a student does ever feel the need to press the emergency call button.
Mueller, the history student, said that the blue safety poles provide an extra level of comfort.
“Just knowing that there’s something there, in place, if something does happen, that’s huge,” she said. “I’d love it if that was the case.”
Mueller believes that the safety poles aren’t dispersed as evenly or with enough frequency as they should be.
A map included in a January 2018 report by Cal Poly students indicates the location of the 98 blue safety poles around campus. But some of those are not, in fact, tall poles with bright blue lights at the top; they’re actually payphone-style boxes at the entrances of residence halls.
Mueller said she didn’t even know those boxes existed, and she walked by them countless times before without noticing they were there.
Additionally, the yakʔitʸutʸu and Poly Canyon Village housing complexes have several security cameras placed around — something other dorms do not appear to have.
When The Tribune asked whether security cameras are placed around all the campus housing complexes, Matt Lazier, the university’s media relations director, wrote in an email that he ”can’t get into discussing specific locations of existing security cameras, out of safety concern.”
“More generally, I can tell you that the university is in the process of looking at the overall security camera situation on campus — the infrastructure of cameras and software, as well as the policies and procedures behind them — as part of our ongoing efforts to continually enhance safety on campus for all students, employees and visitors,” Lazier wrote.
The university does provide an escort service for students who feel insecure walking alone at night, Hughes said, although that service hasn’t been offered during the coronavirus pandemic.
It’s usually available only on campus in the evenings, he said. Either a van will pick a student up at predesignated locations on campus or a Mustang Patrol volunteer wearing a yellow jacket and carrying a phone and radio will walk with a student from any location on campus.
That service was available for students in the evenings during times when more students were more likely to be out of their dorms late at night — such as during finals week when more students study late at the library, Hughes said.
The van escort and Mustang Patrol have been suspended until further notice “out of an abundance of caution and care” due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the service’s website.
How Cal Poly teaches safety on campus
Katie Ralston, a first-year student studying environmental management and protection at Cal Poly, said she was taught the basics of how to stay safe at the university: “Stay with your friends and be careful around drinking.”
That’s about it, she said.
Students’ first introduction to campus safety is through the orientation programs put on by the university. With Week of Welcome and SLO Days, the students get more than a week of classes and introductory programs to what life on campus will be like.
Andrene Kaiwi-Conner, the university’s director of new student & transition programs, said students are introduced to resources such as the Cal Poly Police Department, San Luis Obispo Police Department, Cal Poly Safer and Title IX during those orientation programs. They’re taught about the dangers of alcohol poisoning, how to be an active bystander, what consent means and looks like, and other safety tips.
The students attend presentations and then are quizzed on some of the concepts they learned, she said.
“It definitely breaks my heart that they don’t know” about some of the resources available to students, Kaiwi-Conner said. “It also lets me know that: What are we going to need to do to increase that knowledge?”
Kaiwi-Conner, who has been with the university since the 1990s, said the orientation programs have evolved over the years.
The most recent and significant change came after Cal Poly student Carson Starkey died of acute alcohol poisoning on Dec. 2, 2008.
Following his death, Starkey’s family created the nonprofit organization Aware, Awake, Alive, which teaches about the dangers of binge drinking and how to recognize the signs of alcohol poisoning.
The group also helps raise awareness about the California law that protects people under 21 from legal repercussions when calling 911 in cases of alcohol poisoning.
Like Smart, Starkey’s story has had a noticeable impact on Cal Poly students. Those who spoke to The Tribune said it was the part they remembered the most out of orientation.
But Starkey’s story focuses on only one issue on campus, and students see glaring holes.
“I think one thing they can do is bring up Kristin’s case as an example, but I feel like they always try to shove it under the rug,” Allen, the biology student, said.
“We should be continually discussing this so it never happens again because similar situations continue to happen over and over,” he said, speaking of reports of women being sexually assaulted by men.
“To fix our reputation, we have to fix those mistakes, not just ignore them,” Allen added.
When asked whether the university had considered creating a teaching moment from Smart’s case, Kaiwi-Conner said “it’s an interesting idea.”
She noted that during orientation, students receive bystander intervention training from Cal Poly Safer.
Samaniego, the Safer director, wrote in an email to the Tribune that the program works to increase the campus community’s awareness of sexual violence and then find ways to prevent it from happening.
Samaniego added that she has seen a gradual culture shift on campus in terms of sexual violence awareness.
“Years ago, the general student population needed awareness programming to educate them about the issue that exists,” Samaniego wrote. “Now, it seems most students on campus are aware of the issue and see a need to further educate themselves — now, our goal is to mobilize students to act on that awareness.”
Looking through her email inbox, Mueller said she couldn’t find any message from Safer or other Cal Poly resources on how to stay safe from sexual assault — only emails about COVID-19 and drug and alcohol resources.
That’s frustrating, Mueller said.
“I’m tired of walking on campus and feeling like I always have to look over my shoulder, and then when I feel unsafe, not knowing at all what I would do — it’s exhausting,” she said.
Maren Hufton, the director of Cal Poly Office of Equal Opportunity and Title IX coordinator, said the university has taken “extensive lengths ... to make the space and the community and our culture just as safe as we can.”
“And I would add that we know this fear. It’s a fear that American women have beyond the geography and boundaries of Cal Poly,” Hufton said. “And it’s exactly why we are working with partners like Safer to raise awareness about and change the culture so that this fear doesn’t have legs, and doesn’t have to be your reality.”
This story was originally published May 6, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
