Purdue Village examines
safety
By Megan Finnerty
Features
Editor
Three weeks after the murders in Purdue Village
of two South Korean women, administrators and residents have had time
to examine safety features, community resources and behaviors.
In response to the Aug. 2 murders of Yeunkyung
Woo, 31, a graduate student in biology, and her sister, Hyo Kyung Woo,
29, of Chicago, Purdue Village administrators are offering their residents
additional window locks, available upon request.
They are also discussing arranging meetings designed
to offer village residents an opportunity to talk about their feelings
and needs in this time of recovery and rebuilding.
Joy Hwang, a grad student, was still apprehensive
when she answered the door of her village apartment more than a week
after the murder.
"Who is it?" she asks. Then she pulls open the
door just a sliver. She explains that in the beginning she wouldn't
have opened the door at all.
She admits that she's been a little erratic lately,
jumping when there's a knock at the door and freezing when she hears
a strange sound.
Staying behind a locked door hasn't secured her
sense of safety, however.
"It's a simple lock," she said, gesturing toward
the key lock and chain. "I feel very insecure." Hwang raps on the door
and points out that it's a thin piece of wood.
Carolyn Newlin, manager of Purdue Village, said
that although the doors have chain locks and peepholes, some residents
share Hwang's fears and have said they'd like deadbolts installed. However,
Purdue Village lacks the funds to bring all the doors up to code now,
which would have to be done if new locks were installed.
But Newlin is open to the possibility of the locks
being installed in the future as part of an ongoing effort of make Purdue
Village as safe as possible.
Although additional lighting fixtures were installed
throughout the village this summer, residents have asked Newlin about
installing more. She said lighting will continue to be installed over
the semester, but not as a direct response to the murders, rather as
part of safety improvements already in place.
"These kind of safe practices, locking doors, traveling
in groups at night, being aware of your surroundings, are always important
and it's a shame that it takes something like this to remind us how
important," Newlin said.
No residents have moved out of Purdue Village in
response to the murders and many students living there seem pleased
with the way administration has dealt with the incident.
Residents have written to and approached Newlin,
thanking her and her staff for their "calmness, promptness and caring
attitude in the days and weeks following the murders," as Taskin Padir,
a graduate student, put it.
"They kept us informed and tried to give us as
much information as they could; it was nice," he said.
Padir has lived in Purdue Village for four years
and knows Newlin well.
"Toward the end, when everyone was relaxed in the
community, Carolyn left another message on our machines telling us what
was happening. I got the impression that she was tired from working
so hard and so I sent the e-mail as a little bit of encouragement.
"The staff here worked unusually hard and they
were stressed and frustrated. I sent it as a friend."
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