It shouldn’t feel dangerous to walk home from Marino Recreation Center late at night, but many students at Northeastern worry about their safety in Boston and on campus every day.
On Northeastern’s Reddit, one potential student asked, “How safe do you feel at NU?”, showing this is a real concern, not just a statistic.
Even though the news is full of stories about reduced crime rates in the city as a whole, things feel different in the area surrounding Northeastern. In September, police issued a warning about a string of phone thefts, including some on Hemenway Street. In July, a student was groped on Columbus Avenue and in May, police charged a man with murder after finding a woman’s body near campus.
It’s true that safety isn’t simply about numbers. It’s about how students feel when they go about the city and university. And too many kids feel afraid right now.
The Boston Police Department says that violent crime in the city dropped by nearly 7% in 2024 compared to 2023. Homicides reached a record low of 24 — the fewest since 1957. The FBI also reported that violent crime was down by 4.5% nationwide in 2024, while murder rates were down by over 15% from the year before. The national rate of property crime likewise went down by roughly 8%. On paper, Boston seems safer than many other major cities.
But citywide statistics alone don’t show what student life is really like. Last year, property crime in Boston went up by around 4%. Neighborhoods like Fenway, Roxbury, and Mission Hill, where many Northeastern students live remain hotspots for thefts and assaults, even as the overall city numbers improve,
According to the U.S. Department of Education’s crime statistics, there were around 23,426 crime incidents on all U.S. college campuses in 2021. The most prevalent types of crimes were burglary, motor vehicle theft and sexual assaults. Students can’t help but worry when they hear such numbers and then read Northeastern University Police Department, or NUPD, crime alerts about crimes that happened within a few blocks from their dormitories.
Yes, NUPD has stepped up its patrols and worked with the Boston Police Department. Yes, we have tools like the RedEye van and the LiveSafe app, which allows students to contact campus police, share their location with friends and report suspicious activity directly from their phones. But let’s be honest: these steps don’t seem like enough for students who have to go home alone after a late class or for those who live in apartments off-campus beyond the NU bubble. An app notification won’t make you feel better whether you’re a second-year student walking back from Snell Library at midnight or a fourth-year student coming back after co-op. Recent reports of a “peeping tom” in Mission Hill only make students more worried about their safety.
Our university should do more. Harvard, for example, has hired more mental health professionals to protect student well-being. Why can’t Northeastern demonstrate the same level of commitment to physical safety? It’s not enough to add a couple of additional patrols. Columbus Avenue and the Southwest Corridor need more lighting, emergency call boxes need to be easier to see near off-campus housing and the RedEye needs to expand its hours so that students don’t get stuck when the service stops before they can get home.
It’s also important to talk about communication. NUPD issues crime alerts via email, but many students feel they aren’t detailed enough. For example, posts on Reddit show students are frustrated that alerts don’t explain what happens after an incident or how the university plans to prevent it from happening again. If a phone is stolen on Hemenway Street or there’s a break-in near West Village, students want more than a brief warning — they want to know that cameras, patrols or lighting changes are being put in place to keep them safe.
This isn’t about being paranoid. It’s about preventing the kinds of thefts and assaults that students in Boston already face. Even though crime rates are getting lower on a national level, campus safety is still a big problem. National Center for Education Statistics data shows that institutions still have hundreds of problems of crimes such as burglaries, assaults, and sexual offenses every year. A student traveling alone on a dark street in Boston doesn’t care if the city has a “low crime” moniker.
And you can’t ignore the personal tales. If you ask around, you’ll hear stories of students who walk about with their keys in their hands “just in case” or who don’t take particular routes after dark because of past scares. International students, who may already be dealing with linguistic and cultural differences, can feel more vulnerable. Everyone at Northeastern should be safe, not only those who can afford Ubers or residences near campus.
The administration typically talks about global growth, new research and co-op prospects. But what about the basics? A student who is anxious about getting back to their residence hall safely isn’t entirely focused on their studies. Parents don’t simply bring their kids here for the rankings and opportunities; they send them here because they trust Northeastern to keep them safe.
It’s time for the university to take safety seriously. Not after the next crime warning, not after another wave of stolen phones or late-night muggings, but right now. Safety isn’t something you can buy or something you can only pay attention to once a year. It’s a promise, and Northeastern has to uphold it.
Ali Abdelal is a second-year economics and international business major. He can be reached at [email protected]
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