Working in the lab after hours--attempted sexual assualt in my department!

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Kajika

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Last night in my building, an attacker entered the lab across the hall and mugged and attempted to rape a girl I have class with. This really has me worried because I am often in the lab until midnight by myself. I'd never really felt unsafe until this happened--we are a small department where everyone knows eachother, so there is a lot of trust. We can't lock the door when someone is working in the lab because this violates fire code. (I'm mainly working on a computational problem right now, so I'm not really worried about getting injured.) What do you all think of staying late alone?

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Kajika said:
We can't lock the door when someone is working in the lab because this violates fire code. (I'm mainly working on a computational problem right now, so I'm not really worried about getting injured.) What do you all think of staying late alone?

I understand your concerns, we have a female post-doc who works late hours with me and when I leave, I always announce that I am leaving so she knows she will be alone. The school also turns off the hallway lights so people can see into the lab through the door, but you can't see out the door very well. She locks the doors anyways (we have two doors that access the lab and only lab members and security have access after hours) even though it is against fire code because the fire marshal is not going to be up that late at night (our security guard looks like you could outrun with a brisk walk). Given the precedent for security lapses, maybe it might worth violating the fire code for the time you are in the lab.
 
Screw the fire code, lock the doors!!!! I stay late in the lab about 80% of the time and its a scary thing. I used to work in a very poorly lit building back at my undergrad lab. I was so worried about being attacked that I took a self-defense class and even though I can't fight back like a Charlie's Angel at least I have improved my chances of survival by 1%(that may be all it takes to make a difference). If you can't avoid working late in the lab then always let someone (parents, siblings, close friend, etc.) know that you're going to be there and approx. what time you're going to be home. Walk with a "don't f*ck with me" attitude and if attacked remember that unless you see the attacker with a weapon fight back with all you got, the worst thing to do is to let them drag you off to an unknown location where nobody will be able to help you.

http://webits3.appstate.edu/apples/life/Rape/avoidance.htm
www.ice.gov/graphics/fps/org_assault.htm
 
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Many schools offer a service where you call security and they check up on you on a regular basis. Check with your lab. A friend of mine had a guy walk in after her to the female washroom. He proceeded to enter the cabin next to her, stood on the toilet and looked over into her stall. She screamed and he ran off.
Assaults and attempted assault happen way more often on campus than we think they do.... keep those doors locked and &(*&*( the fire code...
 
Thanks for the replies. Our campus police force is so small that we don't have any security regularly walking through the buildings. My PI instituted a new policy that we have to be out of there at 7:30 PM if there aren't more than two people working. I found out from my PI that the girl was actually injured by the attacker's knife (what actually happened is worse than what the campus alerts are letting us know). The dean knows, but he isn't doing anything out of fear of bad publicity. They flyered every building on campus except ours at first because they didn't want to scare the undergraduates!The campus police didn't really seem to care either, and I haven't seen anything on the local news. When there was a much less violent attack in the student housing here last year, people were up in arms. Stupid departmental politics! Someone should be raising hell about this, but everything is so hush-hush.
 
yea it sounds like your campus really doesnt care. i would recomend taking a self defense class if your school offers or goto a local martialarts school, and if someone every trys to do anything to you just give them a nice swift kick to the gonads, grab something and hit them over the back of the head with it. theres no way you could get introuble for doing that if you felt your life was in danger.
 
Stupid departmental politics! Someone should be raising hell about this, but everything is so hush-hush.

How about a nice, long and detailed letter to your local newspaper? Anonymous if that makes you feel better.....
 
Something similar happened near here lately. I'm scared to work alone in the lab. I'm not often in late at night, but sometimes I am, and I'm often there on Sunday morning or something when nobody is around. One thing that makes me feel safer is coming early in the morning, like 6 a.m., rather than stay late at night. And sometimes if I have to go in on a Saturday night I'll convince my husband to come with me and he'll sit and study while I work :)
 
what could you possibly have to do in a lab till midnight? what would happen if you just left at 6pm?
 
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