University of Virginia student, Hannah Graham has been missing since Sept. 13. The 18 year-old college sophomore was last seen after midnight , and she has not been seen since.  The leading suspect in this case is 32 year-old Jesse Matthews who, strangely enough, has been described by friends as ‘sociable’ and a ‘gentle giant.’  To add to the direness of the situation, Matthew’s DNA has been linked to the 2009 murder of a Virginia Tech student, Morgan Harrington, as well as several other cases in the Virginia area.

With Tech and UVA being two of the most popular colleges for our students, this crime and the related crimes have left our students with an eerie feeling.  Senior Becky Azuga is currently working on her UVA application, and says while alarming, this situation doesn’t affect her opinion of the school.

“It’s scary because you never know what could happen, but at the same time, it could have happened anywhere,” said Azuga.

These days, most colleges and universities have security boxes scattered around their campus that students can press if they feel in danger. Unfortunately, many college crimes do not happen on campus, but rather the surrounding towns.

Senior Lidia Veliaminova  thinks that security should be expanded beyond the borders of college campuses and into the surrounding towns.

“Maybe [install] more of those [campus security boxes], even around the university, not in the university but like around it, because college students go there all the time,” said Veliaminova.

According to police reports, Graham was believed to have been under the influence of alcohol, as security camera footage of her alone shows her displaying strange behavior.  Veliaminova also feels that Graham should have been more cautious in going out that late and alone.

“I do think that the security should be increased, but also people need to make smarter choices when they’re outside partying,” said Veliaminova.

What could schools do to ensure student safety aside from changing security policies?

“I guess maybe promote more unity… if all these students are going to these places that are outside the campus perimeters, maybe they should do more events that are just inclusive for the students; they could just  keep promoting the fact that people should never be on their own; it doesn’t matter if they’re girls or boys, people should always be in groups,” said Azuga.

Unfortunately, investigators still have found no trace of Graham and continue to search the Charlottesville area on foot and by air.  As the one month mark passes of her disappearance, Graham’s parents have been left broken-hearted, and pleading for any leads that the public might have, as is shown in this video from USA Today: http://youtu.be/63ZsW5uPqjs

Azuga believes that we should not be blaming the colleges, but the people committing the crimes,

“I feel like they’re [colleges are] getting more strict about things, but I guess [I blame] just ‘bad people’, people who are willing to hurt innocent college kids,” said Azuga.