ESPOSITO: Rutgers students return to campus is not without challenges
Column: Unapologetically
I have lived on the same street off-campus at Rutgers for three years. This year, I moved about four houses down. The two years prior to this one, I was on the cusp of being almost directly on College Avenue, arguably the hub of the entire university.
Two years ago was ideal, despite the occasional pounding of music from the fraternity houses next door. I would step outside and be in the middle of all of it all, the fundraisers for a different cause everyday, the crowds of students pouring in and out of buses, the Starbucks, the library and The Yard @ College Avenue. It was a scene out of a movie, and that was definitely a wonderful exchange for my beaten up off-campus house with a mold problem.
Last year, I came back to my house. It would be an understatement to describe the scene of College Avenue as different. Ghost town, bleak and haunting would be more appropriate terms.
It has been a year and a half of total abandonment and now the light at the end of the tunnel is here. I moved in on the same street, with the same people, with the surprise of a brand new world compared to the one I left behind in May. Gone was the bleak feeling of loneliness that surrounded College Avenue.
Instead, I found myself in line with bumper to bumper cars as parents gave their final goodbyes to their new, college age children. I do not think I have ever been more grateful for traffic. After I moved in and prepared for senior year, I took a walk down the streets, and confirmed my hopes: Rutgers was back to life.
Every house had students sitting on the porches, listening to music or throwing footballs. The Panera, set right in the middle of College Avenue, was reopened after a year and a half hiatus, overflowing with students and faculty. My sophomore year professor was sitting outside of Starbucks. I tried to recount the last time I had seen an actual teacher in person.
Life is being breathed back into the world, and Rutgers is no exception. Even with masking and social distancing as we battle the delta variant, we are here and we are ready. But if you look closely, Rutgers may not be the same as we think we left it.
As of 2021, there is a 1 in 189 chance you can become a victim of a violent crime in New Brunswick. For reference, in the state of New Jersey itself, the chances are one out of 483. New Brunswick more than triples the terror of being another violent statistic. There are 160 girls in my sorority. I attend lectures with sometimes more than 200 students.
There is no clear answer as to why the crime rate has gotten exceedingly worse. Maybe police forces decreased when tens of thousands of students went home for a longer than expected period of time. Maybe the student presence added an element of safety. Rutgers does a fantastic job of emailing and texting students frequent crime alerts, and it is easy to tell the student presence is not intervening like it might have previously been.
It is not just the crime rate of the city of New Brunswick that has changed. College Avenue is back to the glitzy and happening place it used to be. Easton Avenue is also a staple of the college experience. Olde Queens Tavern, Stuff Yer Face and more have been popular places for students to gather for decades.
And now, many of the businesses there have had their door closed, or have been struggling for quite some time. Thai Noodle has had its door locked and lights out since April 2020. Just a single cardboard sign hangs in the window the reads “closed for now.”
The return to Rutgers is something to be celebrated to the fullest extent, and that is not to be taken away from. But New Brunswick is in need of some love and care. The businesses that have thrived off of students for decades were abandoned.
The jobs that came with them have disappeared. New Brunswick is a massive reason why Rutgers is the unforgettable place that it is. Remember that next time you go to Starbucks for your coffee, and not Hidden Grounds.
Laura Esposito is in the School of Arts and Sciences senior majoring in journalism and political science. Her column, "Unapologetically," runs on alternate Fridays.
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