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Another morning, another Marquette Safety alert e-mail. Admittedly, I almost deleted this one, writing it off as delayed update on the weekend’s campus kidnapping.

Wrong. This was a fresh advisory about what kinds of things happened while I was on the way home from the library last night.

Two separate robberies were reported to the Milwaukee Police Department shortly after 3 a.m. on Wednesday, March 5. The first robbery occurred within the 500 block of North 18th Street at approximately 2:55 a.m.; the second robbery occurred within the 600 block of North 17th Street at approximately 3:01 a.m. In both incidents, which appear to be related, two suspects in a dark- colored Jeep Grand Cherokee drove up to the victims, who are both Marquette students; one suspect displayed a weapon and demanded personal property.

Is it a coincidence that the incidents are picking up? A few weeks ago we had a carjacking; we now have a kidnapping and an additional armed robbery in a matter of days.

In my opinion, Marquette puts forth respectable and reasonable effort to prevent these things from happening. Our public safety force is top-notch, professional, and incredibly student-friendly.

But the administration blew it when they tried to downplay the serious nature of what actually occurred over the weekend. Marquette likes to post fliers on our doors and send us “alerts” to keep us up to date on safety issues, but if these alerts can’t be trusted for accuracy, then all of the talk about open and instantaneous communication is mere puffery.

There’s still a chance for administration to redeem themselves going forward.

Here’s what I’d like to see. Prosecute these criminals to the fullest. Marquette can’t prevent every crime, and they’ve already blown the transparency and honesty on this one. But they’ve apprehended at least one suspect from the kidnapping, and they should do a lot more than quietly press charges. It would be refreshing to see Fr. Wild come out of O’Hara Hall showing a little fire and publicly demand that these people be locked away for the maximum.

If administration can’t send a clear notice to us about what took place, perhaps they could make up for it by sending a resounding message to potential future abductors. Maybe that would help avoid more e-mails like the one we received this morning. The criminals deserve it, and so do the Marquette students.

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