Crime everywhere! In the dorms, in the streets, in our own backyard! Scared yet? Didn't think so. There is a good reason why — we're all living in a bubble. Yet, now might be the time to step outside.

Any chance of a campus-wide panic peaked last week when two Witte Hall residents were robbed in their own dorm room. The most-asked and obvious question was, "How could this happen?"

First off, that's the wrong question. Every student who has ever lived in a dorm knows what happened: Someone let in the wrong person. He followed someone up the elevator and found an open room. Contrary to Interim Dean of Students Lori Berquam's proposal for safety forums, students don't need a refresher course in opening and closing doors.

Before we set up a bunch of unnecessary forums, let's establish our priorities. Crime in Madison increased 6 percent in 2005, but law experts said it was hard to interpret. It's unsure whether rape actually went down or wasn't reported as much. However, one thing is for sure — despite the lowered reports of rape, it's still higher than the national average.

Yet, that doesn't seem to be the focus for Madison. Mayor Dave Cieslewicz has proposed a $100,000 Downtown Safety Initiative that would put more police officers on the streets and wireless cameras to monitor bar-time activity. While the measure is appreciated, it doesn't solve the problem of safety for students. The only way students are going to feel safer is if we actually look out for one another.

The Witte case is the perfect example. The man who robbed those two residents got in because the residents allowed him to come in. No one gave any thought to a near 40-year-old man walking around a dorm at 11:40 at night. If they did, they didn't think enough of it to tell anyone. This is a consistent attitude in the dorms and even some apartments. When visiting friends on Gilman Street, I was often able to enter the complex by following someone in. Note that this was often around 11 p.m.

So why do we treat safety recklessly when we are in charge of it? It is because students who arrive at UW-Madison see the campus the same way: a steppingstone for the rest of life. As such, the dark side of Madison life isn't addressed, but rather avoided. This is the last hurrah before students enter real life alone — without all the support groups and acronyms to hold them up.

While some argue UW students should be embarrassed to allow crimes such as rape and robbery to happen, the truth is we allow far more preventable mistakes to occur. We allow a reckless attitude toward drinking, ending in weekend trips to detox, and a culture of alcoholism. We allow racial inequality to slowly sink into our institution. We ignore Madison's problems because it doesn't concern us — we've got our own problems.

It's time we finally acted like we live here, rather than just paying rent. This means stopping unknown drifters from walking into dorm rooms, accompanying a friend home late at night and looking out for your fellow student.

However, it doesn't just mean paying attention to our immediate surroundings. To paraphrase a popular quote around here, campus is 5 square miles surrounded by reality. Mayor Cieslewicz cited the need for more police and cameras to make Madison safe, but that's only a Band-Aid if the root of the problem isn't dealt with soon. Madison has 40,000 students who will rage on about the drinking age or the liquor laws, but when it comes to the day-to-day issues of the city as a whole, such as poverty, students just turn a blind eye.

What UW students have to realize is regardless of how isolated campus seems, it is still part of Madison. As registered voters and concerned citizens, we should still care what happens to the rest of the city. While a college student may not care that there is a $10.5 million shortfall in the Madison Metropolitan School District, he should. If the education system fails Madison school students, it could take them on a destructive path that affects us through rising crime. Plus, considering the so-called "progressive attitude," we could do a lot more on the small scale to aid future generations in our own backyard.

Students have their own needs. No one is asking us to stay in Madison and live here for the rest of our lives — although, given the exodus after college, that might help. Yet, when a fifth of a city's population ignores poverty and other community problems, it represents a wall between campus and community. Safety and crime are Madison issues, not just campus ones. If we are ever going to solve these problems, we need to consider the whole city, not just our humble little bubble; especially when that bubble already burst.

Jason Smathers ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in history and journalism.