On a beautiful campus like TCU’s, it’s easy for students to feel safe. But incidents like the gunpoint robbery just one block south of Berry Street Friday night remind us how careful we must be when we leave the TCU bubble.

After the sexual assault that occurred in the fall of last year, the university formed the Safety and Security Committee to address safety on campus, according to a previous Daily Skiff article. Since then, the university has increased the number of street lights on campus as a response to the student request for better lighting.

The problem remains, however, that TCU’s influence only goes so far.

Sometimes it seems that no amount of safety precautions are enough. The students involved in Friday night’s robbery parked just one block from the house they were walking to, and they were traveling in a group of three.

Police, both from TCU and Fort Worth, responded in a timely manner, and Campus Life sent a representative to meet with students that night. The university and local law enforcement should be commended for their efforts, as should the students, who exercised proper safety precautions.

But if everyone is doing everything right, why do incidents like this still occur several times per semester?

The fact is that outside of the TCU campus bubble is an area not as safe as the university community. Students should exercise caution both on and off campus, and we should continue to look for new ways to increase safety for the campus community.

News editor Andrea Drusch for the editorial board.