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Over the summer, the Brandeis Administration made a concerted effort to ensure that our campus is safer than ever. Many thousands of dollars were spent to guarantee that, should an incident occur at Brandeis, Public Safety and the Administration will be able to respond quickly, efficiently, and in the best interests of the student body. The new text-messenging alert system, and construction efforts around campus have made Brandeis a more secure place than ever before. This effort engulfed not only physical security, but also network security, as information was conveyed about how to stay safe and protect oneself from legal ramifications. We applaud the steps taken by the Administration to make our campus a secure environment in which to live and work.

However, there is a world outside of the Brandeis bubble, and while our campus is safer than ever before, we feel that the spheres of Boston and Waltham remain relatively unknown and unexplained. Part of the allure of our university is its proximity to the cultural center that is Boston. First- year students have been given pointers about everything pertaining to Brandeis, but are given little information about what they can do, and what they have to do to stay safe, when they venture off-campus.

Even information as simple as the price of a subway ticket or directions to Moody Street would help expand the typical students universe, and improve the college experience. To some extent, college is a learning experience, and we know it is impossible to convey everything about a big city, but some tips, like the difference between an inbound and outbound train on the Fitchburg line, would be helpful. By the same token, far too many students say that they dont know where Moody Street is until their sophomore or junior years. Or how about educating students about the various buses one can take to Boston or even a neighboring mall when the shuttle is unavailable? We feel that a program outlining exactly what Boston and Waltham have to offer, and what one has to do to ensure that trips to these locations remain safe and fun, would be beneficial to not only first-years, but to the campus at large.