In his recent weekly mass email, President Scott Cowen attemptedto answer a question many off-campus residents have been wonderingfor months: How bad did crime have to get before someone would sayspeak up?

For members of the off-campus community, the first week of thesemester was a gauntlet – featuring multiple robberies in a matterof days and an on-campus robbery in front of the university’s newprized sophomore housing complex. Someone had to say something.There’s a new superintendent at the campus police department, andnow, the mayor is involved.

For longtime residents of Carrollton Avenue – the neighborhoodwest of campus – this month’s robberies were certainly not anovelty, or even much of a surprise. As the city’s populationcontinues to return, crime has been escalating. It seemed thatuntil now school administrators were willing to sit by and watch,releasing squeaky clean on-campus crime reports to flaunt toprospective freshman each year.

The key player in Cowen’s new effort to return civility touniversity district streets is new police superintendent JonBarnwell, who recently came to Tulane from North Carolina StateUniversity. Barnwell, sitting behind a wide desk in a clean, barrenoffice, efficiently delegates the crime problem around Tulane’scampus.

“Tulane’s main campus covers about 150 acres, compared witharound 5,000 at N.C. State,” Barnwell said. “We can concentrate ourresources here, and it makes Tulane’s campus literally the safestplace in New Orleans. Off-campus is a completely different story.There is definitely a strong criminal element out there.”

At nearly 6-feet tall, Barnwell carries a commanding yetnon-threatening presence, rarely carries a gun, and cites achildhood affinity for the Andy Griffith Show as a source of hispolicing philosophy. He likes students, wants to see studentshaving a good time, and wants to make sure no one from outside theneighborhood interferes with that. He’s thoughtful, calculated,and, most of all, a man of action.

“I took this job before the recent outbreak in crime – thatwasn’t included in the job description,” he joked. “I am perfectlyaware of the problems that New Orleans faces. People back home toldme I was stepping into a hornets’ nest. That’s exactly where I wantto be at this point in my career.”

Barnwell is a savior for the department, which has employed ahost of different philosophies and strategies for dealing withoff-campus crime over the past several years. In his first twoweeks he has nearly doubled the number of patrolling officers,negotiating with the mayor to ensure that his officers are able toexert full jurisdiction.

The department’s initial effort appears to be working: Crime inthe past two weeks has moved out of neighboring communities, andthe arrest in the on-campus robbery eased waning studentconfidence.

The question for Barnwell’s predecessors, as well as the rest ofthe university administration, is what took so long. TulaneUniversity Police Department has always had jurisdiction over areasneighboring the campus bubble – in fact, they technically havestate-wide jurisdiction. So when a student is robbed waiting for asafe-ride shuttle or is followed home and sexually assaulted,students have a right to be disappointed.

Still, Barnwell faces uncertainties about funding to sustainfull neighborhood patrols. Student affairs and TUPD plan to launcha campaign to educate students about how to avoid lurkingcriminals. Barnwell, in his first week living in New Orleans, evenscouted out the Bowl Championship Series celebration downtown todocument patterns of shady characters stalking French Quarterrevelers.

The administration has acted aloof about rising crime throughoutthe city for too long. It is certainly costly to speak of crimewhen donors, prospects and parents can be soothed knowing thatTulane’s campus is an oasis separate from those dangerous parts ofthe city. Certainly, they weren’t waiting for the sterling NewOrleans Police Department detectives to swoop in and save theday.

It’s reassuring to see a commitment to security startmanifesting itself. What a shame for the dozens of wallets, cellphones and dignity that had to go missing for that to finallyhappen.

John Harper is a senior in the Newcomb-Tulane College. Hecan be reached for comment at [email protected].