On Wednesday of this week, the Brandeis community received another email from Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan about an incident of indecent exposure on South Street. This marks the seventh time that students have been harassed just off campus this year. Six incidents were “indecent exposure,” while one was an attempted robbery and assault.

While the emails reporting these incidents are piling up, Callahan has not once followed up with a report on how Brandeis Police are working with Waltham Police to stop these incidences from happening, though he does say generally that they are investigating. How long are students going to have to walk in fear before something is done? We understand that bureaucracy often slows action, but the community still has a right to know what plans are being made.

Additionally, we find the vague nature of the reports unsettling. Each incident is referred to as “indecent exposure,” in which a man “exposed himself” to the party. While it’s hard to hear about the details of these upsetting occurrences, somebody can “expose” themselves in different ways. Particularly, students should be aware of how aggressive these exposures were. The more we know, the more we can protect ourselves on the sidewalk while Public Safety and Waltham Police talk about what they might do behind closed doors.

While it is fair to assume that permanent solutions to this problem—finding the culprit or culprits, installing more light fixtures on the dark stretches of South Street—will take more time, there have to be more immediate steps Public Safety can take to protect students. All of the incidents have happened around the same time of night, mostly between the Foster Mods and Shakespeare Road. Is stationing a Brandeis or Waltham Police officer in this area for a few hours per night out of the question?

We suggest that Brandeis Public Safety hold a public forum to answer students’ questions on the attacks and any other ongoing solutions.