Frequent gun rampages on the US campuses and murder of three Indian students in the past couple of months has worried the 80,000-strong Indian student community.
CHICAGO: Frequent gun rampages on the US campuses and murder of three Indian students in the past couple of months has worried the 80,000-strong Indian student community in this country even as they believe it to be a social phenomenon that you have to take in your stride.
The students want improved security on campuses. But they do not think that will stop these random acts of violence. Nor do they believe that the Indian students are being specially targeted or are subject of hate crimes.
Two Indian doctoral students, Kiran Kumar Allam and Chandrasekhar Reddy Komma, were murdered in Louisiana State University (LSU), Baton Rouge, in December while Abhijit Mahato was killed in Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, last month.
Police have made one arrest in Mahato’s case, thought to be a victim of robbery, while there has been no clue to the killer or his motive in the LSU case.
Ravi Tej Kavalipati, president of the Indian Student Association at LSU, said there was no evidence so far to suggest Allam and Reddy were killed because they were Indian. “They just happened to fall victim, it could have been anyone else,” he believed.
Kavalipati, who is pursuing a Masters in systems science, said Indian students are feeling a little insecure after the NIU and other campus shootings, but not overly so because all such incidents seem to lack apparent motive. “Nothing can stop a psycho from random acts of violence,” he said.
Yet, university authorities have to improve security, which is their responsibility, to at least prevent muggings and robberies, he said. The Indian students he represents have submitted a petition to the LSU authorities asking for surveillance cameras, security gates and fencing in certain areas. He said keeping guns may be a constitutional right in the US, but you cannot carry guns on campus.
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