Things are so much easier in the movies. When one walks through a cemetery at night in a horror movie, it’s almost a given that the only creeps you’re going to have to worry about are popping out of their crypts. Here at the University, however, fears of nonexistent zombies and vampires has been supplanted by an all-too-real horror lurking inside the darkened confines of the Pioneer Cemetery: rapists and muggers. Last year, the campus was up in arms about the “campus predator,” a man who attacked women in the vicinity of the cemetery. On March 12, a man was mugged at gunpoint on the fire lane between the cemetery and Gerlinger Hall. The next day, in almost the same area, a woman was very nearly raped, although she fought off her assailant.
Much of the problem over campus safety, in my opinion, centers on the Pioneer Cemetery. What we have in the cemetery is a large, unlighted tract, right on the edge of campus, that the University doesn’t own. For those who may have not gone into the cemetery, it is a large, labyrinthine space, shrouded in trees with large headstones that give ample cover during the dark of night.
Worse yet, it tends to be a the shortest path from the Beall Music Hall to other parts of campus.

A large, unlighted area with students passing through in the middle of the night is a magnet for types who hunt human prey for money or sexual gratification. According to police reports, since 1996 there have been at least 45 incidents of suspicious people in and around the cemetery, including at least one rape attempt and a man sitting in the bushes masturbating. Technically, anyone inside the cemetery after 10 p.m. is breaking an old Oregon state law.
There has been precious little that the Eugene Pioneer Cemetery Association, which preserves the plots, has been willing to do, partly because of funding problems and — as I see it — partly an unwillingness to change the cemetery’s character, even if it would reduce crime. I can understand their reluctance to lighting in the cemetery as a “fix-all” solution: Without police patrols or other discouraging features, all the light provides is the opportunity for the rapist or robber to see their victim. However, the University has suggested being willing to pay for part of the construction of a wrought-iron fence, one that can be locked at 10 p.m. This would solve a large part of the problem.
However, the EPCA has gone on
record as being opposed to a fence, even one that they would not have to pay for. It seems to be that they apparently dislike vandalism more than rape. Fine. If they hate it so much, they can patrol the cemetery for a week and then see which is worse. Another thing they may want to consider: With nothing between the vandals they apparently fear so much and the cemetery, what’s to prevent those so inclined from taking a sledgehammer, waltzing inside and letting loose?
The sad part is, as private property of the EPCA, the Department of Public Safety has no jurisdiction. The best they can do is to shine floodlights into the area along the fire road that separates the cemetery from Gerlinger Hall, trying to flush out those who can be seen. But this doesn’t alleviate the problem like it should. The fire road is only one side of the cemetery, and those inclined to hide there can retreat further back into its stygian fold, where the lights can’t reach. The Eugene Police Department patrols the area randomly, but even they can’t be everywhere.
This situation has gone on far enough. It’s time to close off the cemetery at night.