Yale freshmen get ominous ‘Grim Reaper’ survival guide from police union warning of ‘shockingly high’ crime around Ivy League campus
- Students have been warned by the university’s police union not to travel alone or leave campus if they want to stay safe
- But the union has been accused of scaremongering as a cynical bargaining tactic
Yale University has accused its police union of cynically scaring freshmen about crime with inflammatory “Grim Reaper” flyers that hark back to the darkest days of the 1970s.
The flyers handed out to freshmen on the New Haven campus this week urged them to get off the streets before 8 p.m., avoid public transportation, never walk alone, and never leave college grounds.
The handout depicts a skull and bills itself as a ‘survival guide’. It is said that ‘the incidence of crime and violence in New Haven is alarmingly high, and it is getting worse’.
The university dismissed the flyers as “misleading” and police labeled them “disgusting.”
“The union only handed out the fliers as a contract negotiation tactic,” claimed Yale Police Chief Anthony Campbell.
The less than cheery welcome from the Yale University police union awaiting college freshmen this week
Yale Police Chief Anthony Campbell labeled the pamphlets a “disgusting” bargaining tactic
Welcome to Fear City: A Survival Guide for Visitors to the City of New York was a pamphlet created by the police and fire unions in 1975 as the city was on the verge of bankruptcy
“We do not support this and frankly I am disgusted that they have chosen this path,” he said.
The flyers appear to be based on an infamous 1975 flyer produced by the NYPD, police, and firefighter titled “Welcome to Fear City: A Survival Guide for Visitors to the City of New York.”
They were drawn up in response to large-scale police firings and include advice to stay off the streets after 6pm, ‘don’t walk’ and ‘avoid public transport’.
They had the same skull motif and closed with the words “Good luck.” They were intended for tourists arriving at the city’s airports, but were widely criticized.
The copycat leaflets claim that “during the seven-month period ending July 23, 2023, homicides doubled, burglaries increased 33 percent, and motor vehicle thefts increased 56 percent.”
They state that they are “prepared by the Yale Police Benevolent Association to help you enjoy your stay at Yale in comfort and safety.”
“It was really scary, it was alarming,” freshman Isabella Caltitla told me Vos61 after receiving the flyer during the move on Sunday.
“My mom was pretty scared about it too, because I’m her only daughter and I’m moving so far from home.”
New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker called the pamphlets “childish and selfish” at a news conference Tuesday.
The university denounced ‘disturbing and inflammatory rhetoric about the safety of Yale’s campus’
New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker called the pamphlets “childish and selfish” at a news conference Tuesday.
And the university hit back in a statement, pointing out that the police union is “currently in contract negotiations with the university.”
“These pamphlets contain disturbing and inflammatory rhetoric about the safety of Yale’s campus and its home city of New Haven, designed to instill fear among new students and their families.”
New Haven council police commissioner Mike Lawlor said the flyers were a blatant copy of the 1975 flyers and were intended to instill fear.
“This is one of the most important days in a person’s life, for a child or a parent,” he added.
“And to be confronted with this incendiary and false flier is, in fact, a disgrace.”
Students said they were alarmed by the warnings in the leaflets
But the union defended this tactic, insisting that there is “no discussion of the facts.”
“I think they feel an obligation to make sure students don’t become victims of crime while they’re studying at Yale University,” spokesman Andrew Matthews told Fox61.
“They have motor vehicles chasing each other through the streets of New Haven shooting at each other.
“If you or your kids went to Yale, wouldn’t you want to know?”