
Black bear cub! From "bear.org!"
After three years at Princeton, I’ve come to associate Campus Safety Alerts with two things: toy guns (Three, yes, three times) and campus creepers. I’ve never really been happy to see Donald P. Reichling’s name pop up in my inbox, you know? Which I know might seem too much to ask from Public Safety, but sometimes don’t you just want to be surprised, and not in a trench coat on the tow path way?
I mean, I guess that was what Vivienne was getting at last month, when she compared Public Safety’s crime prevention tips to a list of Mountain Lion Safety Tips. Too much public indecency, not enough mountain lions.
Today, Public Safety surprised me. No, Public Safety delighted me. I opened Donald P. Reichling’s email as I always do, with a sad sigh and a sideways glance at the drawer where I stuffed the pepper spray my parents bought me before freshman year (Yeah, it’s pink, get it? Because I’m a girl.) And then I smiled.
Because, Vivienne, it happened. Roaming the streets of Princeton is a black bear.

During summer, when there are no parties to break, or drunk students to catch urinating, what exactly does PSafe do? Catch criminals, that’s what. In this week’s edition: Water guns? Public lewdness? Princeton quickly becomes the next possible locale of a CSI spin-off. Meanwhile, The New Yorker is all like, “You guys were so right about the Kindle thing,” and coincidentally “the Kindle ate my homework” becomes a viable excuse. Also, oh my God!, the Princeton Review made lists of colleges and people freak out about them.