At this university, you don’t have to take a class in criminology and criminal justice to learn about crime. For students, crime is not just something they study; it is something they experience firsthand — as community members, as bystanders and even as victims. Indeed, based on the frequency with which it occurs, it often seems crime is as much a part of student life at this university as finals and football are.

However, despite this unfortunate reality — one officials have pointed out is largely inescapable because of this university’s urban location — since the beginning of the semester, students have reported feeling less and less safe on and near the campus due to crimes that seem to be increasing not only in frequency but also in brutality.

The latest crime, committed yesterday at about 1:30 a.m. — mere hours after the Student Government Association’s Safety Walk ended — is arguably the most heinous of the semester thus far.

After being evicted from Thirsty Turtle for fighting, 10 men, eight of whom are students, took their disagreement to the corner of Knox Road and Route 1. And there, right outside of Cornerstone Grill and Loft, it got violent. When the dust cleared, one student’s teeth were chipped, three students had stab wounds — two found cuts on their backs, one was slashed across his cheek — and a 23-year-old man discovered he was bleeding on his right side.

And while none of the injuries proved to be life threatening, a quadruple stabbing, especially one occurring just a stone’s throw from the campus’s borders, is highly troublesome and a clear sign that despite statistics, which show a gradual decrease in crime over the past five years, crime in College Park is still an issue — one that must be addressed sooner rather than later.

While the stabbings did not physically occur in any particular establishment, this incident would never have occurred if  Thirsty Turtle had been more diligent. Not only was an individual — perhaps more than one — allowed to enter the bar with a knife, but when a physical dispute erupted, instead of calling the police and holding the participants on the premises, bar employees merely removed the offenders from the building, allowing them to continue their skirmish less than a block away. And as an establishment in the business of serving alcohol — a substance known to inhibit judgment and heighten aggression — Thirsty Turtle should be more cognizant about the potential for violence.

Though these irresponsible actions may not be the sole cause of this calamity, they most certainly played a role in ensuring the chaos that ensued.

And what’s worse is Thirsty Turtle could have easily prevented all this from occurring: Utilizing ID scanners would have prevented at least three of the participants from entering the premises, purchasing a metal detector might have stopped someone from bringing knives into the bar, and cutting their patrons off after it became clear the men were very drunk may have allowed all involved to exercise better judgment.

Last September, when College Park officials asked all bar owners to submit a safety plan for their establishments, the co-owners of Thirsty Turtle — Alan Wanuck and Tom Hall — stated their biggest problem was “kids … getting too drunk” in the bar and pledged to train their employees to recognize when patrons have had too much to drink. They also balked at installing a metal detector, stating “if you’re going to be constantly metal-detecting people, [students] are gonna be like ‘What’s going on in here?'”

In the past, this newspaper’s editorial board, student leaders and university officials — responding to the recent onslaught of crime — have offered suggestions for how to decrease criminal activity in College Park. Merely informing students of the danger is not enough. There have been repeated calls for increased police surveillance in high-crime areas and demands for the development of alternatives to crowded and dangerous bars.

We repeat these calls today but with one addition: Local businesses, specifically, College Park bars, must make safety their number one priority. If students ever hope to feel secure in College Park, changes must be made. Immediately.