At a recent rally at the University of Chicago, Shirley Tsai stood in a semicircle, blocked by her friends. Being late, living in the suburbs of the student crowd, she didn't know what to think or how to feel.

The crowd was emotional, yelling into the megaphone, and even arguing between them about the solution.

Cai tried to stay calm. One week after the incident, her boyfriend Zheng Shaoxiong "Dennis" was shot to death, which is still not true for her. The killing took place at noon, half a mile away from where the crowd gathered-that's why they gathered.

Zheng-like many in the crowd, including Cai-is from China. After completing his bachelor's degree at the University of Hong Kong, he recently received a master's degree in statistics from the University of Chicago. Cai said that he sent his resume to find a job as a data scientist, possibly in California or even in Silicon Valley. He wrote a book on statistics and opened a blog with at least 3,000 followers on WeChat.

Zheng was the third student or just graduated college student to be shot dead in Chicago within a year: two were in Hyde Park and one was on the Green Line. He is the second victim, a student from China. Although these deaths are irrelevant, they bring Chicago's biggest problem closer to students, especially those who grew up in countries where gun violence does not exist.

"This kind of tragedy has happened so many times, we can't let it happen again and again, and then say,'Oh, we're glad it's not me this time. Okay, who is next? Probably not me,'" Cai said . "That's it. It's okay to make it happen."

Zheng's death became a catalyst for media attention and a response from the city government. The immediate response was to increase the presence of police, despite opposition from others, saying that Hyde Park already has two police forces and unarmed security guards. Excessive policing may further harm their black and brown neighbors.

Cai has been busy from meeting to meeting to help organize a memorial service for her boyfriend, and discuss her future plans with a consultant; when he died, she was applying for a doctoral program.

She studies political science and understands the fight against gun violence in the United States. But when thinking of Zheng's death, nothing has changed for so many years, Cai said that she felt like she was doing nothing.

"We have never had any sense of security here," she said. "We have never felt safe. We are all afraid of death and nothing has changed. Nothing has changed here. People need to act, we need to act, but what is the direction of action? Security? The police? I think we will talk about this when people die. It doesn’t make sense. You don’t want to treat these issues as politics anymore. It becomes something else."

On November 9th, Zheng told Cai that he had ordered her takeaway, but he needed to stop in his dormitory to pick up things before they had dinner together. Half an hour passed and he had no news. She tried to call, but she didn't get a response. Then she saw the news on Twitter and WeChat that a 24-year-old man was shot and killed.

"I just panicked," she said. "I know it may be him."

At a court hearing last week, prosecutors said that when 18-year-old Alton Spann came out of a stolen Ford Mustang, Zheng Zheng walked home from the campus in the 900th block of East 54th block.

Allegedly, when Spann tried to ask for Zheng's bag, witnesses spied on the scene through a nearby window, but the students did not give up. The prosecutor said that according to witnesses, Zheng suddenly fell and Span kept pointing a gun at him.

Although a nearby doctor quickly performed chest compressions and the ambulance was only half a mile away, Zheng was pronounced dead in less than 20 minutes, from a gunshot wound to an arm.

When a friend drove Cai to the emergency room, a doctor called and told her that Zheng had not come. She can't even see his body.

The university, city government, and police quickly provided condolences and short-term solutions: increase patrols and cameras, and increase transportation options for students.

Zheng's death was not the only violent act that occurred in the neighborhood that week. Two hours before he was killed, a Hyundai Sonata shot and hit vehicles and businesses on 53rd Street.

Two days later, a university employee was robbed at gunpoint outside the school research center. The school held a webinar that night, and the president of the university, Paul Alivisatos (Paul Alivisatos) stated that the violence was on the same scale as the public health crisis.

According to Hyde Park’s crime database, Zheng’s death is the fourth homicide in Hyde Park this year. In Hyde Park, there were 11 non-fatal shootings this year. According to the database, there were fewer than 6 non-fatal shootings and homicides in 2019 and 2020. The surge in gun violence is consistent with the rise in violence in Chicago and the country as a whole.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Police Chief David Brown said they believe that more police officers walking and driving and adding more cameras and license plate readers can find solutions. Brown said that after the new year, the Wentworth district, including Hyde Park, will add 16 new officers.

According to the University of Chicago website, the University of Chicago Police Department employs approximately 100 police officers. In contrast, as of last year, Northwestern University’s police force had 38 officers.

"Having a large presence will not only increase security, but it will also increase the sense of security," Brown said.

Brown does admit that increasing the police force may cause hesitation, especially in black and brown communities. He said that if they were found to be racially biased, he would be dismissed.

"We will not racially describe people of color. We will not target people for other reasons except for violating traffic laws," Brown said.

Lance Williams, a professor of urban studies at Northeastern Illinois University, said the University of Chicago "exists in a bubble."

"They are a world-class university, so they need to become more friendly by expanding access to academic programs and hiring more people of color, so they are not so isolated," he said.

Craig Futterman, professor of clinical law at the University of Chicago Law School and permanent dean of the school, said that universities should be wary of "expressive responses" to make people feel more comfortable, rather than fundamentally solving problems in reality. exist.

"At this moment, what we don't do is more important than what we do," Futterman said. "We don't need dramatic measures to give people the illusion of a miraculous panacea."

University faculty and students agree that violence should stop, but how to get there is where the community is divided.

A letter to the principal and provost signed by nearly 350 faculty members is bolded and emphasizes that “anti-violence should be the top priority of the university”. The letter explained that they hope the university’s police force will expand the border and strengthen surveillance and security. They hope to provide more shuttle routes for students, and hope that the university will design a committee to address the violence in the vicinity. Their final request was for the university to work with the Southern District community to develop a long-term plan.

"These tragedies have been happening on and off campus, and we hear about gun robberies every week!" The letter read. "As educators, parents and community members, we are deeply disturbed and angry. We are no longer sure whether our campus allows students, faculty and staff to study, work and live safely. We are experiencing an existential crisis. "

On Tuesday, a statement from the University of California acknowledged receipt of the letter.

Students, including many in the university’s international Chinese community, held gatherings to express their demands.

On Tuesday, at least 200 students gathered in the Main Quadrangle on the campus. Many people said that they no longer feel safe on campus and no longer recommend other Chinese students to apply for the University of California, despite its reputation. They say that their lives are not worthy of a diploma.

The opinions of those who spoke at the rally were divided. One student suggested that security is a privilege and the narrative is complicated.

"People in the Southern District and surrounding communities feel insecure every day," he said. "People face gun violence every day because they have no choice. I want to emphasize that this is an economically motivated crime, which means that a large part of it is due to the obvious difference between the Hyde Park community and the community. Equality. The practice of universities and their displacement intensifies and perpetuates the surrounding communities."

"So the students deserve to die?" Someone in the crowd responded.

"Students should not die. No one should die," the speaker responded.

A 29-year-old PhD student from China who has lived in the United States for 10 years said that she was worried that the rally might be taken out of context and used to continue the right-wing agenda. The student, who asked not to be named, said, but those who participated in the rally agreed that the Southern District should take long-term action, and they are aware of the violence there.

"Here, people are trying to distinguish what the city of Chicago is doing from what the school can do for us," she said.

Da Teng, a 23-year-old chemistry PhD student who is a friend of Zheng, said that international students are tourists from Chicago and will not see long-term solutions work.

"We are essentially victims of social injustice in the United States," Teng said. "We just hope that our two to five years here are safe."

Last summer, a student movement called #CareNotCops staged a protest in Hyde Park, calling for the cancellation of funding for the University of Chicago Police Department and the Chicago Police Department.

Students associated with the movement also recently wrote a letter to the president and the provost, in part stating that gun violence is not new and that the university “must first dismantle the racist system and begin compensation procedures, according to the black communities that have been harmed in history.”

The letter, signed by at least 330 students, alumni, neighbors, and faculty and staff, added that policing is the perpetrator of violence, not the solution. The organization recently held its own rally, attended by at least 50 people.

Alicia Hurtado, a 21-year-old undergraduate and the organizer of #CareNotCops, said that Hyde Park is already like a police country, and the boundaries between the Chicago police and the university police are growing Vague, but gun violence continues to occur. She said it was shocking to see the university provide more police officers so quickly in response to Zheng's death.

"No matter what they say and the main effect of the main outcome that will happen is more police, more traffic parking, more pedestrian parking, more cameras; that is more violence," she said. "It's not in the name of safety, but in the name of property.... This university cares about its reputation — its ability to attract wealthy students who pay tuition — this is the bottom line at the beginning of the day.”

Vimorris Moore, the organizer of Assata's Daughters, a community organization led by black women and gender non-compliant individuals based in Washington Park, talked at the rally about how the international community has lost people who look like them This is a feeling that the locals in the Southern District are "accused".

"As black people, we understand the feelings and passion behind wanting to be safe, but when you promote things like'you are here to learn and not to die', you have to consider what this says to your neighbors on the street Come on," they said. "I went to Hyde Park High School, which is only a few steps away. My high school would like to say that they have lost three students this year."

Morris-Moore said that promoting police officers is anti-black, and the messages conveyed by university presidents and police chiefs in their webinars are dangerous.

They said: "It does prove the existence of the University of Chicago and the fact that it can be located in one of the most terrifying neighborhoods of gun violence, and that the epidemic should not affect their campus."

The chairman of the Chicago Police Commission, Gian Foreman, said he was shot while growing up in the Hyde Park-Kenwood area.

He said violence is not new. But at that time, the gunshot was a "prisoner of war" at 10 o'clock in the evening, he said. Now, it is more common that gunshots are semi-automatic and at noon of the day.

Foreman graduated from the Business School of the University of Chicago and is now teaching there. Zheng was in class when he was shot. But there is no cell phone service in his classroom. Foreman said that when the course was over, his students were paralyzed with fright when they realized what had happened. "This is very foreign to them."

"My initial reaction was to tell the students to take a deep breath and calm down because we can't do anything about it," he said. "The probability of what happened to you is very small. Let's try to think about some solutions that we can work for the entire city."

Foreman later tried to use the shooting as an opportunity to examine the violence in the city and discuss how his class felt the emotions that many communities in the city felt every day.

"It's traumatic. It's not just for people who have been shot or injured," he said. "It has produced huge ripples, and this ripple has gone international. China is feeling the impact. Therefore, violence is not just a local issue. It is a global issue."

Foreman said that he believes it is important for universities to use their power to seek resources from cities to stop violence, but they should find solutions that benefit the entire city, not just Hyde Park.

"This is a great opportunity for us to become part of Chicago and treat it as a team," Foreman said. "These are all the challenges we face as residents of Chicago. What we are dealing with is a human issue."

On Thursday, the school held a memorial service for Zheng. This was his mother's first trip abroad and the first time she spoke to the school community about the murder of her son and him. She stood on the podium and spoke to hundreds of mourners in Mandarin. Translated by ABC-7, she said she had been desperately trying to call his name again and again.

She said that when he was shot and lying in a foreign country, he must have felt helpless. She demanded justice and called for action to protect every foreign student to prevent the tragedy she experienced from happening again.

"You and your desire for life, your love for your family, and your care for your classmates have all completely disappeared from my life by the murderer's bullet," she said.

"All this happened so fast. The moment I heard the news, I was trembling and heartbroken. I wanted to die and didn't want to believe this. I didn't want to believe that I would never see my baby again. People often People who say that they bring light and hope to others are angels.

"So God, please, please return my angel to me."