I've never personally lived there, but I had friends who did and I was constantly over there so I spent a lot of time there, day and night. My advice is from 6-7 years ago and the area has been getting nicer recently so do keep that in mind. As long as you keep to yourself, you should be fine. You'll probably experience some sketchy stuff but if you don't get involved it shouldn't be a problem. There are drunks/crackheads in the area that will occasionally cause a scene. I would hear the occasional gunshot, and there were shots fired on the basketball court in the park directly across from Clark in the middle of the day once. I don't think anyone was hit though. But I never personally had any issues. There is some gang activity in the surrounding area but as long as you aren't involved you really shouldn't have any problems. Basically, if you're a normal college student who has common sense and doesn't go looking for trouble you might see some weird shit but you shouldn't personally have any problems.