Ever walked around campus after dark? Maybe had to cut through a quad to a late-night session at Dempster? Going back to the Netherlands from a party in Colonial Square? Heck, even going to Suffolk Hall during finals season after a cram session in the library. We all travel about campus, usually on foot. That’s why it’s so disturbing when every other week, I find a note slipped under my door from Public Safety warning me about the latest “bad thing” to happen on campus. Most recently, it was a note concerning a sexual assault near Constitution Hall on Sunday.
Now, it’s understandable that you can’t have a Public Safety officer in every corner of the campus at all times, but I do think there are still things we could improve. I mean, one of my professors saw a student being arrested in class for some crime, and when I went to check Google News to see who it was, there were multiple students arrested for major crimes in the last week, so crime on campus is an issue.
In the Student Center, there are six cameras covering the Commerce Bank branch that I could see. On the other hand, I found no cameras in the hallways by the back meeting rooms or on the outside doors on either side of the building. And as far as I could tell, there are no cameras in the parking lot between my dorm and the Student Center.
So, for a bank that is only open when lots of people are around, and probably has its money locked in an immoveable safe, we have six sets of eyes watching it. But for student meeting in the back rooms, going for some late-night pizza, or coming back from the library, we have none. Maybe they should feel safe knowing that their money is being spent to guard more money.
That brings up the issue of where our Public Safety money is going. I’ve been hearing a lot of stuff about the security for the presidential debates. Apparently, all the people attending will be background-checked, as well as the entire plant and maintenance staffs. The rationale is that at some point you might need a carpenter to nail something, and you’d want to make sure he didn’t have a criminal record. Fair enough.
Another change is that Public Safety will be ramping up-to-12-hour shifts to have more officers on campus at any one time. This is ostensibly for the protection of those preparing the event and participants, even though this schedule will be maintained for several weeks before the event.
It always amazes me when I go to visit Columbia University that they have a guard at every entrance to the campus at alltimes. Here, we occasionally have guards at two gates after 9:30 p.m. Even then, it’s rather hit-or-miss as I’ve come back after midnight while no one’s there. Or, I’ll come back and there’ll be a guard at the main gate, but not at the Oak St. gate. And, of course, anyone can walk into either entrance, around the car barrier, without question 90 percent of the time.
Maybe it’s because we have great security presence on the campus itself that we don’t need more guards at the entrances. In that case, why do we need more guards on duty during the debate preparation, when all they’ll be protecting is the equipment brought in by the media? Is the argument really that we have enough security that the level of assaults and robberies currently on campus is acceptable, but that if we bring expensive electronics to the arena, we need more security? Maybe they’re concerned that someone will steal the Triscuits from the green room? All I know is that if we’re upping security to guard inanimate objects before famous people get here, then why haven’t we expanded our security to those levels now? I suspect most people would agree that people’s lives are more valuable than a reporter’s truck.
Even now, a good portion of our Public Safety officers’ time goes to guarding parking lots, not to catch speeders or people disobeying the traffic laws, but to make sure that administrators and visitors get their reserved spots. Again, I’d rather they spend those hours patrolling the buildings and ticketing people parked illegally than making sure administrators have personal service removing the traffic cones from their reserved space.
We need more Public Safety officers on campus, patrolling the grounds and buildings to protect the students. Since we can afford to expand their presence for the debate, we show both a need and ability to do so at other times; now we need a willingness to do just that.
Matt Bisanz is a graduate student. You may e-mail him at [email protected].