By Elisha McNeil (Special to The Chronicle)
While there has been concern of student safety off-campus, there has been a problem with car vandalism on campus.
Students are becoming increasingly concerned about the safety of their cars and believe cameras in the parking lots could help prevent prevalent vandalism and hit-and-runs. Many cars have been hit or vandalized, and there is practically nothing students can do about it.
Lorenzo Rosselli, junior and public relations major, called attention to the matter in a recent post on the open Facebook group Suggestions@Hofstra. Administered by the Student Services Committee (SGA), the group is a forum dedicated for Hofstra students to post suggestions on issues that they would like to see changed on campus; such as dining, residence halls, and convenience issues.
Rosselli’s post reads: “I suggest Hofstra find the money to put cameras in the parking lots. I’ve had my car messed with multiple times, including somebody side swiping it. I feel like students would take more pride in knowing their money is going to keeping their property safe, rather than an Honor Code.”
Rosselli has constantly had car problems in the 11 months he has had it on campus.
“There’s always a new scratch on my car, it seems like,” Roselli said. “Last year, my car actually did get hit. There’s a little dent in it and it was scraped. If my car gets hit really badly I just would like to know that there are cameras.”
Rosselli is not the only resident who has had the unfortunate experience of discovering vehicle damage. Lisa Guzman, junior athletic training major, has also had her car hit, resulting in multiple indentations.
“It was just like a little dent on the side,” Guzman said. “That’s the biggest thing,- just little dents. But I do get scratches sometimes and I always think it’s when people open their cars.”
Peter Casale, junior mathematics major, is familiar with this problem, as well.
“I’ve had a friend whose tires have been slashed on campus,” Casale said. ”I’ve seen cars that have been keyed before and you can obviously tell that they’ve been keyed.”
Dents, scratches, and even slashed tires are the more common types of damage and the main reasons for most complaints. Yet it appears that even something as simple as flyers have also been causing an issue.
“People leave advertisements on your car and when it rains they stick to your windshield. That’s an obstruction of my view because you can’t get it off; it literally turns into a sticker,” Casale said. “That’s almost as bad as someone damaging my car because it doesn’t come off for a while.”
One proposed solution for added security is to place several cameras in the parking lots, as Rosselli suggested. Many students feel that in addition to public safety , cameras will be an efficient method of security.
“Cameras would benefit Hofstra, especially in these parking lots,” Guzman said. “If they catch them on camera then we could post their pictures everywhere and then they’ll be easier to find. But they have to make it smart where they put camera. They need at least six cameras for one parking lot.”
Although Rosselli acknowledges the possible flaws in his suggestion, he still feels cameras would be a useful security measure to catch the source of vehicle damage.
“Even if you can’t see their face I think it’s good if you can see if it’s a male or female, the build, the ethnicity of the person – that’s helpful,” Rosselli said. “Hofstra can do more to relieve the possibility of people getting their cars wrecked, or destroyed or vandalized, money should be spent to get cameras.”
Public Safety has expressed that they are doing the best they can to address this issue and there is not much more they can do at the present time.
