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Effective campus security
BY PETER ZETHRAUSs
STATESMAN STAFF WRITER
iISSUE: 78/24
Tyler sweeney / statesman
It is easy to watch what happened at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University from the comfort and safety of our living room televisions. It is also easy to move on and forget about incidents like the one in Montague Hall on Feb. 20.
The truth is, the immediate removal of the man from campus and his placement into a treatment facility could not have been handled better by the university and Duluth authorities, and we should feel fortunate to have campus security that responds so quickly and effectively. But where do we go from here? The question of how similar situations are handled in the future undeniably must be considered. I highly doubt that the university adopts a blasé attitude towards the situation.
When we saw on the news that high schools after the Columbine massacre were adopting increased security measures such as metal detectors, it only promoted an atmosphere of fear, taking the comfort away from an environment that was suppose to be one of learning, not apprehension and paranoia. Granted, UMD’s incident was unique in that the perpetrator was not a student, but instead a civilian with past mental illness afflictions and a criminal record.
Increased security walks a thin line between treating students as the adults they are, and creating a police state. Since we spend so much time on campus, a sense of security is helpful to create a comfortable learning environment. However, that security should never enter the realm of fear mongering. We were fortunate enough that what happened did not result in violence, but if it had, I trust that the university’s emergency text message system would have been an effective measure to prevent a large scale tragedy.
Text messages, as well as the Emergency Preparedness section on the UMD Homepage are appropriate ways to keep our university safe without turning campus life into a culture of fear. Since we do not live in a perfect world, it is obvious that schools have to take some precautions to avoid becoming another Virginia Tech. In my opinion, UMD security does a good job of keeping our campus secure without creating an environment of fear.
