Current Release: September 11th, 2007 | Vol. XXIV Iss. 10

Illustration by Taylor Boyd

WIll the new safety measures work?

Staff

It s been said that how you end on thing is how you ll start another.

That couldn t be truer for Virginia Wesleyan College.

At the end of last school year, The Marlin Chronicle discussed safety issues and offered advice to incoming freshman. At the beginning of this school year, we re doing it again, but this time the safety advisory extends to the entire campus.

We re not dealing with the murder of a security guard, which still remains unsolved; but rather, a bomb threat by a now fired employee.

We re dealing with the Virginia Beach Police patrolling out campus, handing out speeding tickets and other citations on private property.

We re dealing with an Emergency Response Team and CSI at VWC.

To further protect us from unforeseen dangers, VWC administration has put into place security measures like e2Campus, where those who sign up will receive a text message warning in case of a emergency. A siren will also be installed in a prominent location on campus. This siren will be started from on of two locations in the case of an emergency.

As many of us now know, and for those who don t, we got a taste of e2Campus on Sept. 10. Those who actually took the time to register received a text message, which informed them to  evacuate all building structures. Perhaps some of the students accidentally left their cell phones on and heard it ring during class, while the others who left their phones on silent wouldn t have even known what was going on. Indeed, some students had to go into other classrooms and inform them that they needed to evacuate the building. Now the student body was safely out of a building that held a potential bomb, but were left clueless standing next to it with no further instruction and wondering, now what?

Why wasn t this new e2Campus put into effect after the bomb threat was made by a now fired Wesleyan employee? The town meeting was held on Thursday, Aug. 30  which is when Dean Buckingham discussed and encouraged students and faculty to sign up for this program. The following day, Aug. 31, this bomb threat by an employee was made. Students didn t receive any information telling them about what happened until two days later, on Sept. 2, in the form of a mass email. Why wasn t the e2Campus put into effect then? A better question on the same note would be: why was the student body not alerted to the bomb threat until two days after it was made?

While the administration has put into place measures to protect us, let s not forget that we are able bodied people and are capable of thinking for ourselves. A few of the topics that Dean Buckingham mentioned at the town meeting are basic safety techniques The Marlin Chronicle has mentioned in previous issues. Do not leave doors to dorm rooms propped open, and do not let anyone you don t know into the building. If you have to park in the baseball field at midnight, call security for an escort. Walk in groups instead of by yourself. If there is a serious emergency, call 911 first. There is only so much campus security can do without the use of common sense and the ability to think under pressure.

So the ultimate question is  will these new security measures work in the long run?

It remains to be seen, but in a society where students are patrolled on their college campus by police and listen for sirens in the case of emergency  we have to remind ourselves that we can t expect the college to take care of us all the time. It is our responsibility to also know how to take care of ourselves.