In the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre, students across the United States are questioning their campus security.
Recently, Long Beach City College discussed in a panel with students and faculty an idea of installing telephones in every classroom to aid students and faculty in an emergency situation like a shooting rampage.
Telephones in classrooms would enable students and faculty to contact the authorities and help protect students on campus and in classrooms to be warned if there was a shooter on the grounds. However, students off campus would not be informed of a shooter through telephones in classrooms.
Like Virginia Tech, an e-mail was sent out to the entire student body when they were informed of the second round of shootings on campus, but not every student off campus was connected to the Internet.
Students asked at the panel discussion at LBCC if they and faculty that had the proper licenses to own a gun would be allowed to bring their guns to campus to protect themselves and others in an attack on campus, according an article in the May 7 issue of the Long Beach Press-Telegram.
If students and faculty were allowed to bring guns on campus for protection, there would be more gun violence and accidental shootings on campus.
LBCC’s panel also discussed putting together a campus safety committee to teach students and faculty procedures they can use in a dangerous situation such as a shooting.
However, the panel stated student involvement was poor at LBCC, and they would not be able to recruit enough student volunteers to make the committee possible.
Campus safety should be a prime concern for faculty and students and they should contribute their ideas to a solution for the problem.
However, time is a constraint for faculty and students, so the administration needs to come up with a solution to solve the problem that does not involve the time of students and faculty.
New and existing students would feel safer coming to campus if their school administration had precautions that would detect and warn students of a shooting like the Virginia Tech Massacre.
Administration on college campuses should take the measures and funds and dedicate them to a safer campus.
New students graduating from high school will not want to attend a college campus that is unsafe, especially after the Virginia Tech scare.
Enrollment will decrease among campuses that do not make it apparent that their main concern on campus is the protecting the well-being of their students.
Administration should devote extra funds to cameras in every hallway and every classroom to detect dangerous situations on campus, instead of putting funds towards necessities that are not a concern to students and faculty.
The security behind those cameras should be a “real” security team, not untrained students doing it as a part time job.
For instance, after CSULB had several rapes on campus, the administration hired “security” to protect students and faculty.
The majority of the time I see our security on campus
at CSULB staring down at their cellular phones posted upon a bench or ledge, not paying any attention to what is going on in front of them.
Therefore, if a shooting or other disasters occurred on CSULB’s campus, I would not feel as if our security would be able to do anything to resolve the situation.
Money is always a factor when it comes to extra necessities that students need on campus. However, tuition should be put towards safety first before anything else.
If the administration on college campuses took security more seriously, shootings and other tragedies would be eliminated.
Jessica Van Voorst is a senior public relations major.
