Spring Break
Student safety issue arises on campus
Natalie Jurgen
Issue date: 9/4/08 Section: Opinion
I'm sure everyone has heard about the attack that occurred last week in Fletcher Hall. For the few of you that have not, a male non-student assaulted a female student in the lobby of her dormitory. How did this non-student gain access into the dorm? By an action that any of us who have ever lived in a residence hall are guilty of: tailgating.
No one can be specifically pinpointed or held responsible for allowing this man to enter the dorm behind them.
We're all guilty of being polite and holding the door for the person behind us. Who can blame us?
ECU officials say the best prevention for these random acts of violence is education. They believe that informing students of the importance of not allowing people to tailgate will in fact stop these crimes.
The reality of the situation is that this will never happen. Students will never close the door in the face of the person walking in behind them.
This incident is evidence that more serious safety measures need to be taken. What can be done to improve safety you might ask? I think we can learn by other school's examples.
Many universities in the UNC system, and all over the country for that matter, do not use the traditional lock and key method of dorm entry.
To enter the dorms at these schools students need to scan their school ID to unlock the door. Students are much less likely to give someone their school ID to get inside their dorm than they are with a set of keys.
How does this stop the tailgating problem? It doesn't. However, there is a solution to this as well.
After scanning school IDs to get inside the door, students must check in with a university staff member sitting in the hall lobby.
Have a guest with you? Then they need to hand over their ID and pick it up when you sign them back out to leave.
If any person entering the hall had to first check in, the assault in Fletcher Hall would have never occurred. The attacker would have been identified as an unescorted non-student and asked to leave immediately.
ECU is in serious need of a safety update in all of the dorms. I understand that doing away with the traditional entry method may be costly, but what price can be put on student safety? The negatives of a high cost seriously outweigh the positive of protecting students.
I think that both students and parents alike would sleep better at night knowing that their dormitory is being strictly monitored.
No one can be specifically pinpointed or held responsible for allowing this man to enter the dorm behind them.
We're all guilty of being polite and holding the door for the person behind us. Who can blame us?
ECU officials say the best prevention for these random acts of violence is education. They believe that informing students of the importance of not allowing people to tailgate will in fact stop these crimes.
The reality of the situation is that this will never happen. Students will never close the door in the face of the person walking in behind them.
This incident is evidence that more serious safety measures need to be taken. What can be done to improve safety you might ask? I think we can learn by other school's examples.
Many universities in the UNC system, and all over the country for that matter, do not use the traditional lock and key method of dorm entry.
To enter the dorms at these schools students need to scan their school ID to unlock the door. Students are much less likely to give someone their school ID to get inside their dorm than they are with a set of keys.
How does this stop the tailgating problem? It doesn't. However, there is a solution to this as well.
After scanning school IDs to get inside the door, students must check in with a university staff member sitting in the hall lobby.
Have a guest with you? Then they need to hand over their ID and pick it up when you sign them back out to leave.
If any person entering the hall had to first check in, the assault in Fletcher Hall would have never occurred. The attacker would have been identified as an unescorted non-student and asked to leave immediately.
ECU is in serious need of a safety update in all of the dorms. I understand that doing away with the traditional entry method may be costly, but what price can be put on student safety? The negatives of a high cost seriously outweigh the positive of protecting students.
I think that both students and parents alike would sleep better at night knowing that their dormitory is being strictly monitored.
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