The recent on-campus rape has left many people questioning whether or not all the turnstiles, ID scans, and strict visitation policies are worth the hassle, considering the alleged rapist is believed to have been let in through a window.
Rape is as serious a crime as any, and can have detrimental long term effects. It is the type of crime that should not be taken lightly by a university; St. John’s has responded the way a University should in terms of protecting the victim and making sure important information is relayed to the student body.
The problem with incidents like these is that while St. John’s has tightened security to the point of it becoming prison-like, there are still crimes being committed, still people violating rules, and there are still people getting hurt.
The rape was committed by someone that did not even go to St. John’s, so what does this say about campus safety? It tells us this: that outsiders without a Storm card do not have to go through all of the security measurement that a St. John’s student has to go through. It tells us that anyone, despite the superfluous rules, can still get onto the campus and hurt one of our students.
The overall opinion about on-campus rules is that they provide a sense of security, but are too restricting. Rayna Bass, a sophomore living in Century Hall, said, “People will always find a way around the rules. They make me feel safe sometimes, but things are still going to happen.”
All students realize that security is necessary on a college campus, but there is a fine line between enforcing rules and infringing on students’ lives.
The freedom of living at home trumps the freedom of living at school, and many now question whether it is worth $10,000 a semester to live on campus.
“It is still not safe on campus,” said Deborah Muse, a junior living in Century Hall. “Things like rape cannot be prevented. Safety comes from protecting yourself, and you have to keep yourself safe at St. John’s.”
Students that attend St. John’s have to protect themselves so that things like this do not happen again. The best security that St. John’s can provide is information through programs that discuss things like rape and what girls can do to protect themselves.
What happened that night was very unfortunate, but it proves that no matter what security measures St. John’s enforces, things like this can and will happen.
Restrictive security on campus is not what we need; it will never protect us completely.
