When I found out in The Defender that wedges were our new form of protection against security breaches, I laughed because I thought it was a joke…a bad joke. You know the kind of joke where everyone gives a nervous laugh, because deep down they’re all thinking, “I hope it’s not true.”
I don’t blame Public Safety for thinking outside of the box, because that is exactly what someone must do when funds limit options.
It’s no surprise that the wedges don’t work, because it’s common knowledge that wood slides on tile. Maybe if the wedges had rubber stoppers on the bottom they would be more efficient, but that might cost more. To put it more directly, I don’t think our fates should be decided by a doorstop that fails to live up to its title. A friend cracked a joke that a gunman would see those door wedges and realize there is just no way in at all. It is important to note that he said this with the highest tone of sarcasm, and this is the consensus of many people on campus.
I read that the next step may be to place internal locks on the classroom doors so they can be locked from the inside. This idea is light-years ahead of the wedge, but is still missing the big picture. A life is priceless, and no budget can afford to lose one. So I am sitting here wondering, after all the atrocities that have happened in this country with no warning, why have we failed to recognize and respond to these tragedies as our warnings?
This brings me to my next concern. Every time I ask friends if they have set up the RAVE security system on their phones, I always get the same inquisitive responses.
“RAVE, what’s that?” or, “RAVE what?”
Only one person in my suite of eight guys has actually heard of RAVE and understands its logic. Even when the technology is there and easily accessible by students, we still fail to protect ourselves. RAVE is a good way to put some of the responsibility in the hands of the students and faculty. It would be interesting if there was a poll taken to see how many students use RAVE, and don’t just think it is a huge techno party with glow sticks and ecstasy.
If we fail to use sufficient funds to protect ourselves, and don’t make the effort to protect ourselves, then we are not taking the issue seriously enough. This is true on an administrative level and with the student body. I say we can’t afford failure. I say shift some of the spending to replace those old keys that we must fumble with on a daily basis. The school should switch the entire school’s lock system. We should stop living in the past and invest in some keycards. Even if they are not the complete solution because it may not fully protect us from ourselves, it’s still a start. Just to be even safer, the school should also buy internal locks, because two security systems are better than one. Wedges are not the answer. Less is not more in this case. More is more.
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