2008 Woodie Awards
Security Issues Are "En-Garde"
Montclarion Main Editorial
Issue date: 10/9/03 Section: Opinion
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The Residence Halls at the Village are not Ft. Knox. Obviously retina scans and fingerprint identification are not necessary to enter the dormitories. But the issue of security is a big one, especially in the brand new facility. In the advent of an altercation at the Village, printed last week, Residence Life has stiffened up their ways around security. Increased efforts were done by placing guards in the lobbies of the four residence halls, attempting to give residents peace of mind. But the question remains ? Is the Village really safe?
Some say yes and some say no in regards to the question. Weighing out the pros and cons, pros going first: there is a visible presence when you enter the building, names are being checked for residents and guests must sign in when entering. Now lets hear the cons: guards are not always present as people walk in each respective building, names are not being properly checked, in addition to names not being checked at all.
Are the guards the scapegoat? The rush effort on Residence Life to institute these guards without proper training to the protocol of insuring safety was improper. Desk assistants on main campus are required a week-long training session before the beginning of each (fall and spring) semester. Regina Sargent, Director of Residence Life, stated the guards have been properly trained. The guards at the Village have only been working the lobbies of the Village for the past two weeks. So where did the training happen? One may assume the problem could be solved by adding a swipe card system, similar to the ones main campus has. But as a result, the selling point of the Village was apartment styled dormitories that do not require the I-card system that many left main campus for in the first place. Because of the 848 added beds, reaching occupancy was far from a problem from the lure of going to college in an apartment rather than a dormitory.
Reality now has set in and the idea of an actual apartment has been hindered through the addition of the guards at the Village. But wait ? if an apartment styled domicile was desired, wouldn?t that include a doorman similar to the best in NYC? The devil?s advocate would say that this isn?t New York City but Montclair State. But the devil?s advocate has to remember that the apartments with the doorman have less occurrences of violent activity. Obviously violence and breaches of safety occur anywhere but isn?t it better to have a guard than nothing at all?
Some say yes and some say no in regards to the question. Weighing out the pros and cons, pros going first: there is a visible presence when you enter the building, names are being checked for residents and guests must sign in when entering. Now lets hear the cons: guards are not always present as people walk in each respective building, names are not being properly checked, in addition to names not being checked at all.
Are the guards the scapegoat? The rush effort on Residence Life to institute these guards without proper training to the protocol of insuring safety was improper. Desk assistants on main campus are required a week-long training session before the beginning of each (fall and spring) semester. Regina Sargent, Director of Residence Life, stated the guards have been properly trained. The guards at the Village have only been working the lobbies of the Village for the past two weeks. So where did the training happen? One may assume the problem could be solved by adding a swipe card system, similar to the ones main campus has. But as a result, the selling point of the Village was apartment styled dormitories that do not require the I-card system that many left main campus for in the first place. Because of the 848 added beds, reaching occupancy was far from a problem from the lure of going to college in an apartment rather than a dormitory.
Reality now has set in and the idea of an actual apartment has been hindered through the addition of the guards at the Village. But wait ? if an apartment styled domicile was desired, wouldn?t that include a doorman similar to the best in NYC? The devil?s advocate would say that this isn?t New York City but Montclair State. But the devil?s advocate has to remember that the apartments with the doorman have less occurrences of violent activity. Obviously violence and breaches of safety occur anywhere but isn?t it better to have a guard than nothing at all?