Does campus safety mean end of privacy?
College students, what price would you pay for safety, or at least the feeling of security?
Would you pay an extra $10 a class? Would you be willing to open your student files to faculty and administrators?
As a parent of one-day college students, I say yes! I’ll pay my share to hire a battalion of mental health workers, install high-tech warning systems, and erect barbed wire around the dormitories if need be. My kids files will be spotless anyway, full of honor roll listings and volunteer accolades.
Right. If the world was perfect, then we wouldn’t have these worries.
A group of college presidents is recommending $16 million in security upgrades to state campuses. They fear both a Virginia Tech-style tragedy and the more regular kind of violence (suicides, assault) that can be fueled by mental illness or substance abuse.
One recommendation is to form crisis committees on each campus that would look into reports of troubled students, with some access to student and medical records. That has some questioning rights to privacy.
What do you think? What sacrifices would you make to create safer campuses?
E-mail me at ssimpson@oklahoman.com or call me at 475-3930.
Susan Simpson, Education Writer
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