On the evening of November 22, 2003, Public Safety, in its perpetually fruitless crusade to reduce underage alcohol consumption on campus, investigated and reprimanded a student for allegedly throwing a party in her house on High Street. That same evening, in plain view of two public safety officers staying warm in their new SUVs, Shepard Smith was assaulted, also on High Street.
With a rash of robberies and increasingly common violence on campus, it is time to reassess Public Safety’s priorities. What’s best for the Wesleyan and Middletown communities: an attentive security presence that prevents and discourages attacks from happening, or a security force that wastes its evenings by shutting down parties and chasing around students for drinking a beer?
The successes of colleges with more trusting administrations, like Haverford College, have demonstrated that campus security need not harass or punish students for enjoying a drink, even if they’re underage. Instead, moderation and responsible drinking is encouraged: students pledge to seek medical aid if they consume too much alcohol.
Let’s encourage Public Safety to do its real job: protecting Wesleyan. And please stop booting my friends’ cars.
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