Dear uniformed author of the “Living in the Real World” article from last Friday’s Argus (Oct. 17, 2008, Volume CXLIV, Number 14):
While your words of caution in regard to how we should better secure ourselves from future robberies are merited, your opinion that we should stop actively pursuing higher safety is not.
We will address your ignorance of the facts demonstrated throughout your editorial. Students were not given the “immediate update” that you mentioned Public Safety (PSafe) always gives after an incident occurs. On the contrary, the Wesleyan community only received an update about the woodframe burglaries on Monday, Oct. 6, after 12 students were burglarized over the weekend. Two of these incidences involved Wesleyan students making direct contact with the assailants. If you think that property insurance is the solution for someone stealing your belongings, what is the solution for risk of personal harm when a man breaks into your house with a knife and hides in your closet?
Also, it is obvious that you did no research before writing your editorial. If you had taken the time to “compare us to peer institutions” you would have found that we are very low on the scale of security. In a recent study completed by Reader’s Digest, Wesleyan was ranked 81st out of 135 national universities in campus security. Wesleyan fell far behind un-gated campuses in large cities such as New York, Chicago and New Orleans.
Avoiding the “vicissitudes of everyday life” is not what our petition for safety is about. Our petition is to hold Wesleyan accountable for the safety of students in events that are common and do not happen by chance. In 2007, 13 burglaries were reported to Public Safety in the month of September alone, while nine burglaries have been reported so far this year.
We know that your plan for safety is that “before a student goes to bed, he or she should close all doors and windows and check that each one is locked,” but what should a person do when their house is forcibly entered shortly after 7 p.m.? Furthermore, how do you close all your windows at all times when you don’t have air conditioning and it is 85 degrees outside?
After a bike was initially stolen from our enclosed porch, we were very active in contacting Residential Life, Public Safety and Physical Plant to air our feelings of insecurity. We received very little response and no increased security, until after our house was burglarized, along with three others in the same weekend. We were only then given the proper attention that we deserved.
You are also misinformed if you think that the responsibility of protection rests solely on Wesleyan students. We are not the homeowners of our own houses. Just as landlords are liable for the safety of their tenants, Wesleyan in responsible for our safety. That’s the policy of “the real world.”
We are not living in “the city,” as mentioned in your editorial. Middletown is a town, and a small one at that. The fact that someone with a weapon is breaking and entering houses is unusual for Middletown, but these assailants did not enter private homes. They targeted the ease of entry and high concentration of valuables in Wesleyan student houses. And, since he/them is not deterred from entering houses with residents inside, our safety is at risk.
Before you write a response, please research the matter and then consider what’s important. We are petitioning and asking Wesleyan for increased security for campus residents so that no one’s lives are endangered.
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