Issue date: 10/4/07 Section: Editorials

Media Credit: Jack Barnwell

Just last week a student was car jacked and robbed at gunpoint in one of Chabot's parking lots.

This incident begs us to question our safety on campus.

How often, when walking to or from class, have we felt safe?

This question is especially posed, to those that are here late in the evening.

The car theft incident is one of the college's worst safety incidents in over 10 years.


A student's or faculty member's safety should be the college's top priority.

We at the Spectator believe the college should take further steps in assuring the safety of those who attend here.

There are many areas that need to be fixed in order to assure safety.

Run around campus, and into one of the buildings, like 500. See how many phones you can find.

Each building usually has two phones, one on each floor, for students and faculty.

That means, in an emergency someone would have to run out into the hallway, find a phone, and then dial.

In lieu of recent events at Virginia Tech, those few minutes could be the difference between life and death.

And taking it further into consideration, it begs that our campus have a better emergency plan.

The college's current emergency plan, asks the students and faculty, to leave their building and congragrate at a predetermined spot.

But how is anyone suppose to know of anything if the college has a poor communication system.

The only ones who luck out are those instructors that have their offices near their class.

But those are few and far between.

On top of that, what's hurting us even more is that most of the pay phones are disappearing.

What's needed are more phones, available in every classroom.
If this doesn't happen, then the responsibility of keeping a good and safe line of communication falls on students and faculty using their personal cell phones.

The longer it takes the campus to pass communication among itself, the more an individuals' safety is compromised.

Good communication ensures safety.

Security needs to bring out a stronger presence. By presence, we mean patrolling the campus in larger numbers.

The very little we see of them, makes us question their capabilities and deters some from even reporting incidents.

Many who have had their car stolen or broken into, began to question the value of the $30 they paid to park on campus.

At the beginning of the school year you had two officers sitting at the bookstore, making sure no one was stealing anything.

It gives the impression that textbooks are more important than the individuals who come here.

Perhaps we need to arm our security officers with better and more effective weapons; that way, they can deal with an armed car thief.

Perhaps our head of security needs to be more available to students and his own staff.

This is important beacuse we all need information to be part of a network, a network that may save a life or lives in case of any emergency.

Chabot College should lead the way in campus safety.

When it comes to safety, we should set the example for other colleges in our area.

By presenting the strong presence of a well- equipped security force, and opening up communication lines, Chabot can set the standard, so that those who attend feel safer and can attract more students to the college.

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