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Stroup Women Push for Card Locks
by Kristalyn Bunyan
"I don't feel safe in my dorm," says Sophomore Stephanie Hasty, a resident assistant (RA) on the third floor of Stroup.
She has had to call dorm hall meetings to encourage women to lock their room doors. Anyone who knows the front door dorm code can enter Stroup or Edna Moore. Some of the windows on the bottom floor of Stroup do not have screens, and people can enter through the garage door in Stroup. It is the responsibility of the RA on duty to lock the garage door each night. However, Hasty says it is really easy for someone to unlock it.
Hasty knows of three rapes that happened in Stroup over fall break and says there is not really security in the other dorms either.
However, locks and outside building safety measures do not necessarily prevent perpetrators from having access to their victims. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 80-90 percent of all sexual assault crimes are committed by someone whom the victim knows first hand.
"We can also make ourselves safer by making sure we are watching out for each other," says Director of Residence Life Todd Oldenburg. "Students are the ones who can make things safer as much as anybody else can."
However, he would like to see more secure outside doors to the buildings and screens on the first floors of the buildings.
Hasty suggests installing a card swipe lock system and promoting safety awareness on campus. She is aware that a card swipe lock system would require a financial commitment from the college and recommends the college have security guards outside the dorms if they cannot immediately afford a system.
Hasty says she took her safety concerns to higher authorities after fall break last semester. After her conversations with Dean of Student Life Craig Goforth and Oldenburg, Hasty still feels like safety is not a priority for Mars Hill College.
Oldenburg does not think that a RA's main job is to be watching a door. "I would rather use that staff to do some other great things like building community." But he does support the idea of a card swipe lock system for all dorms. Such a system is now in place in Brown and Turner dormitories, and one will be installed in the New Bailey Mountain residence hall now under construction.
Last semester, Director of Facilities Bill Lovins, Director of Information Technology Gerald Ball, Goforth, and Oldenburg discussed the installation of a card swipe lock system. They came up with a proposal, which was sent to the Vice President for Administration, Bob McLendon.
Oldenburg said it would cost about $28,050 to install card swipe locks on the entrances to all residence halls, except for the new Bailey Mountain dorm since the card swipe lock costs have already been figured into the cost of the building. To install locks on only Fox, Stroup, and Edna Moor women's dormitories would cost about $17,000.
Mars Hill College prides itself in being a safe community, says Hasty. The Student Ambassador tour guides stress the importance of this community to prospective students. However, Hasty, who is a former Student Ambassador, stopped giving tours because she could not say "this is a safe dorm and there are locks on there."
Next year Hasty will be Resident Director of Stroup and worries that she will not be able to keep her residents safe. "There is only so much that individuals can do for security other than technology."
Reader Comment:
Courtney Evans, Junior, 4/3/2006 1:00 p.m.
Editor's note: The Resident Director in Stroup asked for new locks and other improvements in security more than six months ago. Courtney Evans outlined her safety concerns in a letter to college officials on September 19, 2005. After reading the article about Stephanie Hasty's concerns, Evans brought the letter to The Hilltop. She wrote the letter to Security Director Sandra Robertson and sent copies to President Dan Lunsford, Vice President for Administration Bob McLendon, and Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs Nina Pollard. Pollard wrote her that she would recommend to McLendon and the president that the college move quickly to look at alternative lock and security systems. Meetings were held. But so far, Evans says, no commitment has been made. She has been told that the issue is funding. Click for full text.
Derrick Everhart, Senior, 4/2/2006, 3:30 a.m.
I definitely agree with Stephanie in saying that the dorms are not safe enough. I do think that safety of the students should be taken into more consideration. Card swipes are a great idea. I think it would also help in making students here at Mars Hill feel safe. It seems to me that money shouldn't be an issue when it comes to our safety. It would also help in enforcing the visitation policy. The only thing is that the card swipes are definitely not maintained by anyone here on campus. I am an RA in Turner, and I do feel safer with the card swipe system, but I know they don't always work. There is always something wrong with the system, and we have to leave the front door unlocked, where anyone could get in if they wanted to. We have called in the dorms to maintenance several times, but it seems like no one can come and fix them. I know Brown Dormitory has had similar problems. If they are going to put card swipes on all the dorms, then they need to have someone who can actually work on them so they are in top working order. I mean, what good are they doing us if they are always broken?
Debra Meyers,- senior, 4/7/2006, 1:05 p.m.
I think it speaks pretty loudly about the college when they are more concerned with funding than the safety and well being of their students. I live in Fox, and the back door is always open, I don't care what time of day or night it is. The same goes for the front door. In fact our f-door was broken, and they installed a pull handle for almost two weeks!! Anyone could have come into the dorm and stolen or done anything. With a 6% tuition increase, one would think that MHC would have the money to make a few improvements, but I guess not. Way to go MHC, for showing your students exactly how much they matter.
Elizabeth Jones, freshman, 4/11/2006, 12:02 p.m.
I agree with everything that has been mentioned above. When I went on my prospective student tour last year, the guide stressed how safe this campus is. But really it's not. With the amount of money I'm having to pay to go here, and my family just scraping by to afford my tuition, I would like to see new locks and security measures on all of the dorms. Money should not be an issue, seeing that we pay a lot of money to go here. Three rapes are three rapes too many. The issue should be the safety and well-being of the students of Mars Hill College. If we do not feel safe here, then how are we supposed to stay and pay as much as we do and finish our education? Make the dorms safer.
Bob McLendon, Vice President for Administration, 4/10/2006, 3:14 p.m.
Editor's Note: Bob McLendon sent the following message in an e-mail to Hilltop Editor Kristalyn Bunyan, in response to her question about the possibility of installing a card swipe system in all dorms.
"The Building and Grounds Committee of our Board of Trustees has recommended that all dorms have card swipe systems, and the funding would come from the dorm renovation fund of the current Capital Campaign." - Bob McLendon
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