Residence Halls Association President Mike LaBattaglia opened the organization’s meeting last night bluntly, expressing what the group perceives as widespread student discontent concerning the police response to the recent wave of crime that has hit the city and the campus.
“Whatever the police are doing now, the criminals have obviously found a way around it,” he said. “RHA is ready to make a stand and lead student organizations on the issue of crime.”
In reaction to this year’s increase in crime, the RHA unanimously passed a resolution to create a task force that would unite all three student governing bodies, university officials and the university police in taking a closer examination of ways to improve campus safety.
“The state of crime has changed,” LaBattaglia said. “This is not the campus it was last year or years before.”
Because the resolution was only passed last night, its specific plans are still unclear. The RHA has yet to contact the University Police, Student Government Association or University Commuters Association, though LaBattaglia assured members these organizations will be contacted immediately.
Consolidating what RHA officials see as fragmented complaints that students don’t feel safe on the campus, organization officials hope the task force will influence university and county police to increase their presence in dark corners around the campus and in alleys on its perimeter.
They also would like to see University Police focusing less on busting underage drinking parties in dorms and more on patrolling the city and vulnerable areas around the campus.
“As much as police have students’ best interest in mind, I don’t believe that they are working toward the best interest of the student,” said RHA Public Relations Officer Alex Lockwood, who authored the resolution. “Granted underage drinking is a problem, but I would like to see police just hiding around corners, stationing themselves and waiting.”
But for University Police, cracking down on drinking is cracking down on crime, said spokeswoman Maj. Cathy Atwell.
“To make the assumption that focusing on drinking is not focusing on crime is not sensitive to the reality that there is strong relationship between crime and alcohol,” Atwell said. “People who consume alcohol are more likely to be victim to crimes and commit crimes.”
Police have said an atmosphere of heavy drinking and revelry around the city contributes to a sense of chaos that attracts criminals, and though they refute many of the resolution’s central claims, they are still eager to work in cooperation with the students and to address their concerns, Atwell said.
“We’d look forward to the opportunity,” she said. “We’re a university police whose clientele is the students. Any time we can work with the community is a plus.”
While SGA officials, too, are optimistic about the RHA’s proposition, SGA President Emma Simson pointed out that many improvements have already been made this year. Blue light phones are slated to be installed at all bus stops, and many surveillance cameras have been added on the campus since this year’s crime scare began.
“Generally, when I walk around, I don’t feel safe, but walking around campus last night made me feel a lot better,” Simson said of the SGA’s annual safety walk Monday night, when students gathered to tour the campus with University Police, pointing out places on the campus where they felt vulnerable.
Despite the progress, Simson recognized the overall anxiety among students and the importance of establishing dialogue between the different student government bodies.
“I definitely want to get all these organizations together to talk about the crime issue, and I think it’s important that we all get together to discuss it,” she said. “The perception of crime is pretty high and we need to work on alleviating any fears related to it.”
Still, RHA members are already rallying around the new committee. With a group of RHA senators already enlisted, many clamored loudly about its goal of reforming crime deterrence at last night’s meeting.
“I’d like to see police here, where I am, seeing what I’m seeing,” Lockwood said. “As students who represent students who live on campus, the university should be asking us how we think safety should be improved.”
Contact reporter Ben Slivnick at slivnickdbk@gmail.com.
