2008 Woodie Awards
Safety a major concern on campus
Daniel Potter
Issue date: 4/10/08 Section: News
Safety from violence is a perpetual concern in America's post-Sept. 11 era, but perhaps never more so for MTSU than this month.
In the last three weeks, the university has endured a bomb threat, a gun scare and multiple armed robberies. Meanwhile, Kevin Sisco, a former student charged with the attempted murder of a fellow freshman in Cummings Hall last September, awaits psychiatric evaluation as his case advances through the legal system.
Further, April marks the anniversary of school massacres at Columbine High School and Virginia Tech, and earlier this semester a shooting at Northern Illinois University marred any semblance of a return to peace on college campuses.
"I don't think that there is an easy, one-stop solution that's going to solve this problem, because it is a rather complex issue," said Buddy Peaster, chief of police at MTSU.
Rather, a variety of different mechanisms and contingencies exist to safeguard against threats to safety on campus, as well as answer such issues where they arise. Indeed, some security measures aim to prevent incidents before they occur, Peaster said, while others take place during such events, or in their aftermath.
One instrument to "filter out" potential risks in terms of people or situations on campus is the Student Assistance Committee, which "goes along with one of the recommendations [that followed] Virginia Tech," Peaster said.
The committee consists of representatives from campus police, judicial affairs, health services and residential life, as well as other MTSU entities, who gather to discuss, within legal limits, "different issues - different behaviors that have popped up on the radar screen of anyone involved in student life."
In this manner the university hopes to identify potential threats to safety on campus and intervene appropriately before anyone is harmed. Although there were warning signs in the case of Virginia Tech, for instance, Peaster said, "[Shooter Seung-Hui] Cho kind of slipped through the cracks," an error MTSU hopes to learn from and thus avoid.
In the last three weeks, the university has endured a bomb threat, a gun scare and multiple armed robberies. Meanwhile, Kevin Sisco, a former student charged with the attempted murder of a fellow freshman in Cummings Hall last September, awaits psychiatric evaluation as his case advances through the legal system.
Further, April marks the anniversary of school massacres at Columbine High School and Virginia Tech, and earlier this semester a shooting at Northern Illinois University marred any semblance of a return to peace on college campuses.
"I don't think that there is an easy, one-stop solution that's going to solve this problem, because it is a rather complex issue," said Buddy Peaster, chief of police at MTSU.
Rather, a variety of different mechanisms and contingencies exist to safeguard against threats to safety on campus, as well as answer such issues where they arise. Indeed, some security measures aim to prevent incidents before they occur, Peaster said, while others take place during such events, or in their aftermath.
One instrument to "filter out" potential risks in terms of people or situations on campus is the Student Assistance Committee, which "goes along with one of the recommendations [that followed] Virginia Tech," Peaster said.
The committee consists of representatives from campus police, judicial affairs, health services and residential life, as well as other MTSU entities, who gather to discuss, within legal limits, "different issues - different behaviors that have popped up on the radar screen of anyone involved in student life."
In this manner the university hopes to identify potential threats to safety on campus and intervene appropriately before anyone is harmed. Although there were warning signs in the case of Virginia Tech, for instance, Peaster said, "[Shooter Seung-Hui] Cho kind of slipped through the cracks," an error MTSU hopes to learn from and thus avoid.
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