Make sure our concerns are heard

Keith James, the Director of Security and the Feminist Majority are working together to review and hopefully revamp Oberlin's escort policy. This union of sorts, if maintained and really focused on substanial change, will probably make student life safer and more enjoyable. Symbolically, this illuminates the small steps being made to ameliorate the mammoth gap of miscommunication between administrative types and tuition-paying students.

Security and student relations are historically and potentially explosive. Here and in colleges across the country, departments of security are in constant turmoil with students of color and women organizations over inconsistent policing, invisibility, and harassment. Last year for example, roughly 70 members of Abusua charged the Department of Security with racism and racially motivated harassment. Additionally, many students, led by the Feminist Majority, voiced their discontent with the escort policy and the rising number of assaults on campus.

Under the old escort policy, drunk tuition-paying students were not to request escorts and off-campus tuition-paying students could not receive escorts between two off-campus locations. The policy was formulated and implemented with little or no student involvement. While many students spoiledly used the escort service to shield themselves from the cold weather and relatively long walks, and still others showed massive irresponsibility by expecting the college to facilitate their shit-facedness, it is inconceivable that a student escort policy could be devised without student input.

Hopefully, Keith James will continue acting progressively as Director of Security and understand the necessity of seeking student involvement and leadership in all student/security decision making. Most importantly, one can also hope that individual students and student organizations follow the lead of the Feminist Majority in making sure our concerns are heard and acted upon by administrative folk.