Editor,
It seems to me the epidemic of mass shootings the last few years, including many at public institutions, has become, like climate change, an inconvenient truth that many choose to ignore.
The rash of cuts to public education nationwide by conservative administration exacerbates this problem. Returning to visit UNM, I have found a number of positions at libraries and Johnson Gym taken over by students. A typical pattern, which seems to be applicable at UNM, is the elimination, usually through attrition, of mid to low level staff positions (magnified by the recent drop in enrollment) while funds seem to remain constant, or even increase for high level administrators with “highfalutin” titles and mysterious and complex job descriptions. Of course, teaching loads have always been shared by graduate students and adjunct professors without tenure or benefits.
Security has suffered as well. I have seen many more private, low paid and minimally trained security guards than University police on campus, and the area south of main campus has become much more dangerous the last few years. Last semester, following the school shooting in Oregon, heading to Johnson Gym to work out, I saw many very nervous undergraduate student workers who appeared to be the only University employees on the job, but nary a campus police officer, who seem to spend most of their time dealing with parking problems.
I have often wandered, with literally one mass shooting per day in the U.S. last year, what would I do faced with that terrifying situation and concluded that I would like to think I would try to shield some of the students with my body. I have fewer years left than they do, and they bear no responsibility for this mess. But that wouldn’t help much, and I would prefer not to have to make that choice when there are other, more rational options available. Perhaps for starters some of the politicians and administrators who have left us so vulnerable while padding their own pockets could shake loose a few coins and increase security around the campus and adjacent neighborhood while designing and funding a real program, if one does not already exist, to keep the campus community safe.
Our college students are, or should be, a precious resource and hope for the future. We all know this will happen anyway after an incident occurs. Why not be proactive, rather than reactive, and do it now?
Peter Lawton
