Letter: Students should be able to take safety into their own hands if University won't

Editor,

A certain naive attitude persists on campus about its relative safety and the measures in place to protect students. To be blunt, cold and sobering, I have to say that the University’s passive security measures are inadequate to protect students, especially those whose schedule has them out on the fringes of campus after dark.

If one has trouble believing this reality, look no further than the most recent Lobo Alert that was sent out to us. A student was attacked just before 9 p.m. on April 21, and the best the University could do for those of us around was to send a text five and a half hours after the incident.

What then can we as students do? One may suggest that we all take a more active stance in our own safety, avoiding the edges of campus in the late evening and early morning. While this would mitigate risk, it is also a concession that campus cannot be made safe once the sun drops from the sky.

Others propose that we teach students to run and hit the buttons on the blue poles located around campus. While this does give alert to authorities, it also means that a foot race decides whether or not a student gets away with little more than a pounding heart or if they end up beaten, bloody or even dead. If it is partially the responsibility of the individual to ensure their own safety when campus police can’t be there to do so, then the University must remove the barriers to self-defense that exist.

In a sentence, the University and its regents must allow for students to carry things like pepper spray or even firearms for those certified by the State to carry them. Any measures short of allowing students to defend themselves are little more than theatrics on behalf of the University in an effort to both have their cake and eat it too.Those not used to the concept of folks around them having firearms are sure to initially have reservations about this policy, something I witnessed in my home state of Kansas. There, the legislature changed the law to allow all adults in the state to carry firearms without so much as a class on their use. Critics were quick to shout that it would turn the whole state into Dodge City, circa 1870.

Instead, when the law kicked into effect, there was no visible difference. No tension in the air, no roving bands shooting recklessly. Frankly, the claims that critics made were unsubstantiated. For this reason, I believe that UNM would experience the same seamless transition, despite even the grimmest of predictions. It would not turn UNM into Baghdad, but it would do a number to allow for students to go about their business unmolested.

If nothing else, the University should open up honest dialogue about its vague weapons policy and allow students a say in the matter.

Sincerely,

Tom Stivers

undergraduate student