Mills College WeeklyA proposed plan to increase the scrutiny of campus visitors between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. has been met with mixed reactions.
The plan ,which would include stopping visitors and checking their IDs was proposed by the new student representative on the public safety committee, Naomi de Tablan, also ASMC treasurer.
“At my last college the public safety policies were a lot stricter,” said de Tablan.
“Between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. someone was in the booth checking IDs and asking visitors where they were going. If they didn’t have identification, they were entered in a log book and their license plate was written down.”
Implementing this same program here at Mills, said de Tablan, would help ease the apprehension some students have from being an open campus. However, freshwoman Ayla Steadman doesn’t feel the proposed plan is necessary.
“I don’t think it’s needed, ” she said. ” I feel really safe here. Time and energy could be spent somewhere else.”
Senior Laura Fernandez Barajas, said she feels safe on campus but does worry about how easy it is to get in supposedly secured areas.
” My boyfriend can get in the dorms and in my room with out any keys, ” she said. ” Considering all the problems we’ve been having with people breaking into buildings[checking ID’s], would be a good idea.”
Tablan cited past incidents for additional reason behind the push for stricter policies.
“Last year there was a guy sexually harassing girls in the library,” said Tablan. “I’ve heard of teens fiddling with door knobs to see if doors were open.”
While Tablan’s position on the public safety committee is to increase communication between students and public safety, King felt that these measures aren’t necessary for an open campus.
“We’re o.k where we are,” said King. ” It would be too complicated to implement a plan like this. We can go to that if we needed to but I don’t think we need to.”
According to King there have been new and increased attention paid to visitors at the front gate. The public safety officers are asked to step out of the booth and approach incoming cars to find to question them on their destination.
“We’re continuing to closely check and monitor incoming traffic,” said King. “We’ve had a couple cars we’ve stopped and we’ve been successful.”
He also adds adopting de Tablan’s plan would appear to make the campus unsafe, which he said is not the case.
” I think we have great heightened security,” he said.
