During the past four days, our home has been invaded. Four incidents, three of which involved armed suspects, have left noticeable cracks on the typically cheerful air of a new school year. Where there were once students enjoying the sunset on the Horseshoe until the mosquitoes chased them away, there are now the sounds of hurried footsteps and the click of deadbolts.
Students are afraid, and fear is the natural reaction to such persistent assaults on what is meant to be a safe place. In reaction to these incidents, President Harris Pastides has reported an increase in police force around campus, as of Monday.
This is a definite step in the right direction; however, being reactive will never be as important as being proactive. We hope these additions to security are permanent installations on our campus and not just to soothe the wrath of frightened parents until things calm down. Police should be visible around the campus at all hours of the day, every day, not just in the wee hours of the night.
While the added officers are a step in the right direction, there is one aspect in the response to all of these events that has consistently missed the mark: communication with the students.
There has to be communication beyond a brief Carolina Alert text when the well-being of students is in jeopardy. While there is the fear of distributing false information for the sake of haste, we need more detailed information after these incidents occur. A man exposed himself to two women next to the Williams-Brice nursing building on Aug. 19 and we were not aware of it until he was arrested on Aug. 23. This man was one block away from the all-women’s dorms, and none of the students were made aware until it could be presented as a victory for the Columbia Police Department.
This kind of news is unpleasant. No one wants to wake up to a text saying that there was an unknown man with a gun inside a dorm while they were sleeping, but it’s imperative to the personal safety of the students to keep them informed.