Opinion
New security policies seem reasonable
By Eva Lynch-Comer ’19
January 28, 2016
Tags opinion
Over winter break, Fran Manfredo, the director of campus safety, emailed students with some new security policies for the spring semester. Among these policies was a ban on hoverboards along with the installation of new security cameras in public areas across the Hamilton campus.
At first thought, these new policies may seem ridiculous and extreme. Why go to the effort of explicitly banning hoverboards? Yet, on further consideration, it becomes understandable. Many of us have seen stories of hoverboards catching fire. There was even a Saturday Night Live skit that made fun of the infatuation with a dangerous machine. I personally do not use a hoverboard, but if they must be banned to increase the safety of the students on this campus, so be it. It may be disappointing for the students who were looking forward to using the hoverboards to get around campus, but there are other, probably safer, methods of transportation such as walking, skateboarding or riding a bicycle.
The email also noted that there are several consumer agencies that are investigating the hoverboards, and once the technology is improved, Campus Safety will re-evaluate their position on the ban. This sounds pretty reasonable to me.
What many people could find concerning is the implementation of more security cameras on campus. Some may even say that the installation of cameras is an invasion of privacy, especially given that the locations of these devices are unknown to the public. Students will be watched without knowing their actions are being monitored. When will it stop? Will this regulation someday lead to the College justifying cameras in bathrooms? It is a disturbing thought that many people struggle with, especially on the grand national scale with the Patriot Act and the NSA. Why should my private college feel the need to watch me?
Yet it is important to note that the cameras were installed in keeping with the College’s security camera guidelines. Importantly, they were not put in places that would compromise the individual privacy of any one student here on the Hill. The main purpose of the cameras is to prevent crime and to improve the security here at Hamilton.
But what is to improve? The Hamilton I know has a very open and trusting community. When I came to this school in the fall, I was surprised to see the level of trust the students had for one another. I could leave my laptop in the library for an hour and when I came back it would still be there, completely untouched. Yet often, surrounded by our little Hamiltonian bubble, we forget that crime does not only exist in the outside world—it exists within our community as well. I personally see no problem with the installation of the security cameras.
The main objective of this new policy is to keep those in the Hamilton community safe, and to ensure that our property will remain protected. On Nov. 11, 2015, Manfredo sent an all-campus email reporting that there had been “five incidents of larceny in academic buildings and two incidents of burglary in residence halls.” In Hamilton’s history, there have certainly been situations that could compromise the safety of students. Implementing such a monitoring system would ideally prevent future events from occurring through a fear of repercussions as well as ensuring that perpetrators will be caught.
All in all, though initially seemingly silly, these new security policies do not really affect us at all. While it is important to keep paying attention to what the College is doing in case they one day overstep their bounds and infringe on our right to privacy, for now we can be at peace. The ultimate goal of these policies is to increase the level of safety on this campus, and in the end, isn’t living in a place where we feel safe most important?