By Staff

While this years rate of crime is abnormally high, it is nevertheless an important reality check: we are not immune to theft and vandalism. We need to adopt a realistic approach to stop these events before they happen.

Encouraging students to lock up valuables is a step in the right direction, but the onus cannot lie only with students.

It is time for the College to install legitimate theft deterrents security cameras and more K-Card readers and take greater care reporting on campus theft and vandalism to the student body. To balk at these measures as Big Brother tactics is childish.

During last weeks blackout, the College sent out a phone alert updating students on the power outage. The College has the power to mass text the student body, so why not use that service to publicize a theft or the presence of a suspicious person?

At the beginning of the year, Safety did investigate the possibility of installing a security camera in Peirces coatroom in light of thefts there. The Kenyon Athletic Center (KAC) has also looked into installing cameras. In both instances, these measures died in the planning stages.

Again and again, Peirce and the KAC have been targeted for theft and vandalism. They are open to the public and frequented by non-students.

To those who worry that security cameras would ruin our sense of community, we submit that this atmosphere has already been tarnished by frequent criminal activity.

Perhaps the crime rate will drop off, but we need the tools in place to deter and interrupt thefts and acts of vandalism. Safety has urged the student body to be vigilant, but a poster campaign is too little, too late. We need comprehensive measures, and we need them soon.

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