Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor:
I am the parent of a Wash. U. sophomore who lives in a dorm on the South 40. I regularly read Student Life online and was shocked and distressed to read about the Jan. 18 robbery outside a dorm close to the one in which my son resides. This incident reminded me of the dread I felt when I read about the rape of a student last year, also by a non-student on the campus. My son told me that, after the incident last evening, there was a patrol car with a guard, with headlights on, parked in front of the dorm where this incident occurred which remained there until at least the middle of the night. Sounds a little like the old saying, “locking the barn door after the cow has gone.”
It is distressing enough to have children attending school in the most dangerous city in the United States. Tuition and fees are continually increased, but security does not seem improved. My son’s suite was one of those broken into during Christmas break. I am told that the burglar actually lifted himself to the balcony by *walking* up the side of the building. Where are the security campus and Wash. U. police? All of these incidents are outrageous. There should be an armed guard outside each dorm every day. There has to be more oversight about strangers having access to the dormitory area of the campus. Putting peek-holes into each dormitory room door is hardly the end of increasing security. Do appropriate improvements to security have to wait until there is another violent crime?
I live in New York (which curiously is much less dangerous than St. Louis). Dormitories in local colleges (Columbia and NYU) have security guards in the lobby of every single dormitory. This, of course, is in addition to large numbers of patrolling police and security guards. It is time for administrators at WUSTL to face reality and deal appropriately with the high-crime situation on campus.
-Jane Bressler
Parent of a Washington University student
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