I know of such a case. I heard all about it. I hope they are not still doing this. Quadrangle Housing, with only a few exceptions I know, is for people on the payroll or in the good graces of Washington University. I am sure there are some longtime residents of Quadrangle buildings who have a grandfather clause to live there after the University bought the building.

The posters advertising Quadrangle along the Metrolink clearly state that this housing is for WashU faculty, staff, and students.

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Quadrangle Housing rents apartments not only to Washington University students and faculty, but to staff as well. Many staff are now being laid off, their full time jobs being replaced by part time positions without benefits such as health insurance, sometimes after having been enticed here at considerable opportunity cost. When they lose their jobs, whether voluntarily, involuntarily, or pseudo-voluntarily, they and their families are kicked out of Quadrangle Housing. The University is not subtle about its opposition to organized labor. I know this from experience, and many others can attest to this as well.

I hope the student recovers. It would be a shame if this tragedy were used as a pretext to step up surveillance of University staff to intimidate them from organizing, or to collect information for potential retaliation. This would have a chilling effect on life in the Company Town.

I recommend the film “Walmart: the High Cost of Low Price,” shown on campus in Autumn 05 by a broad coalition of campus groups, in a packed auditorium. When one Walmart employee wrote these four words, “We need a union,” the company’s union-busting team were johnny-on-the-spot. Security cameras were installed, ostensibly for crime prevention, really for intimidation.

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Also, let nothing be done to detract from the historic character of our neighborhood, in violation of our historic preservation codes. Many in the University Administration agree with us on this issue.

Lecturer Dr. Jerome “John Hancock” Bauer
–cofounder and special resident member, WashU Cooperative Network, Spring 03-present; WashU Coop Librarian
–who has never posted, and never will post anonymously or pseudonymously to Student Life, lest somebody think I have a hidden agenda

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John Doe: Security cameras have many uses, but never mind that for the moment. Are you suggesting that the alleyways and back doors could be made safer with surveillance cameras? Okay, let’s put them in the alleys east of Des Peres too, where not so many gentry live. Let’s put them in every alley, so criminals have no place safe to go.

Why not hire a police officer to live in and patrol each neighborhood, and report directly to the local neighborhood association and block captains? I would prefer a friendly neighborhood police officer to a lot of cameras., monitored by people I do not know.

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The block to the east, where no gentry live, had spectacular lights and vibrant street life and holiday cheer, even at a late hour. I felt safer amongst these working class (black) homeowners than I did on my own nearly deserted block. If the University did not own so much property on my block, we would have more home owning neighbors to help keep watch over holiday break. What do our students have to give in exchange for a neighborhood watch? What can we do to improve relations between town and gown, for our mutual benefit?

“Concerned Citizen” writes:

“Who pays WUPD salaries? Is it ResLife or the University? Presumably tuition, not housing fees, would support the police, who should be protecting students and their property.”

Why not ask for your tuition money back, if you are not satisfied with the University’s allocation of its resources? Let’s have more crime fighting, less political harassment and surveillance, here and everywhere. If we would all look after each other, we wouldn’t need so many cops.

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“The contrast of great wealth against the backdrop of great poverty, which is primarily relegated to minority groups, makes us have to wake up and pay attention to our community’s social and economic issues. The fact that Wash U owns so much tax-exempt property does NOT help the city of University City with its crime control and schools.”

Hear, hear!

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Who pays WUPD salaries? Is it ResLife or the University? Presumably tuition, not housing fees, would support the police, who should be protecting students and their property.

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