October 4, 2002
Page 3
Several Thefts Raise Safety Questions
Josh Caray
Staff Writer
Guilford was hit with an ar
ray of thefts during this
semester's beginning that have
brought to light many issues con
cerning the school's safety.
Two PCs and two flat
screen computers have
been stolen from the lower
floor of Bauman and three
PCs and five flat-screens
taken from the Frank Fam
ily Science Center. In addi
tion, a $2,500 big-screen
television was stolen from
the English Hall lounge on
Sept. 12. Six more comput
ers were taken from the
Early College Office at the begin
ning of the year.
In the Frank Family Science
Center, the culprits forced their
way into locked rooms to steal
the computers, according to John
Jenkins, the Associate Chief Fi
nancial Officer for Facilities and
Interim Director of Security,, and
chemistry chair Anne Glenn.
"They jimmied or picked the
lock in the laboratory," said
Glenn. "You can see the gouges
on the door."
Campus Life has issued a
$5OO reward in hopes of gaining
tips that would lead to the ap
prehension of those responsible
for stealing the television. The
reward has received some com
plaint from students.
"The only problem with the
reward is that it turns us into
narks," said first-year student
Amanda Womack.
These thefts come on the
heels of a vast overhaul in
Guilford Security, which saw the
resignation of the Director of
Security Sylvia Chilcott and the
hiring of a new security service,
Allied Security.
Nobody has been able to pin
point how the thieves stole the
equipment so easily, but accord
ing to Assistant Dean for Cam
pus Life James Minton, the prob
lem may be due to a lack of fund
ing for security.
"More funding should go to
wards [security]," said Minton.
"The officers are doing a good
job, but there are no funds for
more officers."
The hall director of English
Hall, senior Gabe Staub, con
curred. "The security system
needs to be improved," he said.
Glenn, a 10-year professor
at Guilford, also agreed that
more funding should go to secu
rity. She noted other problems
as well.
"I didn't feel like they got up
here fast enough to respond to
the incident," she said. "I'm con
cerned about how the whole se
curity picture operated on that
day." It took one hour for secu
rity to respond to her call of the
thefts, according to Glenn.
JVcuuA.
Interim Director of Security
John Jenkins felt differently.
Though he admits to not having
such an collection of thefts oc
cur under his watch in 14 years
of campus security work, Jenkins
said that Allied has done a very
good job and that there is
enough funding for it. He
also pointed to Allied's past.
"Allied has back
grounds in other cam
puses," said Jenkins. "They
are a better force (than the
last one), they are trained
in campus security and they
have expertise in crime pre
vention. They are deterring
crime and keeping students
safe."
Dean for Campus Life Anne
Lundquist agreed. "Allied Secu
rity has done a good job," she
said. "Allied is responsive."
Lundquist saw the problem
more as a community responsi
bility than as a job only for secu
rity.
"Everybody has a responsi
bility. Faculty, staff and students
take responsibility. Students have
to be responsible for their
guests."
Lundquist also said that stu
dents must be aware of who is
on campus and be sure that the
strangers they see have a rea
son to be on campus or to go
into the residence halls.
The problem that has been
raised the most is one that stu
dents can easily take care of:
door propping.
"I'm serious; they need to
quit propping doors open," said
Glenn, "because that's how
UMUMUM .G-ULLFIRRFI D.T CIM. .CORM
people get in there." Staub and
Lundquist, both of whom feel that
door propping is a major reason
for strangers getting into resi
dence halls, issued the same con
cern.
Staub had an interesting
suggestion for preventing the
thefts.
"Maybe they could get cam
eras by the doors," said the two
year Hall Director.
Some find having security
cameras on campus to be a
resonable proposal. Though
cameras could deter crime, how
ever, they present a problem to
privacy on campus as well.
"There's a Big Brother qual
ity to that," said CCE sophomore
Peter Raines. "There has to be
a balance [between safety and
privacy]."
Uindquist was also skeptical
of the cameras. "The problem
with security cameras is that they
imply a level of security that
might not be there. It presumes
that you are safe."
"A camera brings up liabil
ity," said Jenkins. "It could lead
to suing. You also are invading
privacy with putting up cameras
and the perception of the cam
pus becomes negative as well."
Not everyone disagreesd
with the idea of security cameras.
Director of IT&S Leah Kraus,
a four-year IT&S employee, ad
mits that the idea of installing se
curity cameras has been brought
up.
"We have talked about it in
ternally," said Kraus, "The prob
lem is where do you put them,
how much will they cost, and who
is going to monitor the cameras?
Do students want them? I think
it is an idea that needs to be
fleshed out."
In addition to the reward, the
Greensboro Police Department
(GPD) has been brought in to aid
in the investigation and the
crimes have been considered
felonies.
Even with the aid of
the GPD, both Jenkins and
Lundquist were conser
vative in their hopes of
finding the suspects.
When asked to rate on a
scale of one to ten (with
ten being of highest con
fidence) the likelihood of
the suspects being cap
tured, Jenkins gave a six
while Lundquist went a
notch lower to five.
Guilford continues to
search for a new security head,
a problem that Glenn feels must
be solved quickly.
"Things are more difficult
without her[Chilcott]said Glenn.
"My biggest concern is that there
is not a Director [of Public
Safety]."