OPINION & EDITORIAL
Do nothing, Congress
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by Badger Herald Editorial Board
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
With high-level emergencies becoming more common on college campuses, rapid response is an absolute necessity. But while it is already a massive undertaking to quickly communicate between students, university administration and law enforcement, at least one congressman thinks it necessary to bog down that process: our federal government.
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., recently introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would mandate universities reveal their alert procedures to the federal government and ensure campus response begins within 30 minutes of a “confirmed emergency.” While we appreciate Ms. McCarthy’s concern with campus safety, she has no place in this discussion, nor should she feel the need to insert Congress into an overhaul that universities across the nation are surely working toward on their own.
Alert systems should be mandated by common sense, not U.S. legislators. The vast majority of universities are conscious of this fact and have already implemented procedures to help prevent another Virginia Tech or Northern Illinois situation from happening again. Following the lead of numerous other campuses, University of Wisconsin is in the process of solidifying a text-message alert system that would notify students of a campus emergency.
Some may see the need for federal action to ensure campus safety in light of recent tragedies, but there is no doubt that our nation’s colleges are independently making this a priority. Oversight by Congress would do little to improve campus safety; instead, it would simply amount to legislators patting themselves on the back. The very title of this bill — The Virginia Tech Victims’ Act — indicates it may be driven as much by pandering as by a pragmatic desire to improve campus safety.
As University of Wisconsin spokesperson John Lucas told The Badger Herald this week, “Putting an artificial time limit into the mix amplifies the difficulty and pressure that police and administrators are in….” We agree with this sentiment and encourage Wisconsin’s congressional delegation to withhold their support from this measure. Universities are far better qualified to assess their own emergency procedures than the federal government ever will be.
Anonymous (April 16, 2008 @ 8:06pm):
Yeah! Let's let Republican ideology dictate what we do! Let the market decide! Those schools that don't protect their students will cease to exist because their students will be more likely to die in an emergency!
Anonymous (April 17, 2008 @ 10:26am):
"Those schools that don't protect their students will cease to exist because their students will be more likely to die in an emergency!"
Exactly right.
Or do you think that this issue would have no place in the decision making process of prospective students. I guess if they are too stupid to take it into account we could view it as evolution in action.
Anonymous (April 17, 2008 @ 12:11pm):
"I guess if they are too stupid to take it into account we could view it as evolution in action."
Apparently, you were just stupid enough to come to UW instead of some random school in Utah where any three year old can carry a concealed Uzi.
Anonymous (April 21, 2008 @ 9:51am):
this is clearly a heated partisan issue. what has HRC and obaminator said about it? has mccain's staff briefed him on what a campus alert system is yet? crap, students for (in touch and on point politician) let me know what's up!!
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