By Dennis O’Neil
On Feb. 14, 27-year-old Steven Kazmierzcak walked into a classroom on the campus of Northern Illinois University, and opened fire. When the dust had settled, six people, including Kazmierzcak, were dead, and another 13 people were wounded.
The incident happened just ten months after the massacre at Virginia Tech claimed the lives of 32, and has forced colleges and universities across the country, including the University of Louisville, to further reevaluate their approach to campus safety.
“An incident like what happened at Northern Illinois really makes you think about whether or not we would be ready if something like this happened on our campus,” Major Kenny Brown, of the Department of Public Safety, said. “We can do training exercises, but an incident like this really does give you a reality check.”
There has also been a recent rash of criminal activity in the Belknap campus area. Between Jan. 23 and Feb. 26, university students have received three crime alerts regarding separate instances of theft, assault and abduction. On Feb. 19, a bomb threat was made against an unspecified location at the university. DPS investigated the threat at all three university campuses, but found nothing. These investigations all remain open.
Matthew Tompkins, a junior political science major, was assaulted outside of Ekstrom Library on Feb. 13 and had his book bag stolen, which contained approximately $160 worth of books which he had to replace. Tompkins said that, after DPS took his initial statement, he was told they would be back in touch with him. After nearly two weeks, Tompkins has yet to hear anything back from DPS.
“I feel like campus police have really dropped the ball on this one,” Tompkins said. “Until something like this happens to you, you don’t realize your own lack of safety on campus.”
These incidents, combined with the shooting at NIU, have led several students to call for a stronger security presence on campus.
“I feel like the university’s security is lacking in a lot of areas where it could be doing a lot better,” Austin Vowels, a senior political science major, said. “More patrolling would help, and possibly cameras and signs labeling when students are in a safe zone with heavy patrolling and monitoring.”
According to DPS Physical Security Coordinator Jim Bratcher, cameras are already a heavy part of the university’s security force.
Bratcher said that all 150 of DPS’s cameras are electronically monitored and are capable of being monitored by humans. “But with 150 cameras, it isn’t feasible to have someone looking at them all the time,” he said.
Brown also said DPS is only responsible for supplying cameras to monitor the exterior areas of campus, and that the university must supply cameras to monitor the interior of the buildings.
Library Dean Hannelore Rader said there are currently no functioning cameras in Ekstrom Library, and budget cuts have made the possibility of funding for new cameras highly unlikely.
Housing Director Shannon Staten said that even though the residence halls on campus do have cameras, their activities aren’t really monitored unless there is an incident.
“In places like Bettie Johnson Hall, there are screens at the desk where a person can watch, but activities are recorded more than monitored,” Staten said. “We don’t have viewing screens in some of the other halls.”
Other students have indicated that the openness of the campus to non-U of L students could make it vulnerable to an attack. The Louisville Cardinal reported in October on disturbances from homeless in Ekstrom Library. Writing Center employee Robert Geisting said these problems have persisted since then, citing a recent instance where an inebriated man was causing a disturbance on the fourth floor of the library.
“I reported the situation, and it was apparently taken care of without incident,” Geisting said. “I did not make any connection with the NIU shooting until later. The incident made me realize that it is entirely possible for something similar to happen here.”
DPS Chief Wayne Hall said the university has discussed ways of making U of L less vulnerable to an attack. He said that one method being discussed was to have the entrances to Belknap campus buildings retrofitted for card access, so that only those with a valid ID card could enter. Despite the success of this method on the Health Sciences Campus, Hall said cost is a prohibitive factor.
“We are looking at major costs in order to make that happen,” Hall said. “We are sure there would be support for this, but also a fair amount of opposition as well.”
With campus safety such a prevalent issue, several students have indicated their willingness to chip in on the effort. Junior marketing major Matt Pack is currently working with DPS in the formation of volunteer patrol groups for students on campus, with the help of Delta Upsilon fraternity.
“We hope that in uniting the fraternities and other security-minded students, we can effectively lower the amount of criminal activity on campus,” Pack said.
