Posts Tagged ‘Campus Police Service’

Student Speak Out to Let Students Get it All Out

Tired and frustrated with how things are at Marietta College?  Now’s your chance to have your voice heard and hear from the administrators themselves how your problem can be addressed.

Wednesday, November 18th at 7 PM in the McDonough Auditorium is your chance.  A panel of administrators will hear your problems and respond to them.  The heavy hitters will be there, including President Jean Scott, VP of Administration and Finance Dan Bryant, Director of Dining Services Walter Miller, Director of Career Center Hilles Hughes, Director of Residence Life Bruce Peterson, Director of Athletics Larry Hiser, Director of Physical Plant Fred Smith, Chief Information Officer Administrative Computing John Davis, Director of Student Financial Services Kevin Lamb, Provost and Dean of the College Dr. Rita Kipp, and Chief of Campus Police Dave Valkinburg.

Can’t make it?  No Problem.  Writing on the Mall will take your questions to the meeting and ask them for you!  Just leave a comment here on the blog with your question, or leave a comment on our Facebook page, or tweet at us @writeonthemall.  We’ll take all the questions we receive and report back with the answers.

Enhanced Campus Security?

EDITOR’S NOTE:  Ally Janakis is a guest writer for Writing on the Mall.  She is involved with the Media Writing Two class at Marietta College, which has been submitting articles to us.  Her article is the first of many that you will see hit the site.  If you would like to see more like this, just let us know at patrick_h at writingonthemall dot net.

Although we have not progressed to armed guards and watchdogs, Marietta College has made strides in improving security around campus. But are they truly improvements?

The August newsletter sent to students gave an overview of the new security. Parsons Hall, which has been, locked 24/7 for the past two years now also has automatic locks on suite doors and room doors. For Parsons residents living above the first floor entering their room entails swiping their ID card at the door, unlocking their suite door and then unlocking their room door. It also means to use the bathroom in their suite, one must either prop their door or bring their keys.

Junior Jaque Danhires responds negatively to the recent updated security, “I feel protecting the students is very important, but personally as a student who lives in Parsons locking the suite door would have sufficed. I hate going to the bathroom and getting locked out of my room in the middle of the night.”

Another added frustration is that if you lock yourself out more than three times you are fined by Residence Life. Some dorms even require IDs to access the bathroom such as in the Pioneer House.

Read more…

Campus Parking Becomes A Problem

Maybe I shouldn’t say that it has become a problem, because some people will say that its always been a problem.  But I digress.

Over the summer, the college decided to turn the entire Gathering Place parking lot into a a red lot, which is freshmen only.  Prior to the change, the lot had been both blue and red, with blue being for upperclassmen.  At the same time, the former Moose Lodge parking lot is now yellow (faculty) and blue.  The change has made many upperclassmen as red as the freshmen lots.

This Facebook Group was started to raise the issue with fellow students and organize an Electronic Executive Carpet Bomb of sorts, by asking students to e-mail Rita Smith Kipp (the provost of Marietta College).  The group wants to see the parking policies changed back to allow upperclassmen to park in the Gathering Place parking lot once again, and shift commuters and freshmen to the Moose Lodge lot.  Here is a comment from the group.

This is ridiculous. Don’t most schools not even allow freshmen to bring their cars? And yet we are giving them more privileges? If anything, it should go the other way.

~ Katie Wolfe, MC Student

Student Senate has been notified of the problem, and I’m sure that it will be discussed at the first meeting of the year, which is this coming Wednesday.  Writing on the Mall will be there to cover the meeting.

If anything, the one thing that shocks me the most from the group is the claim that a CPS officer told the group’s creator to “take a cab”.  If true, something needs to be done about this mentality at CPS.  Campus Police offers free escort services from any part of campus to wherever you need to go.  It’s their job to provide that opportunity to students.

Is there a good way of fixing things this semester?  Possibly.  But the difficulty is that the parking passes are out and the spaces have been designated.  Any changes may take as long as next year to see come to fruition.  But better to work through Student Senate and e-mails with Rita Kipp about the issue so that the College knows that it is a problem than to let it sit idle and not have anything done about.

Car Checks Until 3 PM Today

Hey guys, I know this is kind of late noticed, but this is pre-finals week, and things have been hectic.

If you have a car on campus, the Washington County Sheriffs, Campus Police Service, and local dealerships will be checking vehicles over on the side of the Gathering Place until 3 PM.  Supposedly there will be food and freebies, so check it out if you get a chance.

The bonus of this is that you get a State of Ohio Vehicle Inspection Certification, which is good for the next year.  It can be helpful to have in many situations.

If any problems are noted, they will let you know what needs fixed and where you can go to fix it with more major issues.