A short introduction

This article looks nothing like what it was intended to be. Originally, I wanted to write a piece on my safety concerns for the new parking structure. I don’t like walking around dark concrete fortresses at night, and so the parking structure loomed in my mind as a three-story maze of dark corners and creepy shadows, that no girl would want to enter when she got a hankering for Del Taco at two in the morning.

Surprising information

I sat down to interview Justin Shelby, Administrative Operations Manager of Campus Safety, about what they have planned to keep drivers safe in the parking structure. I was shocked by how thorough their plans are. In addition to the extensive lighting fixtures that will be installed, nine cameras will also be mounted at entrances and exits, as well as other areas. There won’t be a cadet stationed specifically in the structure, but Shelby stated, “We’ll be driving through there constantly.”

Students unconcerned about safety

Now concerned that my idea for an article was pointless, I wanted to see if other students would be worried about the parking structure at night. I waited in front of the Caf and asked a number of students, mostly female, if they would ever hesitate to use the structure for safety’s sake. None of them were apprehensive at all, and most had not even considered the possibility that they should be.

Looking at it from another angle

My article idea was dead, but the nonchalant attitude of these young people got me thinking about the collective psyche of our campus. We tend to see Biola as an impenetrable fortress populated by saints. We save tables in the Caf with our IDs and keys on a lanyard. Some of us even leave our laptops sitting on tables in the library while we go to dinner. If someone is waiting outside a dorm, we automatically reach for our IDs to let him or her in like the best kind of Samaritan.

Biolans should remember to act cautiously

On the one hand, it is wonderful to feel so comfortable together as a community. On the other hand, we seem to have lost all perspective on the fact that we do live in a fallen and dangerous world. I once picked up a girl’s lanyard, containing her ID, credit card, debit card and room key, sitting right outside Sigma by the card scanner. I contacted her to return it and she seemed annoyed that I had moved it. As it turns out, she had left it sitting outside at night so a friend could use it to get in. I was stunned. She would risk our safety (and her money) so she wouldn’t have to walk out to the door.

I urge my fellow students to think about these things before you whip out your ID to let any Tom, Dick, or Harry into Hart Hall in the middle of the night. Our campus prides itself on being welcoming, but that means we make ourselves vulnerable to the good and to the bad. We are also accountable for the well-being of those around us, so we should not take risks we are comfortable with if we know that a neighbor might not be. Do I open the door for most people when they are stranded without ID? Yes. Do I leave my keys to save a Caf table? Again, yes. I just hope we each take the time to pause and think about our decisions remembering that, as sad as it might be, we can get hurt right here in our beloved Biola bubble.