Universities need to increase security on campus and during finals
Today (at least) two individuals lost their lives in a shooting at Brown University. This event has shaken me thoroughly and reminded me of the Graz shooting that occured last year. I want to give my thoughts on why Universities must take precautionary measures to ensure maximum security for all students, especially on campus and during finals.
Original post - 02:05 AM CEST
Today two individuals died in the Engineering building at Brown University during a period of time when finals take place1. I am absolutely devastated at this news, as this is one of the universities that I am currently considering for my Master’s degree. As an engineering student myself, this was simply fucking heartbreaking to read. My heart dropped when I read the headline. I’ve felt this way before in each such devastating instance of crimes against humanity and stolen lives, especially shootings and other kinds of attacks towards innocent kids and young adults in education. It does, however, hit a little bit harder when it’s something close geographically or related to you. The shooting in Graz, only 2 hours away from me by car, where 11 people died2 is a popular destination for a double-degree programme that many students from my undergraduate University (University of Ljublana, Faculty of Computer and Information Science) go to each year. Some of my friends heard those very shots that took those innocent kids’ lives forever. This shooting at Brown angers and saddens me in the same way, my fellow engineering students should not need to be under any fucking additional stress, let alone fear for their lives, during some of the most difficult times of their lives during their finals.
I wanted to reiterate my strong belief that Universities must spend more on ensuring the security and safety of all persons present on University grounds. This includes all University buildings and all other areas that are considered part of the University Campus. Additional security should be issued during finals week, as that is the most vulnerable time, not just as a vector of possible attack, but also as a period of time when emotions are at their strongest in people whose futures are about to be on the line - which could lead to them making incredibly irrational decisions such as harming their fellow students.
I’ve studied at two universities so far, the University of Ljublana and University College Cork. I’ve never felt unsafe at any of these two universities, although I do admit that when shootings at other schools or universities made mainstream news, there was a firm belief in me that the risk of such incidents increased as such news might motivate people to commit the same violent acts elsewhere. Fortunately, nothing occured, and I truly hope it stays that way forever, but we must ensure that all possible security and safety measures are taken before such events even have a chance of occuring.
No parent should ever get a call that their student was harmed or killed while in education and it is the responsibility of every University and every government to ensure that no parent has to ever receive such a preventable call. No amount of thoughts and prayers or action after the fact will return these lost souls to their families. Preventive and precautionary action must be taken so that these events don’t even have a chance of occuring. No cost must be spared when the issue in question are the lives of kids and young adults in education, period.
Update as of 11:40 AM CEST
Mere hours after the devastating loss of innocent lives at Brown University, 9 individuals have lost their lives at a mass shooting by multiple individuals at the most famous beach in the world, Bondi Beach in Australia3. Gun laws should not be a negotiable, but rather a severely restrictive law that heavily punishes any and all individuals who defy it, including the mere possesion and carry of such weapons in public. Additional measures must be taken by governments in crowded public areas of interest, such as Bondi Beach. I lack the words to explain just how much anger and disappointment I feel as I read about one mass shooting when I go to sleep and about another when I wake up.