I’ve worked at enough involvement fairs and Shield open houses to know that many people only pick up copies of the paper to read the crime log – or what’s left of it, anyway.
While there is plenty of other good content to read each week in The Shield, it makes sense that the crime log is some students’ primary choice of reading material.
On the surface, reading the log is a form of entertainment.
I lived in Newman last year and we used the crime log to compare our building to others.
It’s fun to know what bad things your neighbors are getting caught doing.
But, the crime log is more than that.
It’s a way to keep students informed about what’s happening on campus, and, in some cases, keeps students safe.
Students have the right to know what occurs on their campus, and it seems as if Public Safety is slowly phasing out what information is readily made available.
Being informed about what’s happening on campus shouldn’t be a chore. The purpose of the crime log is to make that information accessible and readily available.
Crime logs in the paper used to say, for example, that a fi re alarm went off because of cooking at 12:36 p.m. on April 21 in the Bayh Building on Moutoux Lane.
When last semester started up, the crime log had recorded that a fi re alarm went off at 11:18 a.m. on August 21 in O’Daniel Apartments.
Which O’Daniel Apartments – north or south?
Not only were street names not being released, but there wasn’t an indication on which “neighborhood” was being reported.
The following week, a fi re alarm went off in a residence hall. The crime log used to specify which residence halls the reports were coming from.
Now, everything is generalized.
Alcohol violations no longer occur in Craig or Matthews, but in O’Daniel or McDonald apartments.
Drug manufacturing no longer takes place in Governors or Ruston, but in a “residence hall.”
Traffic accidents no longer happen in Lot C or Lot F. They happen “on campus.”
With the crime log being so popular among readers, it amazes me that people have yet to speak up regarding the diminishing details being provided.
I wholeheartedly believe it’s not out of apathy, but out of ignorance.
I personally didn’t recognize just how minimal the information in the logs is until recently.
In general, if people don’t speak up for their rights to information, more and more information will be withheld from them.
With the pressure to keep up a squeaky clean image and no one really questioning the withholding of information – which the university does have a history of doing – I fear the development of an administration that is less transparent than it already is.
