Mississippi State University students living in residence halls
may enjoy a safer campus soon, thanks to the efforts of Student
Assocation Senator Christy Vinson.
Vinson, an MSU freshman majoring in political science and
accounting, wrote a resolution on increasing safety for MSU
students which passed in mid-January in the SA Senate. Now that the
resolution has passed, it will go to the campus safety advisory
board for consideration.
The resolution reccomends 24-hour security be on duty at
residence halls, a unified emergency call system be implemented on
campus and safety education classes at the beginning of the year at
the halls.
“My reasoning behind the bill was very simple,” Vinson said. “I
represent a residence hall, and people who in live the halls are at
risk to be attacked while on campus. There have been several
incidents in and around several residence halls including Rice
where I live–people having their cars broken into, strange men
standing outside windows and that sort of thing.
“Several of my constituents asked me, ‘what is the Student
Association doing about this?’ I didn’t have a clear answer, so I
decided to go to work.”
According to the police report, occurrences of on-campus
burglary nearly doubled in 2001 as compared to the preceding two
years. The majority of those burglaries took place in residence
halls.
“The SA shows how the students feel,” Vinson said. “We took the
bill to the campus safety advisory board, and they are going with
it from there to the appropriate levels–getting the bill to the
people who need to see it.