The April 16 edition of The Post featured a front-page article in memory of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University massacre that highlighted the poor emergency response systems that plague American universities.
I gathered both from other readings and from the article that the first two victims were shot inside their own residence hall.
I am currently a resident of Bryan Hall, which is quite a bit older than most and has not yet been recently renovated. Ever since I moved in Fall Quarter, I felt that it was strange that most of our doors — including my own — do not have peepholes.
I find this fact increasingly disturbing after reading this article because I know for a fact that it is extremely easy to enter a residence hall without a key if one just waits around for a friendly enough person to let them in (we’re all guilty of it).
The majority of the entrances into Bryan Hall lead straight into our unlocked hallways, so anyone could get into the hallways with little effort.
Yes, our dorm room doors lock, but, without a peephole, the lock loses its effectiveness. If someone knocks on our doors, we have absolutely no way of knowing who it really is. And let’s be honest everyone: If you ask who it is and the person answers “UPS” or “Hey it’s so-and-so from the third floor,” you’re going to answer it.
Instead of the ability to look through a peephole from behind a safely locked door, we have to open it to greet the person. We may have some great new emergency response systems now, but I don’t think those would have helped the first two victims at Virginia Tech. Anyone else see the danger here?
I’ve never been much of a worrier, and I’ll also be out of the residence hall system in a few short months, but I think peepholes for every residential room door aren’t much to ask for Ohio University.
Jackie Runion is a sophomore studying journalism and a former columnist for The Post.
