Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,

I was very surprised to hear about Public Safety’s decision to do away with SNAP. This is of special concern to me not only because of my desire to feel safe on campus, but also because I have a physical disability, Cerebral Palsy. As the Voice pointed out there are simply not enough well lit areas around campus especially near the areas between the Cellar. This concern has stopped me on many occasions from going to get a cup of hot chocolate and hanging out there.

This is my second semester here at GC&SU. I came in as a transfer student and was not even aware that we had a program like this until the end of the fall semester. I remember seeing the students riding around on the golf carts however, because the golf carts were not labeled with anything about SNAP or its hours of operation, I just simply thought the students were performing errands. After I was initially told about SNAP, I still found myself confused. As I later discovered many students were as well, about how the service could be used. Did it have to be used only in an emergency situation or could they take you around campus? Let’s be truthful here, yes public safety has emergency call boxes installed, but it seems to me, anyway, that you have to walk a good piece of distance to get to one. Where does that leave the students without cell phones?

That brings me to another point, many of the campus activities occur around 8 or 9 p.m. (due to most classes occurring until 8:30 p.m.) just after it becomes dark. Public safety emphasizes traveling in packs, but what should one do when all his/her friends are unable to tag along? Should the student be forced to go out alone, or sit in their room and miss a fun activity? A couple of nights this week I headed over to Saga for dinner and made my way over to the library to study for upcoming tests, and I must admit it was quite creepy walking to the entrance. I kept wondering if someone would be getting ready to attack me from the bushes. I do not think my fears are unwarranted. Just because nothing really bad has happened here in awhile does not mean that safety should not be a top priority. I think Public Safety should reconsider their decision. I for one definitely would use this service.

Pam Tolbert
Junior

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Feb 14 2003. Filed under Letters to the Editor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry