The Cabrini College Welcome Center is the school’s newest attempt at furthering campus safety. But can a simple booth ensure a safer campus?
Anyone who has attempted to drive onto campus after 10 p.m. knows that there will be a guard awaiting them to confirm that they go to the school and that they have a parking permit. The Welcome Center does not change this method. The only new change is that the guard is now stationed in a booth rather than a public safety vehicle.
The money that was used to create this welcome center should have instead gone towards creating more parking on campus. Cabrini residents spend almost $100 for a parking permit; they should be able to find a parking spot without trying to hunt one down for hours.
Commuter students are missing their classes because they are driving around the campus for hours just looking for a place to park.
Tickets are administered to those who create their own form of a parking spot but this fails to get to the root of the parking problem. It is not fair that students are missing their classes and getting ticketed because the college is failing to provide them with the parking spaces they paid for.
There is no doubt that Public Safety needed to make some changes from last year’s process of entering the school. Some nights students would breeze through without a problem and on others they were asked to present every identification possible.
On more than one occasion, my visiting friends had to walk in the pouring rain from the Dixon Center parking lot to Xavier Hall often complaining about the harsh and suspicious tone given by the officers. However, this year I have found that Public Safety’s attitude has slightly changed. Every night I have passed through after 10 p.m. I was greeted with a smile and was allowed to enter after presenting my temporary parking permit. This year’s Public Safety officers seem to be more consistent with the information required for each car to pass.
Though the school has good intentions in its wish to further our safety, the new Welcome Center is no more effective than last year’s check point. It is the consistency in the identification requirements and what is asked of each car that makes our school safe.
