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| Entrance 3 closes |
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Police reverse gate 3 policy; campus closed to Main Street after midnight
by Mike Castillo A concerted push from the Student Association, college cabinets and college masters resulted in a reversal of the Entrance 3 gate policy. Midnight Wednesday, chains and a sawhorse returned to the entrance blocking access from Main Street. Accordingly, the gate at Entrance 3 reopened to provide direct access from the Inner Loop to the back lots of Lovett, Will Rice, Sid Richardson, Hanszen and Wiess colleges. The previous policy, initiated on March 13, allowed direct access to these lots from Main Street. During the month that this policy was in effect, two cars were stolen and two were broken into. It is not known, however, whether the crimes occurred during hours when the entrance would have been blocked. According to Chief of Police Mary Voswinkel, this is a positive change. "I am pleased to see it go back. I was concerned," she said. Lovett President Brandon Bidlack,'98, agrees with Voswinkel, saying, "It is a proactive measure, rather than a reactive one. The only reason we did it in the first place was because of convenience, and safety should always come before convenience." SA President and Hanszen junior Daryl Shorter points to student concern as the main impetus for this change. "The role of the SA in this endeavor has been to see what students wanted to do about this `problem' -- the concerns students have been having about car thefts and the presence of people who didn't need to be [on campus]," Shorter said. Shorter also said that when college presidents were asked to poll their respective colleges about this issue, students heavily favored returning to the old policy. College masters also favored this measure, said Lovett Master Connie Burke. Burke warned though that reverting back to this policy opens another set of problems. "I do worry about the traffic near Cohen House, it is not a road, it's a parking lot," Burke said. According to Shorter, the SA is pushing for long-term ideas to be implemented in place of the current saw-horse blockade. "This works in the meantime, but it gives a false sense of security," Shorter said.
This item appeared in the News section of the April 18, 1997 issue. |
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