Re: Kenyon Visit Report and Dorm Security

<p>A recent visit report (see: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visits/kenyon-college/1641123.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visits/kenyon-college/1641123.html&lt;/a&gt;) shared concerns over the dorm security system/policy.</p>

<p>There appears to have been a lot of internal discussions on the formulation of the policy in question. The following is from the Kenyon</a> Senate Minutes for Tuesday, October 25, 2007:</p>

<p>
[quote]
...Kenyon swipe card. Agenda-- 11 committees of Board of Trustees. Several senior staff have liaison responsibilities with those committees. Dave McConnell's agenda-- request to Board of Trustees to purchase card swipe system. It is a request-- and a request only-- no plan, no research. Also, students don't want this. You've heard President Nugent say when we make a decision, and the decision isn't debated, she doesn't include input because it's disingenuous. Students will have opportunity to give input. Maybe lock during quiet hours? Let every student with card access all buildings? Only buildings in which you live? These questions can be helped by student input. Talk to students at other schools. It is reasonable to have input there. It's a safety and liability issue, huge pressure from parents, for years and years. We are in a different environment. Now's the time. Is it unfortunate? Yes. Timing with trustees-- they're here now, they meet in Feb, they meet in April. Committees will not meet in Feb-- this conversation needs to happen now. Question-- allocate the money? If we get the money, then get student input, etc., we can do it in March. That's the implication of the decision on Friday if the trustees
say yes.</p>

<p>AnnS: You say pressure has been building for years. Why now? A specific event?</p>

<p>TG: 3 things have come together: Virginia Tech, bomb threats, recent rash of vandalism. Upped the ante. Asked Jack Hornick to talk to security and get logs. Run logs for theft. Higher than you all think. We don't know if it's other students. We don't know who's doing it-- that's the challenge...

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Well, I think it’s important to remember that Kenyon is safer than 99% of colleges in the USA. Students responded the way they did because having added security was seen as “unkenyon” meaning, students feel in such a community swipe cards are not needed. The College ended up compromising and only activating these cards after a certain hour.</p>

<p>From Kenyon’s [self-reported</a> crime statistics for 2007](<a href=“http://www.kenyon.edu/x6982.xml]self-reported”>http://www.kenyon.edu/x6982.xml) which may be categorized as [“unkenyon”](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1062250277-post2.html]“unkenyon”[/url]-like:”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1062250277-post2.html)-like:</a></p>

<p>

</p>

<p>To understand those numbers, one must understand Kenyon’s definitions for say a “forcible sex offense.” My understanding is that any time you engage in any act that is remotely sexual without receiving explicit verbal approval for the specific act, you are engaging in a forcible sex offense. The college’s policy on sexual offenses is the most ridiculous thing ever. I doubt there are two hundred students here who haven’t technically violated it. Literally, by the colleges rules you are required to ask “may I kiss you.” It doesn’t matter if you have gone back to a room and gotten in bed together.</p>

<p>The dorms are safe. Most people don’t lock their door, although safety and security constantly tells people they should. </p>

<p>This review is crap. There’s a lock on every door. People feel safe here. It’s also wrong that the proxy care system was the result of student requests. It was the result of the parents organization’s (exists to bring in $) recommendation. Students literally protested the swipe cards when the board had its spring meeting at Kenyon last year. The swipe system is on from midnight to some time in the morning; I think it must be 5 or 6. All cards open all door, and I’ve heard that if your strong enough you can rip the door open even if it’s locked, though in the many time I’ve forgotten my card and gotten locked out, this has never worked for me.</p>

<p>This is about as safe a campus as you are going to find anywhere.</p>

<p><a href=“%5Burl=http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1062290198-post4.html]#4[/url]”>quote</a>…The dorms are safe. Most people don’t lock their door, although safety and security constantly tells people they should. </p>

<p>This [review[/url</a>] is crap. There’s a lock on every door. People feel safe here…</p>

<p>…This is about as safe a campus as you are going to find anywhere.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>The following publicly available information will hopefully provide context to the judicious concern for dorm safety expressed both in the [url=<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visits/kenyon-college/1641123.html]visit”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visits/kenyon-college/1641123.html]visit</a> report](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visits/kenyon-college/1641123.html]review[/url”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visits/kenyon-college/1641123.html) and in Kenyon’s own [Senate</a> meeting minutes](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1062250054-post1.html]Senate”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1062250054-post1.html). It will hopefully be a guide for any parent considering any residential college; not just Kenyon.</p>

<p>Kenyon College is located at [106</a> College Park Drive](<a href=“http://www.kenyon.edu/x1153.xml]106”>Travel to Kenyon | Kenyon College) in Knox County, Ohio. The [Knox</a> County Ohio Sheriff’s office<a href=“accessible%20via%20a%20%5Burl=http://www.kenyon.edu/x32866.xml]link%20from%20Kenyon’s%20site[/url]”>/url</a> provides a [url=<a href=“Out of Service”>Out of Service]link</a> to search for sexual offenders](<a href=“Sheriff – Knox County, Ohio”>http://www.knoxcountysheriff.com/) in Knox county.</p>

<p>Utilizing [Kenyon’s</a> address in that searchable database](<a href=“Out of Service”>Out of Service) results in the following:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>The [details</a> for the sexual offender](<a href=“Out of Service”>Out of Service) show that he’s listed the following reason:

</p>

<p>So to summarize, within just 5,280 feet of the college that has a ‘liberal’ dorm security policy on locking its doors you will find an individual deemed worthy of being listed as a sexual offender by the Knox County Sheriff’s office. This should put into context [url=<a href=“http://bulletin.kenyon.edu/x782.xml]Tammy”>http://bulletin.kenyon.edu/x782.xml]Tammy</a> M. Gocial](<a href=“http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/2907.05]2907.05[/url”>Section 2907.05 - Ohio Revised Code | Ohio Laws)'s comments in the [Senate</a> meeting (page 6)](<a href=“http://community.kenyon.edu/Documents/StudentSenate/4.Oct25.pdf]Senate”>http://community.kenyon.edu/Documents/StudentSenate/4.Oct25.pdf):

</p>

<p>I did the same search for Oberlin’s campus and found 13 sex offenders within a mile, not ONE.</p>

<p>source: [Knox</a> County Ohio Sheriff’s Office](<a href=“http://www.icrimewatch.net/results.php?AgencyID=53954&whichaddr=&SubmitAddrSearch=1&AddrStreet=173+W+Lorain+Street&AddrCity=Oberlin&AddrState=36&AddrZip=44074&AddrZipPlus=]Knox”>Out of Service)</p>

<p>The 13 offenders are in a 2-mile radius, 5 offenders are in a 1-mile radius surrounding Oberlin College, just to clarify.</p>

<p>Kenyon has a team of lawyers and Gocial is out. If you lock your room door you really won’t have any problems. Your largest danger at Kenyon is getting hit by a car if you don’t look before crossing the street or breaking an ankle on the Milk Carton hill after a rainstorm and drinking a lot at a different party before attempting the descent.</p>

<p><a href=“%5Burl=http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1062299918-post8.html]#8[/url]”>quote</a> Kenyon has a team of lawyers and Gocial is out. If you lock your room door you really won’t have any problems. Your largest danger at Kenyon is getting hit by a car if you don’t look before crossing the street or breaking an ankle on the Milk Carton hill after a rainstorm and drinking a lot at a different party before attempting the descent.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Lawyering-up does not bring back a loved-one and is an expo facto response to a situation (like the [Jeanne</a> Clery murder](<a href=“http://www.e2campus.com/jeanne_clery_act_story.htm]Jeanne”>http://www.e2campus.com/jeanne_clery_act_story.htm) which resulted in the [Clery</a> Act](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clery_Act]Clery”>Clery Act - Wikipedia)) that can be prevented. </p>

<p>According to the [Kenyon</a> Collegian](<a href=“http://media.www.kenyoncollegian.com/media/storage/paper821/news/2007/12/06/News/Swipe.Card.Forum-3137431.shtml]Kenyon”>http://media.www.kenyoncollegian.com/media/storage/paper821/news/2007/12/06/News/Swipe.Card.Forum-3137431.shtml), the “danger[s]” go beyond the ones cited:

</p>

<p>Like I said, lock your door, and might I add don’t leave your laptop sitting out(unattended) in the publicly accessible library for a long period of time. For example, don’t go to lunch and then be surprised your Mac Book Pro is gone an hour later. Use common sense and don’t put yourself in a bad situation. It helps to think like an adult and not a naive teen no matter where you live or attend school because bad things happen, even in a very safe place like Gambier, OH.</p>

<p>The “four bomb threats” were emails that were generated in Eastern Europe and sent to about thirty colleges. They were not Kenyon-specific, and even though the Department of Homeland Security scoured campus, we weren’t even forced to cancel classes. They were a total hoax. As for the security issue: I’ll echo what every other Kenyon student/alum seems to be saying here. There’s no cause for concern. Kenyon is not Lehigh or UChicago, where students get mugged with some regularity. When the crime stats say “aggravated assault,” they referring to a fist fight or something that breaks out between a couple of drunk frat guys. I walk home at 3 or 4 in the morning alone all the time and have never felt unsafe, much less been threatened. Theft is a problem (sort of), but in two years here I have never once locked my door and have not had anything stolen.</p>