We've lost two Ball State students to violence this year. It's been a very difficult time for our community, and I'm sure it makes recruiting new students far more challenging for the university. I understand that issuing citations to underage students for consumption is good public relations. It makes it clear to prospective students -- and their parents -- that Ball State's administration is serious about student safety.
Police issued more than 100 citations over the weekend, and that looks very good, especially to outsiders.
We appear safer -- but are we really?
Ball State refused to fire University Police Officer Robert Duplain after he shot and killed a student. Say what you will about the way the university handled that situation, but it was right to keep Duplain on the force, at least at first. Firing the officer who shot a student might've looked good and "decisive" to parents and donors, but it would've been unfair to act before the facts were in, and it wouldn't have actually made students any safer.
The university rejected the easy PR boost, and instead pursued an investigation to look for changes to the force and its policies that could actually prevent a repeat of the tragedy.
I have to wonder why the course of action is different this time around.
Underage consumption is against the law, and it's pretty hard to argue against asking police to enforce the law. So, I wouldn't dream of asking the police to abandon their increased patrols. And, to be honest, with high school seniors making their college decisions right now, I can understand why Ball State wanted to move quickly to make campus seem like a safer place.
But I hope the administration won't make the mistake of believing that all it has to do is design posters and ask police to make more arrests. I'm not any safer now than I was last Friday.
Charging Olufunmbi Elemo a $500 fine, putting her on probation from the university, or even making her spend 60 days in jail for the Class C misdemeanor wouldn't make me any less likely to be hurt or killed next weekend. She's well-respected, an Honors student and the Student Government Association vice president.
The same is true for the other students who were cited -- their hearings have yet to be held, but it's likely they were breaking the law. Nevertheless, making an example of them only increases the appearance of safety -- not the reality.
In fact, as Ball State students who want to drink gradually move farther and farther from campus to party, their drives back to campus afterwards may even decrease my safety, and it will be harder for the university or city police to maintain any kind of supervision over their activities.
Right now, underage students walk back to their dorms after drinking, and it's easy for police cars to patrol the areas where they're walking.
I doubt that will still be the case after a few months of 100-citation weekends.
So, while increasing citations and arrests may not be a bad idea, per se, it's certainly not enough of one.
Write to Stephen at stevehj@mac.com
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