When the residence halls open for the start of classes in the fall, students will be working nighttime security, but a soon to be former employee thinks this might lead to problems.
The Office of Housing and Residence Life is taking over the overnight security program that it has been operating in collaboration with the University Police Department.
Joe Gonzalez, Assistant Director of Housing, said for the most part security operations will be run the same way they are now except only students will be employed. He said the students will continue using the same equipment and procedures.
Night staff security workers are stationed at the entrance of the residence halls, where they swipe students ID cards after midnight to make sure the students actually live there. The workers also check in any guests a resident might have.
Currently the positions are open to people outside the Ball State community.
Gonzalez said one of Housing's goals in making the change is to open more opportunities for student employment.
"Students would be able to work without leaving their halls," Gonzalez said. "The other benefit is that the students would know each other."
Richard Ritz, a Woodworth security worker who will be let go in the fall, said students knowing each other could pose a problem. He said students would be more likely than adults to let their fellow students enter the halls even if the entering students were clearly under the influence of alcohol.
"It's hard to call a policeman on a friend," Ritz said.
Gonzalez said he recognizes that possibility exists, but he said he hopes worker training programs will encourage student security workers not to do that.
"Hopefully people will understand their roles and the importance of their roles and live up to the expectations," Gonzalez said.
Ritz said Gonzalez's statement sounds good, but he's not sure it will work. He said adults are more likely to enforce strict security policies than students. For instance, anyone entering a residence hall after midnight must show the security worker a picture ID.
"It's hard to turn someone away who doesn't have a picture ID with them," Ritz said. "Adults do that."
On the topic of training, Ritz said all he had to go through was a six hour inservice program that explained what the workers are supposed to do. He said, for the most part, he has learned on the job.
Ritz said, in the past, the University Police Department conducted the training. Now Housing will run the training programs.
Gonzalez said Housing would get training materials from UPD and then develop its own training program.
The reason students are not in security positions now is that UPD could not find enough students interested in the positions when the security program was initiated three years ago, Gonzalez said.
"Originally it was meant to be a program that was staffed by students," he said.
Ritz, who is a retired Northside Middle School teacher, said he feels students would be to casual as security workers.
"To (students) it's just there for the money," Ritz said. "I felt I was watching out for the welfare of students in the dorm."
According to Gonzalez, when the new system begins, the security workers will mostly be the same students who work the residence hall front desks. He said eventually a separate staff will be employed to operate the night security.
Besides organizing training for the workers, Gonzalez said UPD has also been responsible for selecting and supervising the staff in the past.
"We're very grateful for the efforts UPD has put into this,"Gonzalez said. "We're in better position to take over the program now than if we had originally tried to take it over on our own."
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