I hearthe cry of the students

Editorial

Preventivemeasures

Last week, a disassembled .32-caliber revolver was found in a room in Xavier Hall, along with bullets to go in it, a box of shotgun shells and a knife. This was indeed -a startling discovery, the likes of which a private suburban school, such as ours, rarely sees. Naturally, this incident raises questions about campus safety.

Knowledge of the gun's presence on campus was disclosed by an anonymous source alerting public safety. Upon receiving the tip, public safety took swift action, reporting the situation to Dr. Robert Bonfiglio, vice president of student development, and then confiscating the gun and other paraphernalia from the room. We would like to commend public safety for their care and promptness in dealing with this matter. Had the anonymous warning been dismissed as a prank, the gun would still be here on campus.

Investigations are currently being conducted as to whether or not the gun's owner has a hit list of those she wants dead. What if she does? Is our campus safe enough to protect students from these potential attacks, or any other form~ of violence for that malter?

\Ve would like to make the following sugge:;tions to the administration for a safer campus environment.

• There are emergency phones all around campus. However, approximately half of them do not work. ,f workmg and to make sure that the phones are kept in working order.

• Currently, Public Safety patrols the campus only in vehicles. A foot or even a bike patrol would be able to monitor areas of the campus that vehicles can not access, thereby expanding coverage.

• Although more lights have recently been added to the campus grounds, there are still not enough to adequately light our heavily wooded campus.

We are asking the administration to please take these suggestions into serious consideration.

And finally, Dr. Bonfiglio, we know the final decision as to whether or not to allow the gun's owner to remain enrolled in school is up to you. Please take the ultimate preventive measure for the safety of the campus community and permanently ban her from campus.

Last Saturday night I saw a movie that was such a stunning metaphor for Cabrini life that I felt compelled to write about it. The movie was titled "Pleasantville," and from what I could tell it was probably written by the bitter young man Joe Elliott. Anyway, here is the gist of the movie. In the beginning, two modern teens are transported into a fantasy world, called Pleasantville, where everything is black and white. As the newcomers spread their new ideas throughout the town, things slowly start to appear in color. This alarms the mayor, Big Bob, who decides that a Code of Conduct is necessary to ensure that nothing else changes in his lovely, pleasant town. I swear to God, I am not making this up.

I felt that this was an appropriate lead-in for a report on SGA's busy last week. It appears that there are students who do not write for the Loquitur who have concerns about student life. And since I know that many of you were too busy to make the campus-wide meetmg last week, I thought rd fill you in on the student body', concern,.

Since last week's Loquitur's cover story on the graduation debate, I have had a number of different students come to me with concern Jb ut gr, juation. These students t.e sen:, ,rs, underclassmen and even a few alumni. The one tying bond I could perceive was that they all wanted to graduate outdoors.

Now, I will admit, this is far from a black and white issue. The chance of rain is always something to be considered and it would be costly to set up both indoors and outdoors. But why wasn't this considered to be a problem for every single graduation before last year? For a school that sup- again comment on my weekend. Anyone who wishes to visit a sauna can come up to the second floor of House Five. You should probably limit your exposure to 10 minutes.

The heating system/furnace was turned on Friday afternoon and my floor bas been uninhabitable since. Most of my co-residents had the good sense to go home this weekend and sleep comfortably. I had no such good fortune and enjoyed a weekend on the living room couch.

COl\11\IENT.\RY

CHRIS NIELSEN posedly cherishes its rich tradition, they seem more than willing to do away with this one.

The other top issue brought up last week was visitation hours in Woodcrest. Apparently, the administration told the Woodcrest residents to voice their concerns to the SGA. Great idea, we encourage students to speak to us.

However, their approach was, in a way, dishonest. Rather than sharing their reasoning for the visitation policies, they chose to shift the burden to us. the SGA.

This is unfortunate, because every year the Woodcrest residents decide to fonn a petition to - the visitation hour,. \ 1d c::.c 1 , the '>G\ ·:oict the student opinion to the administration and is shot down, making us look like an ineffective organization.

On a final note, I would like to

After calling every member of the Resident Life Office, I received a reply at noon on Sunday saying that maintenance doesn't work on weekends and that I would have to cope for one more night.

After consulting the Student Handbook, I came across the Resident Life Policy, page 98.

Part of the mission of Resident Life is to ensure a physical environment of quality, comfort, safety and security as the foundation for a community that is conducive to academic achievement. Last I checked, 95 degrees was not only uncomfortable, but also UJNlfe.

So Tclose with this reminder to the Cabrini community:

It is not a black and white world. Open your mouths and speak out for what you believe is rigrt. You desc.r,e to h d

ChrisNielsenis a sophomoremajoringin English/communication. Heis a staffwr~er forLoquitur.Helostsixpoundsinthe Housefivesaunathisweekend. ,r:tt£SML 1> $£Ai?af~.