Attorney gives student privacy lecture

Are we safe?

Violence can occur anywhere, on any campus, at a major university with 50,000 people, or a small college with only 200 people. Anything can happen.

The most quiet, laid-back person whom you never thought opened their mouth could be the person who engages in an act of violence. It could happen to an individual person, or a group of people; it has no boundaries.

No one at Delaware State ever believed there could be a shooting on their campus; nor did anyone at Cabrini believe that a stabbing could occur. Who would have imagined that one normal Monday morning at Virginia Tech, could have led to the biggest shooting massacre in United States school history?

An act of violence sends shock waves through a campus community. Students and faculty all react differently. Some people shut down in a time of crisis and keep to themselves while other people look towards others for support and the larger community. Even some, like Virginia Tech’s editor in chief of the Collegiate Times, managed to put out a newspaper everyday after the massacre happened. Out of a large staff, only about five to 10 people felt they could handle the situation and wrote stories all night long.

While everyone reacts differently, one question runs through everyone’s mind: Are we safe?

As a result of campus violence across the nation, schools are taking initiative to prevent massacres like Virginia Tech happening on their campus by developing college emergency response plans.

Different techniques, such as sending out mass text messages to all students and faculty like Ohio State does, is a good way to reach all students in a time of emergency. Added public safety, more lighted areas around campus and alert systems are great ways to lower the chances of violence on campus. We’re glad that Cabrini is starting to implement these points into our college.

Could Cabrini handle crisis? Is there a plan? If there is a plan, is it adequate enough to take charge of the situation? Would the counseling center know how to handle a situation like this, and have enough people at the same time. Do professors know the correct steps in going about how to handle a situation with a student who is writing “off” essays? Without the correct training, how would any professor or staff member know how to report something so serious?

In the process of coming up with new security measures around campus, public safety should make an emergency lockdown procedure. After 9/11 happened, all schools went through the specific details that would occur if another situation such as 9/11 would happen. Cabrini should have a plan, written out and practiced by all students so they know what would happen in case of an emergency.

While college officials are focusing on an emergency crisis plan, students can play a part in preventing violence on their campus. It’s more than just having a plan, it comes down to everyday interactions between students, friends and faculty; saying hello to someone as you pass them by, paying attention to friends personal lives and making sure they okay can make a safer campus; negative interactions between students can result in adverse reactions.

There are no guarantees to your personal safety, so people need to be smart and make the right decisions.

William H. Ewing, Esq., member of the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, gave a lecture on student privacy rights at Holy Spirit Library on Sept. 28.

Ewing’s open discussion was based on the laws representing the USA Patriot Act of 2001, passed shortly after the attacks on 9/11.

This act entitles that the FBI can issue security records and obtain the records of anyone they deem as a suspect of any crime. By using this act, the authorities can enter a library and obtain any information they wish to have.

“The FBI has an unfair advan- tage,” Natalie Candido, junior marketing major, said. “With this type of power they can look at anyone’s records, whether they are accused of a crime or not. Where is the privacy in that?”

Three topics were the basis of his overall speech: privacy of records, book banning and 21st century parallel sensory of the internet.

By using previous news stories, Board of Education vs. Pico (1982) and four librarians from Conneticut vs. state (2006) as his examples of the three topics, Ewing said it is important to keep a student’s records private.

In these cases ordinary citizens fought authorities to ensure the privacy of individuals was kept. Ewing asked the audience for their opinions about individual and student privacy.

Ewing stated that in the case of an FBI agent asking to obtain information for a suspects record, the librarian in charge is the only person notified and is not allowed to share any of the information with anyone.

Ewing questioned if the authorities rights to obtain any information is righteous. Ewing believed that only if a person was a primal suspect should their information be disposed.

“It seems fair to me,” Kristie Dafnis, junior business major, said. “If someone is accused of a crime, I would want the authorities to be able to obtain any information they need.”

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