Column: Remember to be safe, smart and not stupid

 Well another year has come and gone. Spring marks the mass return of most juniors who were abroad, the propping up of tents in K-Ville and quite a few seniors wondering what the heck they are going to do after May. I'm sure most had a good break and quickly forgot mostly all they learned first semester. However, a few things that happened last semester should be remembered and not forgotten. Towards the end of school last semester, the issue of student safety was becoming a hot-button topic for a lot of people (remember?) and hopefully it will remain so. This is something that should not be forgotten because of a long absence from school. This is not something that should be forgotten with the graduation and matriculation of new students. Anyone who enrolls at this school should always remember while we may feel isolated from the real world we are still very close to it.

 I had always heard about how Duke can be dangerous at times. My good friend's dad, a law school graduate, entertained me with his own story's of muggings and dangerous situations he encountered when he was at Duke. Every college guide I read during the application process gave mention to the poor relations between the school and the town. I really didn't care about any of that stuff and did not pay heed to it. Duke was the best school I got into and I signed my letter of intent and packed my bags for Durham the next fall. Over freshman year I heard the sketchy stories where a friend had a friend who had a friend who was held up off-east. The only problems I ever had were people wanting money outside of Cosmic, so my freshman year was spent safely without any dangerous situations whatsoever.

 With recent events in November and December, security was on a lot of people's minds and the school was quick to put in place new security measures to make everyone's parents feel safer about their children.

 It's sad it isn't one incident but several incidents occurring quickly that raise eyebrows. Of course these things all occur in cycles. Security isn't a new issue at Duke and it certainly won't go away with the increased security patrols. Security was a huge issue when a gunman held people hostage in President Keohane's office not too long ago. Also a few year's ago Duke was accused by a non-profit security organization of misclassifying assault incidents. They filed a complaint with the Department of Education who agreed with the complaint.

 Odds are, the DUPD will up the number of police officers walking around on campus and the issue of security will blow over to a whimper faster than you can say Viva Mexico. Short of taking the 2 billion dollar Campaign for Duke money and constructing a massive domed structure over all campus with police at the entrance and exits, students will never be 100 percent safe (unless we want to really do this dome thing but it would create Cameron Indoor Indoor Stadium and that's just silly). We cannot allow ourselves to forget about something that is more important than our GPAs or our social lives.We cannot let this thing die out after a few weeks go by without an incident.

 But let's try not to act naïve and in shock when these things happen. Some are acting like this is a new problem. This has always been a huge problem and it seems each time we show little endurance in staying the course and rely on old solutions. A three-foot stone wall isn't going to make us safer. Increased patrols will help, but it won't completely solve the problem. Perhaps we should go ahead with video surveillance, which was considered in some form last year.

 There is no easy solution to the problem of violence on campus and every university be it NYU in the largest city in the country or Dartmouth in Coldsville, New Hampshire struggles with it constantly. What's best is common sense. Be aware of suspicious looking people and be careful walking around at three in the morning coming from off campus (if all else fails, just do what we did in kindergarten and use the buddy system as lame as it sounds). We can try turning our schools into places where cops roam at will or try keeping constant monitoring of keeping students on campus, but no perfect Utopia school can be created. What needs to be done is for all students to remain constantly vigil and always demand the best from the administration especially is places that should always be guaranteed to be safe. And especially, everyone above all shouldn't let the matter be dropped.

 Jonathan Pattillo is a Trinity sophopmore. His column appears every third Friday.