STAFF EDITORIAL

For over half a century, students and faculty have taken advantage of the open nature of Oakland University. We’re accustomed to walking down the hallways of any building and visiting professors in their offices.

But since the first week of July, there’s one hallway in Wilson Hall that is off limits, blocked off by an electronically locked glass door. It’s the hallway that holds the offices of OU’s president, senior vice president and provost, general counsel, diversity and compliance officer, and vice president for finance and administration.

To gain admittance, you have to swipe an OU Spirit Card and punch in the correct password on the electronic keypad, or press a buzzer and ask to be let in. Prospective visitors, watched through a closed circuit television camera, are asked if they have an appointment. According to the news website insidehighered.com, OU spokesperson Michelle Moser said that there is no policy in place that denies admission to those without appointments and that staff members are asked to “use their own discretion in admitting unscheduled visitors,” but would not give any more details about the admittance process for safety reasons.

OUPD told The Oakland Post there were two “very significant” threats a few years ago that “targeted named executives that work in Wilson Hall,” but at the time the decision for this security upgrade was made, there was no imminent threat. OUPD also said that these upgrades are unrelated to the threatening graffiti messages that prompted the shutdown of the school for two days in April.

OUPD Chief Sam Lucido said the security measures in Wilson Hall were undertaken as part of a broader campaign to increase safety on campus, a campaign that includes the text message/voice alert notification system, OUPD’s new ability to receive text messages, and limiting access to the residence floors in the student dorms by electronic card reader access.

If increasing the safety was the reasoning and the threats directed specifically toward these executives in Wilson Hall were imminent, these measures would not be objectionable.

However, since the threats are no longer imminent, it begs the question: Why now? Why at all?

Every day that we come to this university and participate in this open society, we put ourselves at risk no matter who we are: student, faculty or a top administrative executive. It’s a risk that we all willingly take because we have a lot to gain from it, both academically and socially.

Whatever the purpose was for installing these security upgrades, it creates a climate of fear for the student body. Despite positive messages from OUPD and others to the contrary, the inadvertent message received by many is simple: We as members of the OU community are not as safe as we think.

Most likely, the OU community will get used to this somewhat cumbersome process if they want to be permitted to see the top OU administrators. Just as we’ve gotten used to other inconveniences in the name of security, we’ll get used to this one as well. Besides, for a big part of the OU community, access to these administrators was limited even before the newest security upgrades.

Whether or not this security upgrade was justified, it’s too late to change it. It’s done. The money spent cannot be unspent and this hallway security system will limit who gets to visit the offices of OU’s top administrators.

However, events like this can serve as a cautionary tale and give us a glimpse of what the future may hold. If we do not pause and ponder about the ramifications of this particular event, we may not be able to stop similar but more worrisome events from taking place.

Once a wheel is set in motion, it’s hard sometimes to stop the momentum.