By Amberly Holden
The MTSU Student Government Association passed a resolution to add video surveillance to parking lots by the library, Scarlett Commons and Womack Lane in this week’s formal Senate meeting by a nearly unanimous voice vote. This seems like yet another addition to the new culture of being watched all the time. It’s important that you make sure you’re aware of the consequences of this for example by visiting websafetyadvice.com to learn about internet surveillance.
The bill, as initially presented by Sen. Austin Wood in last week’s caucus, suggested that every lot on campus be equipped with surveillance cameras.
He revised the bill based on several senators’ complaints that this was too drastic and expensive a measure.
He said he chose the three lots with the highest incidence of crime based on his own research of MTSU police reports.
While these changes were never actually incorporated into the writing of the amendments, these specific details allowed Senator Woods and the rest of the Senate to reach an agreement on the proposition.
Sen. Dylan Bogle, who works as a dispatcher with campus police, was the sole opposer to the resolution.
“I voted ‘no’ for this resolution simply because the sponsor failed to identify specific areas in the parking lots he deemed to be most effective,” Bogle said. He praised Wood’s research efforts, but also wondered if video surveillance was an effective deterrent to crime.
“The resolution also failed to list a specific number of cameras that it would take to accomplish the coverage the sponsor desired,” he said. “Had those two points been addressed I would have been in support of the resolution.”
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I personally think the thought of implementing video cameras is a very great idea that could easily be an option for helping to better protect the students being the most affected on campus. With all the incidents happening across campus, I have heard a lot of my friends talk about how they feel as though they are not as safe as the previous years they had been at MTSU. Even though we have police cars patrolling the campus throughout the night, there seems to be alerts still popping up on all of our phones. Robberies, sexual battery, and assault cases could really start to diminish in number if these cameras were put in the right place. Sen. Dylan Bogle has a good point that the presenters of this idea could be more specific about where the cameras should be put, but that really isn’t a big deal. The actual idea that SGA has should be enough to be able to support. SGA represents the students at MTSU and obviously it is clear that there is a problem that needs to be solved in a new way because the old ways are not cutting it for us. If enough students really pressed for the idea, I believe we could raise enough money to put cameras in all of the parking lots. I hope this issue is resolved soon because it is affecting the lives of everyone who is living on campus.