Students address law library safety

Should they stay — or stay away?

That was the question Thursday inside the Kathrine R. Everett Law Library, where 70 law students and alumni gathered to propose safety measures that would prevent further instances of trespassing.

The meeting, hosted by the Student Bar Association, came in response to a Feb. 3 incident in which the Department of Public Safety received an anonymous call concerning harassment in the law library.

Upon investigating, police found the man in question to have several outstanding warrants and arrested and detained him.

An official contacted the DPS again on Feb. 4 when two men picked through the law school’s refrigerator. Police issued the men warnings prohibiting them from being on the campus for two years.

Lace Wayman, second-year class president and leader of the forum, said the meeting’s goal was to assess students’ opinions about safety and public access to the building.

Students said the law school could require users to present a OneCard to enter or remain after midnight, as the Undergraduate Library does.

Others suggested a building sign-in or buzzer system.

Students also proposed a fixed schedule bus system in place of the continually running shuttle that currently transports a small number of riders at a time.

But students also bore in mind that some measures could cause class-based prejudices against homeless or poor people who use the library.

“When I started hearing that some people wanted to close off the library to the non-law students or specifically homeless people, to me that seemed like overreactions,” said Joe Polich, a second-year law student who attended the forum,

Brandi Jones, a third-year law student, said she thinks students should make a distinction between feeling unsafe and feeling uncomfortable around outsiders — especially those who look poor.

“I just am worried that the mere presence of non-law students is going to become punishable in some way,” she said.

Wayman said the issue was not with homeless people, but rather with people using the library in illegitimate ways.

She said she doesn’t want the issue to turn into a conversation about socioeconomic concerns because the real concern is safety.

Randy Young, DPS spokesman, said campus police only responds to complaints or suspicious behavior.

“We don’t single out anybody,” he said.

Young said the last few weeks are not an accurate representation of the number of incidents on campus.

“It’s very short term,” he said, adding that no place on campus is immune from crime.

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