Security cameras installed in residence halls, MSA leaders pushing for more
More cameras will be installed as funding becomes available.
Published Sept. 5, 2008
The bottom floor of the newly remodeled McDavid residence hall is bustling with activity. In the corner, freshman Cesar Marquez plays the gentle chords of a new song on the grand piano as a variety of people watch. But the students aren't the only ones watching Marquez; several security cameras are as well.
Residential Life Director Frankie Minor said the cameras were installed in any hall that has been newly renovated.
"Our hope is that they would have some sort of preventative action so that students or others would know that we have cameras in place so that they won't do something inappropriate," he said.
Marquez said he was indifferent to the camera's existence.
"As long as they're not in the rooms or in the showers," he said.
Senior Emily Duffin, who lives in Responsibility Hall, said the technology can also prevent vandalism.
"Last year some guy was hanging on all of the exit signs and we were forced to pay for it," she said. "If they can catch the culprit, then they can pay."
Minor said the plan is to eventually put cameras in all residence halls on campus. As new buildings are constructed or old buildings are renovated, security cameras are installed.
The cameras are located primarily on building entrances, lobbies or in public places on the ground floor of halls.
"When we spoke with students, they were overwhelmingly in support of it," he said. "We told them we would provide respect for privacy in main residential areas and upstairs."
Minor said another possible future location would be elevators. He said funding only allowed the project to be finished in 2018 with the rest of the Residential Life Master Plan.
But Missouri Students Association Vice President Chelsea Johnson, Department of Student Services Director Jordan Paul and President Jim Kelley all want to speed up the timeline.
Kelley and Johnson included security cameras in their platform last year, and Johnson said they are trying to follow through on that promise.
"Right now, we are meeting with Frankie Minor to try and find funding sources," Johnson said. "A dorm costs about $20,000 to wire with cameras and we're trying to target six."
Johnson said additional funding wouldn't be available until November.
The whole process might be easier than expected. Minor said there is a good possibility the Department of Residential Life will match any funds MSA acquires toward the $120,000 goal.
The cause is a personal one for Johnson, whose room was ransacked during her freshman year. Johnson said she is confident the culprit would have been caught if cameras were installed.
Freshman David Hollander lives in Stafford Hall, which has yet to have cameras installed. He said he is hesitant to accept them, regardless of the supposed benefits.
"We do harmless stuff in our halls that we're technically not supposed to do."
