The Stetson Reporter

UJ < a life | Production for 'Scream 3'-one of a few movies you can look forward to in the new year-is already underway. Wes Craven wants his audience to find out who's left in Sidney's life to kill her and the few remaining friends she has. The trilogy closer has been dubbed 'Stab 3' by creators and will be released Feb. 4 of the new year. [ cover, section B ] dec-99 issue 12 volume 112 P.«©PF;E#, it* tudents who prop doors are g selfish and not considering others'Safety, Anything can anyone can walmn. Students finding new vmyi to keep doors unlocked by julie. gowan | All of us have done it. We had to run to the Commons for just a minute, or to the post office, or we wanted vto make it easy to let a; friend into our hall. It doesn't cross our minds who we're really inviting into the building. . i. "Propped doors are,a.Hazard on the campus," said Michelle Espinosa, director ofResi- dential Life; "Students don!t realize the dangers of.what mi*^t happerito them, . Q or the rest ofthe residence halU-this is. O indeed a safety problem." '*■' "'.'_ O "Safety on this campus has ro.om 5 for improvement, I think," said Jim * Lockwood, director of Public Safety, u "The experience I have seen so far is an, O awful lotpfpropping [of] doors. Unfof-" * J tunately not everyone knows the severity of ttiuat." Lockwood accepted the position of director ofPublic Safety early in the semester and safety is one of his top priorities. "We doif't need an incident to happen here,like at Rollins or the University of Florida," said Lockwood. "However, students need - to realize that propped doors can invite such trouble and crimej and we're not immune to crime. We've been very fortunate, but I'd rather not rely on luck." Last year at Rollins College, a door was left unpropped to a residence hall. A trespasser entered the building and a student was murdered. "Students who prop doors are being selfish and not considering others' safety. Anything can happen, anyone can walk in. We need to be thankful that this has not happened here, but it could," said Espinosa., "If you're propping a door for a friend that you're expecting, God only knows who's actually going to show up—it's not only your safety, it's the safety of everyone else in the hall," said Lockwood. In order to crack down on propped doors, all Residential Life staff have been instructed to unprop doors and put signs up discouraging students from propping, but door propping still tends to happen, according to Espinosa.. "Officers.are required to check all exterior doors on the residence buildings and are told to unprop them," said Lockwood. On numerous occasions officers have encountered this' throughout the semester. Students have propped'door #11 at Emily Hall with various bottles and trash-cans. During the past three weeks, officers have found the catch mechanism for the door removed.; • Students supposedly removed the top screw from the catch and slid the mechanism downward to prevent the lock from connecting. From an outward appearance in both instances, the door appears secure when it is not. Door #11 faces WopdlatulBlvd. at the extreme north end of the building;' "It is' situated in such a way that an unwanted person could quickly enter the building without detection," said Lockwood. "TheBipjil'^Hal.li staff did meet with residents and warnel^tiSettv'o^tfif dSige-rs'and the,door was fixed, howev^students; still <io prop .this door as.. well as other doors in the other residence halls as well," said Espiridsa!" "~x" Working ih conjunction with Public Safety, Resi-' - dential Life is looking at focusing on this topic during Spring training when RAs return to campus ih early January. "We're looking at possibly bringing , hi a speaker from UF to discuss such safety prob-.': lems as propped doors. UF had a problem withV.'- trespasser entering the residence buildings as well. „ Maybe this will hit home to students," said Espinosa. ?: "We need to emphasize the safety and security, issues with residents/' said Lockwood. "If we can .• get the impact speaker to come arid speak', about the tragedy at UF, I hope studentsr •= ^ would thihktwice aboutpropping doors.-1 v Unfortunately we don't always learn from someone else's mistakes, "and if you can make strides in that direction without suffering a loss like they did it would certainly be in our best interest.". With the campus being in the center of DeLand, and two major roads crossing the campus, Espinosa feels that students have not taken security and safety seriously. "Students shouldn't be walking alone at night, they know they- can call Public Safety for an escort; or'they * should call whoever they're going to tell them that they're on their way," said Espinosa. "Students have been lulled into a sense of se-- curity. They believe that since DeLand is small nbhe-- of the tragedies that other schools have experienced" won't happen here, but it could happen," said;' Lockwood. ., •>"';r-'!;i Due to two doors being propped constantly at • Chaudoin Hall, Espinosa said the two doors facing- the CUB would be formatted for key. accessibility next semester to cut down on.the propping//r<£ " "We did this with doors at Stetson Hall and .now"those doors are hardly propped, we.hope the .same ."will happen when we institute.this,IVsaid -Espinosa. -x"' .•*•:>;'•:, x X Julie Gowan is the News editqr.ofThs Reporter. 'l^S^MMM^W^^^SSr Public Safety and Residential Life work together to provide security and awareness of safety-related issues. The exterior doors of the residence buildings are locked 24 hours a day. Student staff and residents are encouraged to challenge the presence of unauthorized guests in the halls. The ongoing inspection and maintenance of locks, doors, windows, lighting, and alrams are coordinated by Public Safety and Facilities Management. Last year, the university reported reported only one aggravated assault, six burglaries and one motor vehicle theft. FROM PUBLIC SAFETY BROCHURE, 1999-2000 PHOTO ART BY VALERIE FUTCH AND BRIAN CAMPBELL -■ '■:'" "pfiPV,. - -';::-.' J* \\<r I SAW THE SIGN: The DeLand Police Department suspected that Stetson students might have stolen a sign similar to this one. photo by paul davis Students suspected in theft of city's sign by kristina jones | Students were targeted as suspects when one of the "Welcome to DeLand" signs was found to be missing a few weeks ago. The 5-by-7-foot sandblasted wooden sign, located on East 44 (New York Avenue), was reported missing by city employees on Nov. 17th and they claimed it had been stolen sometime between after Veterans' Day. This report started the wild goose chase that led to a search into nearby woods and, along the way, to the university. The DeLand Police Department contacted Jim Lockwood, head ofPublic Safety, in an effort to "cover all their bases" since the police thought that the sign might have been stolen as a "trophy" of sorts. They believed that the sign could have been in one ofthe dorm rooms or fraternity/sorority houses on campus. According to Lockwood, they just wanted to make campus authorities aware of the situation. Lockwood sent a letter out to the Department of Residential Life which, in turn, passed it along to the resident assistants. Basically, Lockwood asked the resident assistants to keep on the lookout for the sign, saying that the city would not press charges if it was recovered in the next two days. However, if the search for the nameplate was not successful, the police promised an intense search effort with the intention of pressing criminal charges. By the time Lockwood's e.mail had been sent to the resident assistants—on Nov. 22nd—the sign had already been recovered. It turns out that the sign was just being restored. The restoration of the sign was part of a city project of which the police should have been await. Mike Orr, owner of Orr's Signs in DeLand, had taken the sign as part ofthe process of cleaning all five ofthe city's nameplates. Orr said that he was left chuckling at the whole situation, stating to The Daytona Beach News Journal that "I thought everyone knew I was doing the job." According to Orr, when he reported back to Bo Davenport, the city's public works director, about the status ofthe signs, the mix-up was resolved. Davenport had gone so far as to send a city's superintendent of urban beautification into the woods to find the sign and when he found out that Orr had it the whole time. Orr said that Davenport looked at him and said "Oh. You've got that!" The University funded the $565 restoration because Orr added "Home of Stetson University" to the greeting. When it was "stolen" the new logo was not even there. Lockwood thinks that "the reason they even contacted us is because it says 'Home of Stetson University' on it." Lockwood said that he was a little hesitant to make this observation, since students might now get the idea for such a prank. Kristina Jones is the business manager of The Reporter. r World AIDS Day gives students reality check by BRIAN Campbell | Activities led by Circle K were presented in recognition of World AIDS Day this past Wednesday. Those lost to the AIDS virus and those still suffering with HIV were acknowledged through the distribution of red ribbons outside the CUB, the distribution of various posters and pamphlets, and a special Prayer Vigil held Wednesday evening outside the Hulley Tower. While according to Amy Charpentier, one ofthe head coordinators and President of Circle K, everything generally went positively, there were some aspects of controversy. Posters were distributed around campus earlier that stated that according to related surveys, "It is estimated that 12 people on campus have AIDS or HIV." „ „~_____ [ read this story in News, page 2a ] Koplitz draws crowd CAUGHT: Lynne Koplitz poked a little bit of fun at the audience. The fraternity members in the corner were her favorites to embarass during the show, photo by julie gowan [ read this story in Life, page 1 b ] International players defeat students 5-1 ;BY andrea maginot | Last Thursday night cheers f of all languages were shouted across Hollis Field. In an event sponsored by the International Student Organization, a group of American students were invited to take on an international team of . students in a 'The World v. the U.S. soccer game. . The World proved soccer is not an American .sport, beating the U.S. 5-1. The game was held in order to foster a camaraderie between the international students and the American students. From the first kick the International students dominated the game. [ read this story in Sports, page 4b ]