Damn The Drag

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     On April 14, 2016 Terri Langford posted “Slaying Fuels Parent Demands to Make UT, Drag Safer” on The Texas Tribune. Langford writes about how over the years the popular “Drag Strip”, located on Guadalupe Street, has become infested with homeless individuals.

After the murder of UT freshman Haruka Weiser many parents are concerned of the growing homeless population that hang around the downtown Austin area. Many of them are sending emails and creating Facebook page, to the university, expressing their ideas on what should be done. Although the university has not responded directly to these concerns, one parent suggests there should be more bicycle officers, better lighting, which will inevitably push away people from sleeping/loitering. There are also online petitions that have about 624 signatures that aim to remove the homeless off Guadalupe Street.

David Cater who is the Chief of the UT Police Dept. has only 80 officers over the 434 acre campus. The University of Texas at Austin is worth million so why can they only afford 1 officer per every 5-6 acres. Carter also says that "You can't rely on the police to solve the problems of the homeless.”

I completely understand that we cannot rely on the police to solve the homeless crisis in Austin. How would the parents of Haruka Weiser feel if they were told the same thing? I can safely assume that most people feel a police officers job is to protect the people. If there is a situation where the welfare of students are being threaten the police should take immediate action and responses. There are over 40k students at UT, that’s also over 40K parents; The University should listen to all the brilliant ideas parents are expressing to them and hopefully they can create a long lasting solution to protect the students and people of Austin.

Reply to: Mun's "students in UT are not carrying the gun to study"

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        When I came across Hansol Muns blog called "students in UT are not carrying the gun to study" I began to wonder whether carrying guns on campus are a good or bad thing. Muns claims that fellow students perhaps may feel “quietly threaten” with the new open carry laws, which I completely agree. How will students feel knowing that someone might be carrying a gun? Like Mun mentioned we don’t really know how mentally stable a person is or if we can fully trust someone with this type of lethal power. The only small note I would make about Muns blog would be to add in reasons why other people think open carry on campuses is a good idea, how they view the idea, and what campus could propose.  Perhaps Campuses should have some type of mental evaluation that allows a mentally stable person to carry a weapon on a campus. Overall I definitely agree with Mun and some of the views listed, although I would also love hear the opposing side as well. 

Texas Universities Dont Care About Your Children

Universities across the US pull in millions of dollars every year from, donations, sports, charities, but especially from their students’ tuition. A university is worth millions, so you would think they would at least invest more money into protecting those very same people who fund the school. One can almost claim that many Texas universities are dis concerned in the well being of their students, and perhaps only their money.

When Sharon Grisby wrote an article posted on the Dallas News about Baylor University and their sexual assault investigation, lead by Pepper Hamilton law firm, the University then began making small changes on how to handle such incidences. For example, Baylor University’s Police Dept. began bumping up their staff Thursday- Saturday.

            Recently, an article was posted on The Texas Tribune, by Watkins and Mekelburg, called “UT Steps Up Security After Body of Student Found on Campus”.

My question is why are these Texas university waiting until after the worst happens? Shouldn’t these school already have sometype of prevention courses, videos, seminars?  

UT should have already have over staffed security spread out all over the campus, this could have possibly saved the young students life.

What about the many public sexual assault incidences that occur at universities? Perhaps if those campuses were over staffed, they could have prevented a person from getting assaulted.

Texas Colleges should not wait until the last minute on how to handle crimes. Maybe requiring a student to take a course on what to do if they were in any situation.

Maybe these type of prevention seminars(etc) will one day save your daughter’s or son’s life.
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