EMU: Manager says theft, vandalism are problems
■ Continued from Page 1
said he worries about the safety
of students and staff who remain
in the building after hours.
Although the EMU officially
closes at midnight, student
groups such as KWVA campus
radio and the Oregon Daily Emer
ald continue working in the
building after hours every night.
Other groups frequently request
permission to work on special
projects in their offices after mid
night.
Miller said the ability for stu
dents to use the building after
hours is one of the things that
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makes the EMU unique. “It’s rare
to have a student union that al
lows access to students after
hours,” he said. “It’s also rare to
have student offices open at the
desire of the occupants.”
However, while he considers
the EMU’s accessibility an asset,
Miller is concerned about the
safety risks. Late at night when
the building is mostly empty,
staff and students who stay late
are at risk from people who may
be hiding in the building, such as
the couple arrested by OPS.
Because the EMU is open to
the public all day, anyone can
enter the building. Students of all
ages as well as professors and
staff members use the building,
so it is impossible to distinguish
between people who need to be
there and people who are there to
sleep or hide out.
“This is a large public build
ing, and many people feel very
comfortable being here,” Miller
said. “We’re an ideal target. It’s
easy to look normal in this build
ing.”
Winitzky agreed. “It’s not a
tough building to get into. There
are so many places for people to
hide, where they can duck in and
hang out and wait for the build
ing to close.”
Another part of the safety prob
lem is that so many keys to the
building are given out that it is
difficult to keep track of them all.
Because there is no established
method of ensuring the return of
these keys, some of them, which
date as far back as the 1970s,
have been declared lost and may
still access some doors. There is
no way to know who may now
be in possession of these keys.
In addition, the building’s 78
exterior doors are frequently left
propped open with newspaper or
tape over the locks, and some
times they are merely overlooked
when the building is being
closed for the evening. For in
stance, on May 1, the loading
dock door and a kitchen door in
the Skylight were found un
locked by custodians, Miller
said.
“If someone leaves the build
ing and doesn't close a door
properly, everyone in the build
ing is at risk,” he added.
Kraiman, who is often in the
building during late hours, said
he continually finds people who
shouldn't be there who say they
have gotten in through an un
locked or propped-open door.
Although he has never felt per
sonally threatened by those peo
ple, he is concerned about the
students on his staff who work
late hours. “1 don’t like the idea
of them being subjected to that,”
he said.
OPS has been quick to respond
to problems in the EMU,
Winitzky emphasized. When
they receive a call, “their turn
around time is minutes.” Howev
er, because the graveyard crew
responds to calls all over cam
pus, they may not always be im
mediately available.
Students as well as staff mem
bers have noticed safety prob
lems in the EMU.
“Students have complained
that they’re scared, and they
wouldn’t use places [in the EMU]
because they felt [those places]
had become a habitat for non-stu
dents,” Miller said. Some of the
areas mentioned were the Inter
national Lounge, the Taylor
Lounge, the second-floor lobby
and the Skylight.
Former ASUO President Bill
Miner said he, too, is concerned
with the safety of students who
stay late in the EMU.
“As a man, I feel pretty safe.
But I have a lot of female staff
members, especially people who
stay after dark, and I don’t feel
safe for them,” he said. “I know
that in the past we’ve had some
incidences of female students be
ing harassed in the EMU at
night.” Miner added that he is
not aware of any harassment tak
ing place this school year.
At KWVA, DJs who work at
night are instructed to take cer
tain safety measures, said hip
hop director Eugene Chism. “We
always keep the door locked,” he
explained. “We’re not supposed
to let anyone in, and we can’t
prop the door open.”
Chism said while he has never
felt physically unsafe, he has re
ceived threatening phone calls
and has seen people “snooping
around" the EMU.
Thus far, no one has ever been
attacked and physically injured
in the EMU that Miller is aware
of, he said. However, theft has
been a security problem in the
building. Miller estimates that
within the past 12 months, a big
screen television was stolen from
the recreation center, four or five
computers were taken from stu
dent offices and several back
packs and video cameras have
disappeared from various areas.
Winitzky also mentioned that
he has seen an increasing amount
of graffiti and property deface
ment, especially in bathrooms
and stairwells.
“Six or seven years ago, I spent
several hundred dollars a year on
graffiti removal and property
damage," he said. “Last year I
spent about $6,000.” The money
comes directly out of the EMU fa
cilities budget, he added.
Although the EMU board is
looking at ways to increase the
building’s security, such as a new
key system, these measures are
expensive and could be a long
way off, Miller said. In the mean
time, students can help reduce
theft and safety problems in the
EMU by merely being aware of
their surroundings.
Students who stay late shouH
remain in their office as much as
possible, should never walk
around the building alone and
should always keep their office
door locked, he said. And ir the
see anything out of the ordinary,
they shouldn’t hesitate to report
it.
“Good awareness has averteu
potential problems in the oast
Winitzky said. “We need ail the
eyes and ee ■ ve ca , get ’
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Plan: Implement may
take several years
■ Continued from Page 1
our faculty and staff, but also on
resources,” according to the pro
posal.
Georgeanne Cooper, a member
of one solution teams, said the
project was and will continue to
be beneficial for many.
“The whole process was fun,”
she said. “It enabled parts of the
University and community to
come together for solutions. This
needs to continue through imple
mentation and beyond.”
The goals created in the
Process for Change project are
not necessarily new. The Univer
sity’s mission statement says the
“University is a community of
scholars dedicated to the highest
standards of academic inquiry,
learning and service.”
It also describes the Universi
ty’s commitment to undergradu
ate education, with the “goal of
helping the individual learn to
question critically, think logical
ly, communicate clearly, act cre
atively and live ethically, anu
the University’s commitment to
graduate education to "develop
creators and innovators who will
generate new knowledge an,t
shape experience for the benefit
of the community.”
The Process for Change project
accompanies the Governors
Task Force on Higher Education
and the Economy, which has
“recommended significant
changes in both the governance
and the finance of higher educa
tion to make it better able to re
spond to the needs of studen's
and the state.”
For more information on
Process for Change, visit the Uni
versity’s Web site at www.uore
gon.edu.
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