Opinion: We Are Union!

By Benjamin Engle

"You are Union." Those are the simple words that are plastered on the light posts when you enter the main entrance of Union College.

Union cares about its students. It is a fact that the college gives its students a wide variety of opportunities to take leadership roles on campus, direct the future of the College, as well as create the culture of the campus. We see this through the numerous committees on campus, the unique Minerva House Program, and clubs that are consistently active from one academic year to the other.

But sometimes, certain actions and policies make me scratch my head. One of those policies was brought to my attention on the evening of Thursday, April 16th.

While eating dinner and playing trivia at a local restaurant and pub, one of my friends got a text message from a friend on campus that a shooting had occurred just off campus. We have all heard and read about the horror stories at other schools (Virginia Tech is a prominent one) and in today's age, the seven of us were interested in the details and were worried that it concerned a Union student.

While we soon learned that it did not involve any Union students, we decided to call Campus Safety because we had walked to the restaurant and needed to know whether we were safe walking back. We felt confident that Campus Safety would be of assistance in getting us back to Union because of the shooting that had taken place. However, it seems that we shouldn't have called Campus Safety because they told us that they were not going to give us a ride back to school and that they don't pick up from bars.

While they said the situation was under control, I still couldn't believe that Campus Safety did not offer any safe way to return to campus. Sure, we were a group of seven walking back to campus together, but that did not make up for the fact that we were walking in the streets of Schenectady (which really isn't a bad city and too often receives an unfair reputation from Union students) after a shooting.

However, the fact that Campus Safety wouldn't help us, especially because we were at a restaurant and pub is shocking. If that is a real policy (I couldn't find it on their website), then it is a very discouraging one.

We felt that we were being responsible by calling them. I won't say that they were judging us because we were calling from an establishment that serves alcohol, but we were not drinking. We were doing what Union suggests: explore your community, interact with Schenectady, and enjoy your friends.

On the Union College Campus Safety Website, it states, "Campus safety and security is a shared responsibility. There are many things that you can do to make the campus community safer. No campus safety department can function effectively without the concerted assistance of the community it serves. If you are careful, your time at Union will be safer." We did our part by calling, but where was Campus Safety?

After Campus Safety told us that they couldn't help us, we decided to walk back to school, albeit in a more vigilant fashion. It was impossible to walk back and feel safe doing so. Luckily, as we were walking back to Campus, we noticed a Campus Trolley stopped at a stoplight. Once we got his attention, the driver pulled over and did not ask any questions-he simply drove us back to campus. There wasn't a "T" sign anywhere near where we were and the driver did not have to stop. I regret not getting the driver's name, but thank you sir for stopping.

I am not sure why Campus Safety couldn't have directed the trolley in our direction if they were already out. Maybe that would have been too simple.

Sure, Campus Safety sometimes gets an unfair reputation from Union students, but that night I felt like Campus Safety was really letting me down.

Why can't we work together? We are all Union. Let's act like it.

Originally published in Union's Concordy on 4/23/09