UA passes second resolution calling for better security

The body supported a Public Safety proposal that would require students to wear ID badges in buildings open at night. In response to last week's attack on a female sophomore inside a basement bathroom of Steinberg-Dietrich Hall, the Undergraduate Assembly passed a second resolution on the matter on Sunday, calling for the Penn administration to take several specific steps to improve safety on campus. The resolution, sent to administrators last night, includes a vote of support for a Division of Public Safety proposal to require students to wear ID badges in campus buildings at night. After a three-hour meeting filled largely with debate over technicalities such as how students should have to display their badges, the second resolution of the body's 1998-99 term passed unanimously. It is a "pledge to the student body that we will not let the administration get complacent about safety issues," Undergraduate Assembly Chairperson Bill Conway said. University officials could not be immediately reached for comment. "Comprehensive Safety Resolution: Am I a Target?" called for the University to install additional lights in dark campus locations, expand the current Penn Shuttle van system, install PennCard readers in every campus building, keep the new Eat at Joe's diner open until 3 a.m. every day, consolidate the buildings used for night classes, keep the first floor of Van Pelt Library open 24 hours and allow access after midnight to residence-hall study lounges with a valid PennCard even if students don't live there. By far the most highly debated issue was a Division of Public Safety proposal to require students to wear Penn ID badges in buildings after 10 p.m. Conway said Public Safety proposed this in a meeting with UA members last week. The body ultimately voted to support this plan. The November 8 assault -- for which a 17-year-old boy has been charged with attempted murder for allegedly coming at the woman with a 10-inch kitchen knife -- prompted a first resolution which was critical of Public Safety and focused specifically on building security, stating that "the response time from when the victim pressed the alarm was unacceptable." According to several friends of the victim, even though the front entrance of the main Wharton School building was guarded by a SpectaGuard security guard, the first panic alarm pressed by the victim did not work and security guards did not respond immediately, forcing the victim to seek police aid herself. But on Friday, College sophomore Brett Dunn, who witnessed the victim running from the bathroom after the attack, gave a different account of what happened. "Almost immediately a security guard came running down the stairs," Dunn told The Daily Pennsylvanian. "I don't see how anyone could have responded faster." The first UA resolution was written prior to the publication yesterday of Dunn's comments and took only the accounts of the victim's friends into consideration. "Perhaps that part of our first resolution is not correct anymore and we will rescind that part of the Building Safety Resolution," Conway said. Conway went on to explain that although the response time may have been fast, it was not fast enough to immediately catch the assailant. He added that "in the grand scheme of things," safety must be improved. "Our second resolution moves away from the actual incident and is an attempt to address comprehensive safety on campus," the Wharton junior said. "Obviously there is room for improvement, or this attack would have never occurred."

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