2008 Woodie Awards
University joins local police to ensure safety on 'Shark Night'
Krystel Pakitsos
Issue date: 7/24/08 Section: Front Page
Smith thinks that the major issue with the event getting out of control had to do with a lack of a strong presence of law enforcement and other authorities.
We had no anticipation of that kind of scenario developing, because historically it had not," Smith said. "Out of the surprise, they weren't prepared to have a presence. We recognize that that presence would have gone a long ways to prevent much of what happened."
Howard Smith, legislative liaison and professor, has also been taking an active role in eliminating the chance of a dangerous situation.
"Unfortunately, there were students who did act appropriately, and weren't out of control," Smith said. "When you get a group that takes advantage of that and then abuses the system, it causes you to have to tighten up. Quite frankly, safety is a huge issue for us and we really do take that seriously. So the visibility, the presence, the early intervention - we are going to have to do that because we want people to know that we do have a safe campus."
With "Shark Night" taking place during the weekend before school starts, many freshmen will be attending the event. Smith says he hopes they will make safe decisions during one of their first college experiences.
"One of the biggest things about being a freshman at Pitt State is learning to make good choices. And this is a perfect evening to start that practice of making good choices," Smith said. "Pitt State prides itself on the living, learning community and we recognize that students are going to live and we encourage that. But that's within boundaries and using good judgment."
PSU students making good decisions, Erwin said, isn't what worries him. At last year's "Shark Night" many of the conflicts began with people who weren't PSU students crashing the parties.
"One of the key issues there was that really escalated was the strong presence of non-PSU people present," Erwin said. "For some reason there had been a large influx later in the night."
We had no anticipation of that kind of scenario developing, because historically it had not," Smith said. "Out of the surprise, they weren't prepared to have a presence. We recognize that that presence would have gone a long ways to prevent much of what happened."
Howard Smith, legislative liaison and professor, has also been taking an active role in eliminating the chance of a dangerous situation.
"Unfortunately, there were students who did act appropriately, and weren't out of control," Smith said. "When you get a group that takes advantage of that and then abuses the system, it causes you to have to tighten up. Quite frankly, safety is a huge issue for us and we really do take that seriously. So the visibility, the presence, the early intervention - we are going to have to do that because we want people to know that we do have a safe campus."
With "Shark Night" taking place during the weekend before school starts, many freshmen will be attending the event. Smith says he hopes they will make safe decisions during one of their first college experiences.
"One of the biggest things about being a freshman at Pitt State is learning to make good choices. And this is a perfect evening to start that practice of making good choices," Smith said. "Pitt State prides itself on the living, learning community and we recognize that students are going to live and we encourage that. But that's within boundaries and using good judgment."
PSU students making good decisions, Erwin said, isn't what worries him. At last year's "Shark Night" many of the conflicts began with people who weren't PSU students crashing the parties.
"One of the key issues there was that really escalated was the strong presence of non-PSU people present," Erwin said. "For some reason there had been a large influx later in the night."
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sckirklan
Steven
posted 7/25/08 @ 3:02 PM CST
As a home-owning taxpayer living in just that general area, I bear witness to the lack of officer present the city of Pittsburg provides for her inhabitants. (Continued…)
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