I am a new comer to the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, a transfer student from a smaller liberal arts college located in a Fairbanks-sized town named Danville in central Kentucky.  The few fellow southerners (Suuu-thaa-naas) that I know who have managed the trip to the far far north have always told me that you Alaskans were an interesting and diverse breed.  Who needs that "friendly" southern hospitality, for of the individuals that I have encountered, all have been welcoming, laid back, and have possessed that "I was born with a Carharts logo on my butt" down to earth mentality.  In stark contrast to the warm reception from those students and faculty that I have come across, a dark underlying element of fear and mistrust has lurked in the shadowy confines of Residence Life policy.  Having lived on a slightly smaller campus in which security policy was largely founded on a "Code of Honor" entailing student responsibility and community, the lack of trust delegated by Residence Life towards individuals on this campus is unsettling.

Upon arriving to this school, I was assured by my Residence Life handbook that a dedicated staff was on hand to make my living experience a "positive and successful one".  Consequently, my environment for the next semester was heralded as a "living and learning community designed to enhance student success".  Interestingly, the guidelines for student surveillance and protection make up only a small portion of the student handbook, yet they disproportionately dominate the living conditions on campus.  In contrast to the description of campus life laid out in the handbook, I have experienced a Residence Life that presumably devotes a majority of its time and resources towards maintaining the highest achievable level of protection for UAF's student body.  At my disposal are some outstanding, responsible, militant individuals, armed with ‘compassion', patrolling the dormitory floors, manning the residence hall entryways, and maintaining constant vigilance for the proverbial drug-addled, bloodthirsty ‘psycho' potentially on the prowl for innocent victims.

Intrigued by this contrast between the postulates of Residence Life policy and the day-to-day on campus living experience, I was left asking several questions that deserve the student body's consideration.  Let us ponder…

1.) Do the realities of Residence Life policy actually create a safe and healthy environment for those residents that live on campus?

2.) Does Residence Life properly balance its resources between policies that are designed to protect students and policies that are designed to promote campus-wide trust and continuity?

3.) Are UAF's resident students capable of taking more responsibility for their security and protection?

To gain some insight into these questions I decided to interview a sampling of students from the various residence halls on campus. 

The majority of students interviewed felt they were safe on campus.  However, when asked if they felt safe because of Residence Life policy, many of those interviewed expressed concern that the current means of protecting students was largely an illusion.  This disconcerting illusion was largely founded in the current policy of staffing DAs at each residence hall entryway.  In the opinion of the majority of students interviewed, this policy was largely an illusion of security in that it only protected the residence hall entryways between the hours of 7PM and 3AM.  These hours are presumably when the abundance of Fairbanks's cocaine-crazed psychopaths come out to harass the student body.  Several students wondered if it would be more cost and labor effective to install cameras at each entryway, staffing at maximum two individuals per residence complex, to monitor the cameras for suspicious activity.

In response to the second question concerning the balance of resources between student protection and the promotion of a campus-wide ethic of trust, the majority of students felt that Residence Life's protective measures disproportionately dominated the dormitory living experience.  All but two of the students interviewed felt that (1) the security measures and (2) the excessive posting of "judicial" consequences to negative student actions degraded to some degree, the element of trust and confidence in student-student relationship as well as student-administration relations.  The majority felt that a policy of DA surveillance and the threatening of students with various judicial actions paled in comparison to a policy in which students were bound by an Honor Code that fostered an ethic of campus-wide trust.  The majority of students advocated, if feasible, more man/monetary resources towards developing policies and programs that foster campus trust and ethical student behavior.

In response to the third question concerning whether or not UAF's resident student body is capable of an increased level of responsibility for their security and protection, the answer was a resounding YES.  All of the students felt that Residence Life should spend less of it's time doing parental surveillance/police work and more time developing the student-student and student-administration relationships.  It was a consensus that resources should be reallocated towards developing individual relationships, trust, and fostering ethical student behavior.  The majority of interviewees felt that this reallocation could potentially prove more effective in providing campus security than the current attempts at student surveillance and the policy of posting threatening "judicial" action.

In conclusion, I agree with the majority of those interviewed that as a whole I feel safe on this campus.  This to some degree means that Residence Life is doing a fine job enforcing a safe environment for UAF's student body.  However, the majority of students interviewed, myself included, do not want our college living conditions to be dominated by parental safety procedures.  I would much prefer a Residence Life that continually assisted me in developing a system of ethical behavior than one who continually treated me as a potential threat to the students that surround me.  I acknowledge that I am  representing only an element of campus opinion, but this element is definitely a beginning step down the road to positive change.  Quite timely to this article, Chancellor Lind has requested the creation of two committees, The Campus Life Comprehensive Plan and the Campus Life Master Plan that will address student concerns, ideas, and insight into housing, dining, and basic campus living matters.  Solutions to the gripes above are being sought and I urge all individuals to contribute to the policies that could potentially shape UAF's campus environment in the short and long term.  Please email any concerns, comments and ideas to campuslifemasterplan@fs.uaf.edu !!!!!!!

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