While Whitworth is a relatively safe campus when compared to other Washington schools, the security supervisor urges students not to take the safety for granted.
“Don’t be lulled into a sense of complacency by the ‘pinecone curtain,’” security supervisor Mark McFall said.
Senior Krystle Steele, a student who transferred to Whitworth from Spokane Falls Community College, said she feels safer at Whitworth than she did at her previous school.
“I feel like I can trust the people on campus a little more than I could at the Falls,” she said.
There might be a little too much trust, McFall said.
“Whitworth works hard to build a sense of community and kinship among everyone here which is nice, but it causes a lower [attentiveness] to security,” McFall said.
There were 21 recorded burglaries on Whitworth’s campus in 2008, compared to 28 at Gonzaga, seven at Eastern Washington and one at Washington state, according to reports provided by the schools’ Web sites in compliance with the Clery Campus Security Act.
McFall suggests students make themselves harder targets by locking the doors to their rooms, putting valuables away or keeping them with you, and locking bikes preferably with U-Bolt locks. The large majority of thefts on campus occur when the objects are easily accessible, he said.
“Part of security's mission is to educate students as far as how to best protect themselves and their valuables,” he said. “We can’t be everywhere at once.”
Contact Evanne Montoya at evanne.montoya@whitworthian.com.
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