Last year, I wrote several times about sexual assaults on college campuses. It is a hideous crime that should not be tolerated in our society. It is surprising and shocking that more colleges and universities are not doing enough to minimize or hopefully stop sexual assaults on campuses across the country.
Gun rights advocates such as Women for Concealed Carry or Students for Concealed Carry are capitalizing on this fear and are pushing legislators in many states to pass laws that would allow students to carry concealed handguns on campuses. Their premise is that if a college student was allowed to carry a concealed handgun on campus, fewer sexual assaults would occur as the student carrying a handgun would be readily able to defend herself.
But first, let’s look at some facts. Currently three states; Colorado, Idaho, and Utah; have enacted laws which allow anyone to carry concealed handguns on campus. Five other states; Arkansas, Kansas, Mississippi, Oregon, and Wisconsin; have laws allowing concealed handguns on campuses, but the laws in those states permit the colleges or universities to restrict where the weapons may be carried (Chronicle of Higher Education, February 20, 2015). And as you can imagine, none of the college or university administrators in these five states have allowed concealed handguns to be carried on their campuses. Additionally, nine other states allow guns on campuses, but only in locked cars in parking lots.
Gun rights advocates are using sexual assaults on campuses to push for concealed handgun carry laws to be passed by legislatures in many states. They claim that if women on college campuses were armed fewer rapes would occur. In fact, legislators in ten states; Florida, Indiana, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming, are hoping that this argument will help them get concealed carry laws passed in their states (New York Times, February 18, 2015).
One such bill is being considered by Nevada legislators. Nevada Assemblywoman, Michele Fiore, Republican and sponsor of the bill said in a telephone interview: “If these young, hot little girls on campus have a firearm, I wonder how many men will want to assault them. The sexual assaults that are occurring would go down once these sexual predators get a bullet in their head.” (Chronicle of Higher Education, February 20, 2015) Assemblywoman Fiore is garnering lots of attention, both for and against, for her comments. Ms. Fiore points to the rape of Amanda Collins by a stranger on the campus of the University of Nevada, Reno in 2007. Ms. Collins has testified before state legislatures in Nevada and other states advocating the right to carry a concealed handgun on campus. She has claimed that had she been carrying a handgun that night, there is no doubt in her mind that she could have stopped the attacker.
Let’s consider some additional facts. Most sexual assaults on college campuses are not done by strangers. In fact:
• Ninety (90) percent of the sexual assault victims knew the perpetrator,
• Eighty-four (84) percent of the perpetrators were students,
• Seventy-eight (78) percent of the assaults involved alcohol, and one in three victims were drunk, passed out, or asleep.
• Nearly three-fourths of the victims in the campus sexual assaults were attacked in their freshman or sophomore year.
The data were gathered by United Educators, an insurance and risk-management firm, which examined 305 claims from 104 colleges it insures involving alleged sexual assaults of students from 2011 through 2013 (Chronicle of Higher Education, February 20, 2015).
In another study conducted by Christopher P. Krebs, senior researcher at RTI International, a nonprofit research group, 5,446 undergraduate women were surveyed at two large public universities. He found that women on a campus were typically assaulted by a trusted male friend while both were under the influence of alcohol, drugs or both and not by a stranger while walking across the campus. Mr. Krebs states that this is not a situation in which a woman would likely have easy access to a pistol or to summon much will or capacity to use one.
Another interesting fact to consider is that federal law prohibits the ownership of handguns by anyone under the age of 21. This means that a very large percentage of undergraduate students on college campuses would not be allowed to own a handgun. Given this and the fact that nearly three-fourths of the sexual assault victims on campus are freshmen or sophomores, passing a concealed handgun carry law would not help the vast majority of these sexual assault victims.
One interesting note to point out is that a spokesman for the advocacy group Students for Concealed Carry, Michael Newbern, said he was not aware of any case of a student who had used a concealed handgun to prevent a campus sexual assault. However, it should be noted that assessing the impact of concealed handgun carry laws on college campuses is difficult as these regulations are relatively new.
As a former president of a university, I have spoken to many university presidents, other administrators, faculty, and police officers about this issue. And not a single one has been in favor of allowing students, faculty, staff or the general public to carry concealed handguns on their campus. Handguns do NOT belong on a college campus. I have discussed this matter many times with campus, city, and state police officers and sheriff’s deputies and again not a single one have been in favor of allowing people to carry concealed handguns on college campuses. Police officers have told me that when confronted with two or more people with firearms they are trained to immediately take control of the situation by disarming by any means. Police officers when faced with two people pointing pistols at each other or, more importantly, shooting at each other will not stop to ask who the person is with the concealed handgun carry permit and who is the bad guy. They will control the situation by neutralizing the people carrying the handguns and if that involves having to shoot, they will do so to protect their own lives and those of their fellow police officers.
Finally, one good bit of news is that the military academies; the U.S. Air Force Academy, the U.S. Military Academy, and the U.S. Naval Academy; recently reported a drop in sexual assaults. In 2013-2014, 61 sexual assaults were reported compared to 70 the previous year. However, in the report released by the Pentagon, 40 percent of those students who reported sexual assaults also complained that they had faced retaliation for reporting the incidents (Chronicle of Higher Education, February 11, 2015).
Students on college campuses are going to experiment with alcohol and drugs. However, a college campus is certainly not a place where students should mix alcohol, drugs, and handguns. And state legislators should not give licenses to students to indulge in such a mix.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Monday, February 23, 2015
Public Library and the Homeless
I love to read. But until recently, most of what I read was work related materials; letters, reports; memoranda, research papers, dissertations, etc. and not pleasure reading. I especially like to read murder mystery novels. I like to pick one author and read all of his or her books. I have read all of David Baldacci’s novels. If you haven’t read Baldacci, it’s a must read. His novels are hard to put down. I have also read all of Dan Brown’s and Tony Hillerman’s novels.
Now that I have more time, I am pouring over James Patterson’s novels. I have read all of this Detective Alex Cross books, except his latest book just published Hope to Die. I have read nearly all of his books about Private, novels about a private investigative firm and NYPD Red, novels about an elite New York Police unit. I have also read nearly all of the I, Michael Bennett books. I am now reading through his novels about the Women’s Murder Club, there are thirteen in total and I am on number 9, 9th Judgement. Patterson Women’s Murder Club series starts with 1st to Die and, at last count, Unlucky 13. However, number 14, 14th Deadly Sin, is scheduled to be released in May of this year.
You are probably wondering why I am writing about my interest in reading murder mystery novels. Recently, I decided to acquire a public library card at my local municipal library instead of continuing to pay $7.99 per novel, if you can find them on sale, to as much as $29.99 for hardbacks, which I never buy. It is free and it allows me access to all of the Patterson murder mystery novels and other books that I want to read.
When I entered the main entrance of the library, the first thing I noticed was a security guard right at the door. I thought nothing of it since I presume that libraries, like any other businesses have their share of theft and other problems that would require security. After completing a simple application for a library card and providing proof, a driver’s license, of who I am and that I actually reside in the municipality where the library was located, I was given a library card.
It is my first library card since who knows when, probably my college days in the 1990’s when I studied for my doctorate. I immediately went to the electronic card catalog to search for James Patterson novels. As I walked across the library, I was surprised to see the large number of what seemed to be homeless people in the library. I guess I expected to see your average Americans; students, mothers with their children, and people like me checking out books and using the other free library services. As I think about it now, I should not be surprised about the homeless people in the library as I presume they like to read too.
And having spent almost my entire career in public higher education, I also should not be surprised about the homeless being in the library. I am used to seeing lots of homelessness in universities, especially in urban areas where there are plenty of homeless people and a number of public universities. It is not unusual to see a homeless person in the bathroom of the student union getting cleaned up. It’s not unusual to see homeless people in the university library especially in the winter. Libraries, after all, are nice, warm places where you don’t get asked to leave unless you are causing trouble. It’s not unusual to see the homeless people panhandling on a campus as students tend to be idealistic and generous, and thus tend to give money more readily to a homeless person.
I have always been surprised by college students’ generosity toward the homeless since many college students are typically on a pretty tight budget and can ill afford to give away money to a homeless. But, I assume since college students tend to be young, idealistic, and altruistic, they tend to be generous.
Homelessness is a major problem in our country. What really makes me sad to see is homeless children and their parents. It is too bad I can’t wave a magic wand and solve the problem. Or better yet, why can’t some billionaire, perhaps Bill Gates, give a billion dollars to solve our homeless problem.
So again, I should not be surprised to see homeless people in the public municipal library, but to be honest, I was very surprised. So much so that my initial instinct was to not return to that library. I have to adjust my view of what is the typical clientele of a public municipal library. By the way, I have returned to that public municipal library again, in fact many times. Today, I will actually go to one of the branches of this public municipal library as the Patterson book I am looking for is not at the library I frequent, which by the way, is the main library. Consequently, this time I will not be surprised if I see homeless people at the branch of municipal library.
Now that I have more time, I am pouring over James Patterson’s novels. I have read all of this Detective Alex Cross books, except his latest book just published Hope to Die. I have read nearly all of his books about Private, novels about a private investigative firm and NYPD Red, novels about an elite New York Police unit. I have also read nearly all of the I, Michael Bennett books. I am now reading through his novels about the Women’s Murder Club, there are thirteen in total and I am on number 9, 9th Judgement. Patterson Women’s Murder Club series starts with 1st to Die and, at last count, Unlucky 13. However, number 14, 14th Deadly Sin, is scheduled to be released in May of this year.
You are probably wondering why I am writing about my interest in reading murder mystery novels. Recently, I decided to acquire a public library card at my local municipal library instead of continuing to pay $7.99 per novel, if you can find them on sale, to as much as $29.99 for hardbacks, which I never buy. It is free and it allows me access to all of the Patterson murder mystery novels and other books that I want to read.
When I entered the main entrance of the library, the first thing I noticed was a security guard right at the door. I thought nothing of it since I presume that libraries, like any other businesses have their share of theft and other problems that would require security. After completing a simple application for a library card and providing proof, a driver’s license, of who I am and that I actually reside in the municipality where the library was located, I was given a library card.
It is my first library card since who knows when, probably my college days in the 1990’s when I studied for my doctorate. I immediately went to the electronic card catalog to search for James Patterson novels. As I walked across the library, I was surprised to see the large number of what seemed to be homeless people in the library. I guess I expected to see your average Americans; students, mothers with their children, and people like me checking out books and using the other free library services. As I think about it now, I should not be surprised about the homeless people in the library as I presume they like to read too.
And having spent almost my entire career in public higher education, I also should not be surprised about the homeless being in the library. I am used to seeing lots of homelessness in universities, especially in urban areas where there are plenty of homeless people and a number of public universities. It is not unusual to see a homeless person in the bathroom of the student union getting cleaned up. It’s not unusual to see homeless people in the university library especially in the winter. Libraries, after all, are nice, warm places where you don’t get asked to leave unless you are causing trouble. It’s not unusual to see the homeless people panhandling on a campus as students tend to be idealistic and generous, and thus tend to give money more readily to a homeless person.
I have always been surprised by college students’ generosity toward the homeless since many college students are typically on a pretty tight budget and can ill afford to give away money to a homeless. But, I assume since college students tend to be young, idealistic, and altruistic, they tend to be generous.
Homelessness is a major problem in our country. What really makes me sad to see is homeless children and their parents. It is too bad I can’t wave a magic wand and solve the problem. Or better yet, why can’t some billionaire, perhaps Bill Gates, give a billion dollars to solve our homeless problem.
So again, I should not be surprised to see homeless people in the public municipal library, but to be honest, I was very surprised. So much so that my initial instinct was to not return to that library. I have to adjust my view of what is the typical clientele of a public municipal library. By the way, I have returned to that public municipal library again, in fact many times. Today, I will actually go to one of the branches of this public municipal library as the Patterson book I am looking for is not at the library I frequent, which by the way, is the main library. Consequently, this time I will not be surprised if I see homeless people at the branch of municipal library.
Friday, February 6, 2015
A Free College Education
At the State of the Union Address, President Barack Obama announced a proposal to provide free college to everyone. Free education at a community college that is, not at a four-year college or university. His proposal is being called the free college plan and his idea is to make two years of college "as free and universal in America as high school is today", (Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan. 21, 2015).
Since the beginning of his administration, President Obama has been a big proponent of community colleges. In 2009, he proposed in his budget $12 Billion for community colleges, but Congress approved only $2 Billion. The following year, he proposed the infusion of $5 Billion to modernize community colleges through his American Jobs Act, which did not pass. In his fiscal year 2013 budget, he proposed $8 Billion for a proposal entitled “Community College to Career Fund," which would provide money to community colleges and states to form partnerships with businesses to train an estimated two million workers in high-growth and in-demand areas. Congress did not approve it and the President again included it again in his 2014 budget, but yet again it didn’t get congressional approval.
President Obama believes that community colleges have done a great job of educating American Citizens. He points to significant enrollment growth in community colleges in spite of the recent recession and massive cuts to community college budgets.
Moreover, it’s important to note that community colleges educate 44 percent of all the undergraduates enrolled in higher education, including 52 percent of all Hispanic students and 44 percent of all African-Americans. The community colleges also enroll the highest percentages of low-income students with far fewer resources than other types of institutions. For example, on a per-student basis, community colleges' educational and general expenditures are less than half those at public research institutions, (Chronicle of Higher Education, Sept. 14, 2011)
The President’s free college plan calls for the federal government to pay for about three-quarters of students’ tuition costs and for the states to pick up the rest. In order to receive free tuition, a student would have to be enrolled at least half-time, maintain a 2.5 grade-point-average or better, and make satisfactory progress toward a degree. However, the plan isn’t cheap, its estimated price tag is approximately $60 Billion over a ten-year period. Additionally, if enacted, it would save full-time students an average of $3,800 in tuition per year and impact over nine million students. Republicans in Congress have already dismissed the idea.
One interesting issue to point out is that missing from the President’s speech this year was his previous tough talk on the high costs of college, which he has included in his past addresses to Congress. The President also didn’t mention his college-ratings plan. In both 2012 and in 2013, President Obama took colleges to task over rising costs, putting them "on notice" that the government would not continue to subsidize the persistent increases in tuition.
Free higher education is not a new concept. According to Wikipedia, forty-four countries provide a free college or university education (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_education). So why should the richest country in the world not provide a free system of higher education? A good place to start would be at the community colleges and provide a free education for the first two years. President Obama should be praised for his proposal for a free college plan.
However, I expect that his proposal will face stiff opposition by the Republic controlled Congress. Nevertheless, let’s hope and pray that Republicans will see the light and approve this important initiative. Or maybe the American people can place enough pressure on the Republicans to support and pass the legislation behind the plan. After all, don’t you think our citizens deserve a free education? We provide a free education from kindergarten to twelfth grade. Why not a free college education?
Since the beginning of his administration, President Obama has been a big proponent of community colleges. In 2009, he proposed in his budget $12 Billion for community colleges, but Congress approved only $2 Billion. The following year, he proposed the infusion of $5 Billion to modernize community colleges through his American Jobs Act, which did not pass. In his fiscal year 2013 budget, he proposed $8 Billion for a proposal entitled “Community College to Career Fund," which would provide money to community colleges and states to form partnerships with businesses to train an estimated two million workers in high-growth and in-demand areas. Congress did not approve it and the President again included it again in his 2014 budget, but yet again it didn’t get congressional approval.
President Obama believes that community colleges have done a great job of educating American Citizens. He points to significant enrollment growth in community colleges in spite of the recent recession and massive cuts to community college budgets.
Moreover, it’s important to note that community colleges educate 44 percent of all the undergraduates enrolled in higher education, including 52 percent of all Hispanic students and 44 percent of all African-Americans. The community colleges also enroll the highest percentages of low-income students with far fewer resources than other types of institutions. For example, on a per-student basis, community colleges' educational and general expenditures are less than half those at public research institutions, (Chronicle of Higher Education, Sept. 14, 2011)
The President’s free college plan calls for the federal government to pay for about three-quarters of students’ tuition costs and for the states to pick up the rest. In order to receive free tuition, a student would have to be enrolled at least half-time, maintain a 2.5 grade-point-average or better, and make satisfactory progress toward a degree. However, the plan isn’t cheap, its estimated price tag is approximately $60 Billion over a ten-year period. Additionally, if enacted, it would save full-time students an average of $3,800 in tuition per year and impact over nine million students. Republicans in Congress have already dismissed the idea.
One interesting issue to point out is that missing from the President’s speech this year was his previous tough talk on the high costs of college, which he has included in his past addresses to Congress. The President also didn’t mention his college-ratings plan. In both 2012 and in 2013, President Obama took colleges to task over rising costs, putting them "on notice" that the government would not continue to subsidize the persistent increases in tuition.
Free higher education is not a new concept. According to Wikipedia, forty-four countries provide a free college or university education (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_education). So why should the richest country in the world not provide a free system of higher education? A good place to start would be at the community colleges and provide a free education for the first two years. President Obama should be praised for his proposal for a free college plan.
However, I expect that his proposal will face stiff opposition by the Republic controlled Congress. Nevertheless, let’s hope and pray that Republicans will see the light and approve this important initiative. Or maybe the American people can place enough pressure on the Republicans to support and pass the legislation behind the plan. After all, don’t you think our citizens deserve a free education? We provide a free education from kindergarten to twelfth grade. Why not a free college education?
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