Photo Credit: Jack Storie
It was recently announced by the Dean’s Office that a new security measure created by Mark Lomax (Head of Campus Security) would be put into place that all buildings around campus will require a prox card to enter. With such a change on campus, I asked students for their thoughts on the new proxying policy.
From the results of a form I sent out, 91.7% of students support the school’s new prox policy and only 8.3% of people don’t support it (note that the majority of these responses were from freshmen, with 33.4% of the responses being from upperclassmen).
The boarders especially support the policy, saying it’s a net positive to GS. As Ziva Salan, a freshman boarding student, said, “I am used to using a prox so this change has been very minimal for me. However, I understand people who disagree with me. I think that it was the best decision that could be made to ensure the safety of facility members who live and work in Main.”
Another boarding student said that they support the policy but are disappointed that we even have to implement a system like this. They said, “It’s interesting. I get that it’s for safety purposes, but it’s unfortunate that these precautions had to be taken when this school is supposed to be safe and the community’s supposed to be welcoming. And someone could potentially come and ruin the school’s trust for visitors. However, I appreciate the school for actually doing something to prevent any incidents from happening. I know some schools wouldn’t do that for student safety. At the end of the day, it’s the Dean’s decision, who always tries to prioritize every student’s best interest. I trust this was the best safety measure.”
Photo Credit: Jack Storie
From the responses I received from day students, 89% of the students who responded to my form support the new prox policy. Since day students have never had to use a prox before, there is a concern among them about this new responsibility. As Ace Snyder [Day Student Junior] said in their response, “I think that it will help increase general security on campus. I’m hoping that we will adjust as a community, but I also know that keeping in mind that this is a new responsibility for day students is important. I hope that students feel safer on campus. I’m all for keeping our campus safe.” As well as a day student who said, “I understand why the school would enforce these rules, but I do think it’s a little pointless because there will be people who still find ways to get inside buildings, for instance, if someone who does not go to George School comes on campus and steals someone’s prox card (though that is not very likely to happen) then they would have access to all the buildings. And if a student forgets their prox card how will they get to class if they are late? There might not always be people standing by the doors of each building.”
From all the results that I received, a few thoughts stood out among the responses. In a response from Abby Kaufman [ Day Student Freshman ], they brought up an upside of the prox policy that no one else had touched on and one that I did not even think of; compared to most safety measures that schools take, it is not very intrusive. As she said, “In a society where school shootings and violence are becoming increasingly common, I believe that taking preventative steps is a great idea. The prox system is an easy and safe way to prevent acts of violence and doesn’t actually interfere with daily life like other security measures (X-ray machines, pat downs, etc).” Another thought that stood out from the responses I received against the prox policy said that because of George School’s “safe community,” the policy is unnecessary. As a day student said, “I don’t think it’s very necessary because nothing happens and George school is a safe community so why all of a sudden should we have this? Even if they do want to slowly integrate it, they should also have alternatives for day students, maybe make it part of the normal id so it’s easier or provide some way to attach it to our phone.”
In conclusion, most students seem to share the same opinion about the new prox policy. It’s not a perfect system, it has many flaws and it’s a shame that we even need to have it. But in the end, it is a positive security measure that has been taken to ensure the safety of all students. Note that all of these thoughts were collected while Main was the only building that was under the prox policy; most of the rest of the buildings on campus will join the policy by February 23rd. Spruance-Alden will join on 1/25, McFeely on 2/2, Retford on 2/9, Bancroft on 2/16, and Hallowell on 2/23. Also as of when this was written, there is no plan for the FAC, Alumni gym, Walton, or the MDA Library.
