1 ISSUE 89.13 UNION COLLEGE FEBRUARY 19, 2015 EXAMINING CAMPUS SECURITY 2 HUMANS OF UNION COLLEGE 3 KYLE BERG Sitting in class you are jolted awake by your phone’s vibration. Stealthily, you slide it from your pocket and onto your lap, un- locking it to see the text alert an- nouncing, “Shooter on campus, remain in your classroom.” You tell yourself it’s a drill, but then you hear loud noises com- ing from outside the classroom. Are the doors locked? Why isn’t everyone hiding out of sight from the windows—and why are the lights turned off? The door knob begins to jiggle, and just as the door swings open, you wake up. It was only a nightmare. You breathe a sigh of relief as you realize it was only a dream. Unfortunately, this isn’t just a dream for far too many educa- tional institutions. The good news? A majority of Union College students respond- ed positively when asked if they felt safe from physical harm. Dalton Brunot, a transfer student from one of our sister schools, stated, “The campus just has a different feel than that of my former educational institutions. I feel safe walking from the Stu- dent Center to the dormitories at night. It is comforting knowing we have a police station right here on campus.” When speaking with Ron Dodds, head of campus security, I was surprised to learn this campus is one of the safest in Lincoln. Ac- cording to Dodds, crime begins to increase two blocks west of campus due to the police substa- tion located here on campus. FEATURED ARTICLE: SAFE & SOUND How safe from physical harm is Union College? Examining Campus Security 4 Though Dodds is available 24/7 for his security and RA staff, if a situation arises in need of higher authority, be it a stab- bing, shooting or theft, the staff must to go through the proper protocols and call the police. Dodds values the Lincoln Police Department, a relationship he’s cultivated for the last 25 years, as an additional protection for our campus. “Security employees of Union College must call 911 for all major situations before calling me,” he asserts. “I know first-hand that security employees desire to work side by side with the police,” shared former security worker Spencer Curtis. He recalled an incident that happened while he was on shift, “It was the 12 a.m. to 4 a.m. on a weekday, and every- thing was going smoothly, when I spotted two unidentified perpe- trators enter the thunderdome.” He naturally wanted to investi- gate further, but remembering his training, called the police and let the proper authorities handle the situation. Instances like these are prime examples of the fluidity of security that can be found on Union’s campus. However, despite Union’s best efforts, a student was accosted and raped many years ago. (To protect the identity of the victim, the details of this event will not be published here, but you may talk to school administration if you’d like to learn more.) While no other publically reported rape has occurred on this college’s campus, we still must ask: What measures in place are keeping this from happening again? An article from CNN entitled “CNN.com readers: Are we safe on campus?” stated, “Some students, professors and campus police officers argue a person determined to kill cannot be stopped, but say they are doing everything they can to put a proper security system in place.” According to Chris Kirk of Slate. com, there have been over 140 school shootings resulting in over 300 deaths since 1980. This is a haunting statistic—one that cam- puses do all they can to prevent from growing. So, Union: where do we go from here? Continue on to “Fixing the Problem” to find out. FEATURED ARTICLE: SAFE & SOUND 5 FEATURED ARTICLE: SAFE & SOUND Locking down Union College Proven practices we can initiate to make physical safety a priority Kyle Berg philosopher, once said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do noth - ing.” The question is, what do we do with these two very different philosophies? When a gunman is on campus, according to the Department of Homeland Security, you have three options: run, hide or fight. Very few attempts to subdue an armed aggressor end successful - ly. An FBI data report released in January 2014, demonstrates that between 2000 and 2012, only 16 percent of shooters were subdued or shot by victims before authori- ties arrived. To stop evil in this world, and specifically on this campus, we must refrain from doing nothing. Part of what makes this campus safe, and will continue to make In the 2012 article “Only ‘A Good Guy With A Gun’ Can Stop School Shootings, NRA Says”, published by NPR, regarding the Sandy Hooks Elementary School shooting, Executive Vice Presi - dent of the National Rifle Associ- ation Wayne LaPierre stated, “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” Many agree with this state - ment—but there are those who disagree as well. One can debate the validity of the Second Amendment to our day and age, and whether or not guns should be restricted, but does that really solve our problems? The fact of the matter is bad people will do bad things no matter what laws we create, or how stringently we enforce them. Edmund Burke, a long-deceased 6 FEATURED ARTICLE: SAFE & SOUND it safe is how we greet each other. Our faculty and staff model this to us each day by greeting us on the sidewalks and between classes. Safety websites report one of the ways to keep a campus safe is a practice Union College has been doing for years. We say “hello” to one another. According to Neal Raisman, in his article “10 Steps to Creating a More Secure Cam- pus”, published in 2007, saying hello to one another helps keep a campus safe by creating a com- munity that cares about each other. Besides fostering stron - ger relationships, these greet - ings help identify disgruntled students and demonstrate to the community that Union College cares about the people who come onto its campus. Another way to maintain a safe campus is by implementing a camera system that can follow any person across campus from the minute they enter until they leave. This kind of camera system can be found on the campuses of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and Concordia Univer - sity in Seward. We can keep our campus safe by better ability to identify and follow persons that choose to deface or harm people on this campus. Another successfully proven practice is for students to keep their doors locked and valu - ables put away. We as a campus are sometimes too trusting, and it unfortunately takes an act of vandalism or larceny to remind us to keep our valuables locked up. This suggestion is not out of paranoia, but rather a common sense approach for the time in which we live. The fact of the matter is, we live in a dangerous world. Yes, we have a relatively sheltered envi - ronment here on Union’s cam - pus, but that doesn’t change the fact that things go wrong sometimes. With every nega - tive statistic you can find, there is another positive one to com - bat it. Union works to continue making positive changes, wheth- er it’s through updates to the se - curity cart’s nightly circuit or a bill from Student Senate for im - proved lighting around campus. The greatest improvements here come from you, the students. Your voices matter and make a 7 FEATURED ARTICLE: SAFE & SOUND difference on this campus. Unit - ed, we can make this campus a better place, in action and intent to do right by each other. United, we can stay safe and sound. For more information on Union’s physical safety, see the 2013 Se - curity Report and Fire Safety Re - port. Campus Security is available Monday-Friday at 402-486- 2507. On evenings and week - ends call 402-432-3964 and in emergency, 402-486-2911. 8 ON CAMPUS They’ve got the wor Creative writing class sells cards for Heather EMY WOOD According to the Greeting Card Association (yes, it really exists), Americans purchase approxi- mately 6.5 billion greeting cards each year. That’s 6.5 billion. Cheesy hallmark sayings. A year. Graduation, birthdays, thank- yous—finding that perfect card with the right words is a night- mare we’ve all gone through. But, thanks to the creative writing class taught by Chris Blake, associate English professor, that nightmare might just be a little less painful. Starting at the end of February, Blake’s class of a dozen students will be selling five cards each in the campus store for $4. As an added bonus, all proceeds go to Heather Boulais and her family. I’ll let you do the math. “I’m stoked to know that here at Union, we honestly care about people enough to take on a proj- ect like this,” said Jill Donald, sophomore language arts edu- cation major. “I think I’ll make more cards, because it’s fun and for a great cause!” Previously, students hung their cards in the Humanities division after completing the assignment, but after a student made a card for Heather, the class decided to take their poem filled cards to the students. “Some of them are so evocative that I felt others would benefit from them,” said Blake, who came up with the idea. “They are a way to communicate emotion in a pithy format.” Not sure you’ll find what you’re 9 ON CAMPUS looking for? All the cards are dif- ferent, with many students taking different approaches. Sophomore general studies major Alexandra Ufret made her card for any occasion with the phrase “Donut ever let me go,” match- ing donut drawing included. Some students, like Megan Wehling, junior English major, took the traditional route by making birthday and graduation cards. “To me, the cards signify milestones in my life that I have looked forward to and move me into a new part of my life.” Kaylin Thurber, junior English major, decided to take a different approach with an anti-valen- tine’s card. “I wrote humorously mean cards,” she said. “One line reads, ‘But they’re probably doing something fun today. . . not thinking of you. . . with someone else.’ It’s not a nice card, but I like it.” Don’t believe this project was an easy task. With generous funding from the Humanities division for resources, the class came up with 10 SPECIAL INTEREST the ideas and words all on their own. Students are also required to make each of the five cards to be sold themselves. “The most challenging part was just starting them,” commented Donald. “Once I had ideas for what I wanted to do, the picture just came with it easily, and the words weren’t that hard.” “It’s an opportunity for some greeting cards that aren’t stupid,” said Blake. “We’ve all looked through many greeting cards and thought, ‘Come on.’” Now, the creative writing class has found a way to give you something other than run-of-the-mill cards that will hopefully leave you thinking “perfect!” Drop by the campus store and find out. Sexual Abuse and the At chur How our church has learned from the past to prepare for the future NIGEL SUMERLIN In 1970, an Adventist was sentenced to two years in state prison for molesting a child. After he was released in 1972, he became a Pathfinder leader in a small town in Oregon. Beginning in 1975, he sexually abused two boys for six years before leav- ing the club. Although one of the victims approached church leaders between 1977 and 1978 claiming that he had been sexu- ally abused, the man remained club leader for two more years. Reuters, a news agency, reported last September that two men, including the man who originally reported the pathfinder leader’s mistreatment, had filed a lawsuit against the Seventh-day Adven- tist church alleging that church leaders knew of the Pathfinder 11 SPECIAL INTEREST leader’s history yet still placed him in a position of unsupervised authority over the Pathfinders. The Pathfinder leader still resides in Oregon and is not currently listed as a sexual offender. This tragic story is not an iso- lated incident. Adventist Risk Management records show that 400 claims involving 525 child victims were made against the Seventh-day Adventist church between 1992 and 2011. Accord- ing to statistics published by the Children’s Assessment Center, this number may be lower than the actual number of abuses that have taken place due to the fact that many children never report the abuse they have experienced out of fear or shame. Sexual abuse cases have not been limited to Pathfinders and have involved school principals, pastors and teachers. Before the early 2000s, there was an apparent lack of action by the Adventist church to prevent sex- ual abuse against children. Many states have extended their statute of limitations on sexual abuse, and the surfacing of cases from the 1970s and 1980s have given glimpses into the history of how individual churches and schools have mishandled allegations of sexual abuse. The Los Angeles Times reported in 2004 that five men brought a case against the church alleging they were abused by two teachers at Monterey Bay Academy in California during the 1980s. When the students attempted to report their expe- riences to other faculty, the two teachers successfully instigated the expulsion of four of the five students from the school. Although the church’s history is dark, the future is lit by the promise of change. In the 2000’s, Adventist Risk Management (ARM) took two major strides towards the prevention of child abuse in the church. The launch of the Child Protection Plan in February 2012 marked one significant change. “Faith-based communities have a moral, ethical and legal responsibility to protect children from harm when they’re in our care,” says ARM Vice President Arthur Blinci. The Child Protection Plan requires background checks on church employees and volunteers, mak- ing them mandated reporters of 12 SPECIAL INTEREST sexual abuse and providing them with training to prevent sexual abuse. Another step is ARM’s participation in the Seven Cam- paign, a global movement in the Adventist church to stop abuse of all kinds against children, not only sexual abuse. In addition to these large move- ments, there have been changes happening on a smaller scale for more than a decade, according to Carol Nelson, a veteran teacher in Oregon. When media cover- age of the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic church exploded in the early 2000s, many Adventist churches and conferences took action to ensure the protection of children in the Adventist system, including mandatory inservice for teachers and pastors and background checks for all church members whose role put them in contact with children. The bitter truth is that any po- tential for evil will attract dark- ness. In an organization as large as the Seventh-day Adventist church that works to bring posi- tivity to the lives of malleable and vulnerable children, there is all the more potential for evil to cor- rupt the good being done. In the past, the church has not always wisely handled its responsibility to protect students, Pathfinders and youth group members. But I am proud of how far my church has come, and I am excited for its future. It is not the mistakes of the past that define us, but the accomplishments of the future. Through the Seven Campaign, the Child Protection Plan and the individual work of dedicat- ed church members around the globe, there is confidence that the Seventh-day Adventist church will become a more safe and nur- turing place than it has been. Nigel is a freshman pursuing a double major in history and psychology. 13 FEBRUARY SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT 15 16 17 18 19 Union Basketball Tourny 20 Union Basketball Tourny Vespers 7:30pm: UFC Concert 21 Union Basketball Tourny 22 Union Basketball Tourny 23 3:30-5:00pm Academic Council 24 ASB Elections 25 26 Third PA Quarterly Meeting 27 Third PA Quarterly Meeting 28 Third PA Quarterly Meeting THUMBS UP/THUMBS DOWN U P CO M I N G E V E N TS To oreo cupcakes - Amanda Goss Poopy Nebraska weather - Roxi Peterson The fancy new chairs in the lobby - Lindsay Fandrich To pwecious fwiends - Olivia May f a m i l y w o r s h i p · f r i d a y 7 : 3 0 p m · c v c I’ve got a blank space baby, and I’ll write your name. 14 The Clocktower encourages reader feedback and strives to maintain accuracy. If you have comments, email us at cltower@gmail.com. The Clocktower is published weekly during the school year by the Associated Student Body of Union College, 3800 S. 48th St., Lincoln, NE 68506. The opinions expressed are the opinions of the writers and are not to be construed as the opinion of the editors, Associated Student Body, Union College or the Seventh-day Adventist Church. For more content, follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ ClocktowerASB or visit us at http://clocktower.ucollege.edu. Steven Foster Natalie Bruzon Vernée Norman Elena Cornwell Alexis Carnduff Zack Posthumus Brittany Houchins Natalie Bruzon Megan Bolton Melisa Inkelaar Michael Steingas Katie Morrison Stefani Leeper Roderick Stickle Debbie Pinto Emy Wood Jordan Zy Abner Campos Naomi Prasad Nigel Sumerlin Derek Baker Christian Dye Kyle Berg Kevin Niederman Editor-in-Chief Assistant Editor Copy Editor Copy Editor Copy Editor Layout Editor Online Content Editor Social Media Editor Photographer Photographer Sponsor Culture Reporter Culture Reporter Humans of Union College Lincoln Reporter On Campus Reporter Opinion Reporter Religion Reporter Senate Reporter Special Interest Reporter Sports Reporter Technology Reporter Wellness Reporter World Reporter WE ARE #CLTWR Yeah, we’re going to need you to speak up. Like us, hate us or anywhere in between, we’d love to hear why. Have a story you’d like to pitch? We’d love to craft it. Did you just make a big breakfast? Tell us why your mother’s German waffle recipe is better than Paula Deen’s. Basically, write us. Voice your opinions by emailing cltower@gmail.com and add to the conversation by connecting with us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ClocktowerASB and online at http://clocktower.ucollege.edu. WE C 15 HUMANS OF UNION COLLEGE -Tim LeBard, Senior, Biomedical Science Humans of Union College is compiled by Roderick Stickle “Skydiving, because you’re free falling from thousands of feet. The second we went out the plane I just started screaming. It was just like instantaneously. And then until the parachute popped it was like boom, screaming as loud as I could.” “What’s the scariest thing you’ve ever endured?” For your “toilet reading” pleasure. Read The Clocktower online at http://clocktower.ucollege.edu. “Union’s vering wall” by Naomi Prasad “Where is God in this mess?” by Abner Campos The Hot Minute ep. 3 (PODCAST) by Steven Fos “e Midnight” by Jordan Zy “HOUC” by Roderick Stickle