Your money or your life

Schools look at safety after massacre
The Virginia Tech massacre could bring about widespread safety reforms at colleges and universities, much as the Columbine shootings in Colorado led to security improvements at primary and secondary schools, Udell said.

Oh my sweet jumping jesus, how naive. The majority of high schools aren't for profit. Not so with colleges. These days, even the "public" universities and colleges function as if they were corporations - receiving a mixture of public and private funds, railing against any public oversight for use of those funds, and swelling the ranks of their three titled administrators (Associate Vice Dean of Provostery). E.g., at my school, the prez was entwined in fiscal nastiness with our now jailbird governor. What did we the students get out of their involvement? Smoke and mirrors. A contrived patina of "academic excellence" which easily flaked off if scratched. While my university "built" itself into a "center of excellence" (the schools do love those terms, don't they?), we were witnessing early retirements of faculty in record numbers - faculty who have yet to be replaced, increased tuition, sky rocketing fees, reduced services for students (the entire front office of financial aid is staffed entirely by work study undergrads now), and an admission policy which does not take into account the availability of these already tight campus services for the constantly swelling population. And we get construction. Lots and Lots of construction. Interestingly enough, one of the things our governor was investigated for (and I believe convicted of) was steering bid free construction contracts.

So will the Virginia Tech killings "bring about widespread safety reforms?" Not at my school they won't. The need or promise of such reforms might be something my schools uses for leverage with the state appropriations committee, but it sure won't be something they ask the private donors for.

You can't exactly put a private donor's name on locks for all the classrooms in the many (many) buildings without them. And who wants to be the one who sponsors the emergency mass murderer announcement speakers?

Raising money for improved safety measures as well as implementing them are LOW on the priority list (ask any women's group which has tried to get more lights and call boxes installed) because of the natural money grubbery combined with a head in the sand attitude of "It can't happen here" is most universities' tacit motto.