COLUMN: Not By the Hair On My Chinny Chin Chin

From Biren Johnson's "Footsteps in the Dark," Fall '94 The security guard behind the desk just looked down and continued to read his book, or whatever he was doing behind the desk. "Should I let them in?" another student asked as he looked towards the pleading students on the other side of the door, who were standing in the freezing rain. "No, they should know the new policy and if they were residents here they would have a key," was the prompt reply. At this point, he proceeded to call University Police to help deal with a couple of "belligerent students" on the other side of the door. Soon after this call was made, another student made her way out the door, and the two "belligerent students" were able to come in. "Didn't you see us outside trying to get in?" they asked the security guard. "We showed you our Penn cards and you didn't do a damn thing!" "What if we were out there getting mugged -- you call that security?" they continued. The debate between he security guard and the students went on for quite a while. They demand his name and position and threatened to contact his boss. The security guard just kept mentioning that it was "correct procedure" not to allow anyone in after 1 a.m. and that it was not his problem if they were not residents of the building and could therefore not open the door. While this argument was going on, two other students (who were obviously Walking Escorts -- they had the usual reflective vests and hand-held radios) encountered the same situation. They continued to knock and knock until someone let them in. What is the point of this new policy when situations like this arise? Several minutes later, the University policeman showed up and was directed to the "belligerent" students by the security guard. "What seems to be the problem here?" the Penn cop asked, while taking his "oh-so-authoritative" stance. The security guard went on to explain the problem as several students walked in and out of the lobby. "But sir," one of the "belligerent" students pleaded, "we were in a very uncomfortable situation -- two African-American men were bothering us outside." [Note that this was followed by a quick glance over to my companion and I who were sitting on the sofa -- presumably the glance was an effort to insure a modicum of political correctness.] "Oh, you mean aggressively panhandling," the Penn cop replied. "...Yeah, and it was a very uncomfortable situation," they replied. "We didn't know what was going to happen..." The cop went on to get the descriptions of the two panhandlers and sent the belligerent students on their way, while advising them to read up on the policies and procedures of the University. Now this situation seemed comical to my friend and I because the exact thing had happened to us just minutes before the two "belligerent" students knocked on the door. We showed our Penn cards and he did the exact same thing, looking down as if to say, "No, I don't see those two black guys knocking on the door... they don't exist." There has to be some sort of compromise that the residential system can use to insure the safety and convenience of the students. The original goal of the two "belligerent" students described above was just to use the MAC machine and make a quick call in the lobby. My friend and I were just two random black men for all he knew, although we flashed our Penn cards as well. But as soon as we got in and he saw that we were wearing reflective vests with Campus Walking Escort all on the back and hand radios (we were the other team responding to a call for Walking Escort) ... we were his "main man". As if the Escort vest and radio were our "passcards to be recognized as students after dark here in West Philadelphia. But that's another issue... Biren Johnson is a senior Strategic Management major from Napierville, Illinois. Footsteps in the Dark appears alternate Mondays.