The Undergraduate Assembly and student civil rights activists debated with Penn's top safety official last night over a hotly contested University proposal that would ask all students, faculty and staff to wear their PennCards at all times.
But despite last night's discussions, the UA ultimately decided that the group needed more information before its members could agree upon a formal stance on the issue. The matter was delegated to the UA's West Philadelphia subcommittee.
The Division of Public Safety recently proposed a voluntary policy asking the Penn community to wear their Penn IDs to enter academic buildings. Right now, University policy requires Penn IDs to be worn from 10 p.m. until 7 a.m, while the proposed policy would be in effect 24 hours a day.
At last night's meeting, Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush stressed that although the proposal came shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, it was not directly linked to the strikes on New York and Washington.
Instead, she claimed, the ID policy is intended to curb on-campus theft.
"Looking at the crime statistics, you see that most thefts occur during the day," Rush said.
But shortly after her presentation, numerous UA members stressed concerns that the proposed policy would infringe upon the privacy of Penn students.
While Rush maintained that most crime on campus was committed by those unaffiliated with the University, students bounced back concerns that a tighter security policy would actually escalate students' safety concerns.
Rush, who has been at Penn for seven years, disagreed.
"I've seen the rise in police officers over the past several years," she said. "In 1995-1996, people couldn't see enough cops. The increased uniformed police presence has made people feel safer."
After Rush spoke, College sophomore Joshua Brown, president of PennACLU, demanded the UA vote against "this well-intentioned but ill-thought ID proposal."
"When considering whether our loss of freedom is worth what the University promises to deliver in the arena of safety, note that there is not much if any evidence that these universal ID systems deter illegal activity," Brown said.
Brown's comments were met with overwhelming applause, and as UA Wharton representative and junior Joanna Mesh said, "I wish [Rush] were here to hear that."
Ultimately, the UA decided that it simply didn't have enough information to vote on the issue, citing, among other things, the lack of statistics Rush brought to support the position of the Division of Public Safety. Similarly, UA members were concerned that they never saw a written copy of the proposal.
Now that the issue is with the West Philadelphia committee, a smaller group of UA members will create a statement to eventually be voted on by the entire UA.
"We want to be proactive but thoughtful in our comments," said UA Chairwoman Dana Hork, a College senior. "We're waiting a week before making a statement."
The UA will vote next week on whether to support or to stand against the University's proposal.
