The ASUO is pushing to have security cameras installed around the EMU by the end of the summer in order to guard against theft and crime in the building.
ASUO President Emma Kallaway would not specifically state that the installation is a reaction to the winter term vandalism in the LGBTQA office, when a swastika was found spray-painted on the floor of the group’s room in the EMU basement. Kallaway, who was responsible for the initiative along with Vice President Getachew Kassa, said rather it was an attempt to generally safeguard students.
However, Kassa said the LGBTQA event catalyzed the decision.
“Sometimes something happens and it makes you realize … there is a problem,” he said.
Kallaway said she was also frustrated by her and the ASUO’s inability to aid those investigating the vandalism. “We just didn’t have any information for the FBI,” she said.
She said it may have been easier to aid investigators if the EMU had been equipped
with cameras.
However, despite the idea that the cameras would have helped during the vandalism, which happened in early February, LGBTQA co-director and ASUO Multicultural Advocate Alex Esparza said members of multicultural and inclusiveness groups located in the EMU basement, including the LGBTQA, are skeptical.
“I feel, in concept and theory, that installing cameras in the EMU is a good idea,” Esparza said. “Specifically as a member of the student unions, a lot of us are uncomfortable with the concept of surveillance.”
Sen. Jairo Castaneda also criticized Kallaway’s commitment to consulting groups in the EMU about the request.
Kallaway and Kassa are taking measures to allay those concerns. The cameras would only face major entrances to the building, rather than what is inside it.
EMU Director Dusty Miller said that under the current proposal, the locations of cameras are yet to be determined. One, he said, will face the main entrance of the EMU, facing the corner of 13th Avenue and University. Another will face the closest entrance to the LGBTQA, the one on the southeast corner of the building near Panda Express. Yet another will be near the Club Sports office. Miller said there will be “six to nine” cameras.
The project would cost a total of between $24,000 and $25,000. The former number was Miller’s estimate, while the latter was provided by the ASUO Executive office. About $8,000 would come from the ASUO, with the rest to come from the EMU.
Both the Department of Public Safety and the Student Affairs office will need to review the proposal before it can be approved. The consulting firm Aronson Security Group created the current proposal for the cameras.
Kallaway said the tapes generated by the cameras will be available to the EMU’s director and to DPS. If the EMU is, as planned, rebuilt, the cameras can be transferred to the
new building.
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