The Editorial Junta has learned from reliable sources that KY's administration intends to install video cameras throughout the building, in addition to the immense, ancient Egyptian cameras already monitoring strategic areas.Our sources could not speculate on the cost of the installation, but the decision to install them was taken recently, between budget cycles, and would not likely have been accounted for in previous budgets--i.e., an emergency or discretionary expenditure.
The Illuminator can only suppose the cameras will help KY and his minions keep better tabs on which administrators, faculty and staff enjoy eating lunch together, sharing a laugh in the hallway, or refraining from obligatory salaams and receipts-of-salaams, all activities in which the Empire has shown an abiding interest, for whatever reason, in this crisis.
Now, this:
7 comments:
I have not heard of this; if true and if this is done under a grant or other funding as a security measure, did anyone remember the Darke County Campus so it can be secure as well?
Screw the cameras. Just pissing away more money to go with Texas, trips to everywhere, and CQI.
Oh wow, I have it, they are going to use the cameras to turn CQI into CSI-Piqua. (Roll music -- Magic Bus). Go get 'em, Dan-O.
But seriously. Very seriously.
The letter of dismissal from Yowell to Marlowe is the most offensive and astounding abuse of power to date. It is an affront to every one of us.
This is purely retribution. It is intimidation, not just aimed at Steve, but at everyone employed at Edison. It is an outrage.
The excuse for this action is to balance departments, which has to be the absolute worst excuse ever. It is utter nonsense.
Just do the math. Parete retired. Math department goes from two full-time faculty to two full-time faculty. Exactly the same (unless two doesn't equal two when Yowell is speaking). Yowell then claims that he had to fire Marlowe to do this balancing. Utter nonsense. Utterly ridiculous nonsense.
That is the most unbelievably bad excuse that I have ever heard. A small child caught stealing a cookie would do better. An excuse so bad I have to wonder why he made any excuse at all.
The excuse, no matter how obvious and pathetic, also flies in the face of the continuing contract Marlowe has, and in the face of any 90-day notification -- because no such notice was given Marlowe.
The cry (Yowell's cry) for help is getting louder. Every time Yowell acts he is screaming that he is out of control. He is proving it beyond any doubt.
Yowewll needs to be relieved of his responsibilities to the College as soon as possible. Things can only get uglier as long as he remains. And they will.
The Board of Trustees must look at the ever-increasing mountain of evidence that points to only one conclusion: a new president for Edison. It is no longer a choice.
Failure to publicly acknowledge the problem and to remedy it can only alienate the Board from the College community is it supposed to serve.
This change has to happen.
The damage is already great. How much more can anyone expect the college, its employees, students, and the community we serve to withstand?
If, for some reason, you are a board member who has all this before you, yet you somehow are unable to act (for whatever reason), then get out. Resign your position. Give the college a chance to get board members who can get the job done.
Or are we going to revisit these thoughts the next time? and the next? and the next?
There is only one fix. You (the Board) know it and we know it.
CTG
OK, can we put away the tinfoil hats for a minute? The cameras have been requested from stimulus money - not budgeted funds and not at the expense of any program or personnel at the college.
There are areas of the campus that may be vulnerable to theft and other potentially harmful situations, and strategically placed cameras may help law enforcement in certain scenarios - maybe even help them protect you and your students.
If you are paranoid of surveillance, I suggest you avoid all retail establishments, restaurants, city intersections, banks, hospitals, and the Google StreetView vans.
When you see a camera, do what I do: give it a smile and a wave. Besides, it's the cameras you DON'T see that you have to worry about....
Do I have reason to put on a tinfoil hat? Not particularly. I am not going to sell any stock in tinfoil however.
In my best estimation, this will come with placards that say "This campus is under video monitoring." Since the campus is a public institution, it is not possible or feasible to get a consent form from each person. There are interesting questions brought up by this topic:
Where will these cameras be placed?
Will they be in continuous operation or only at certain times?
Who is privy to viewing the recordings?
Will this require the hiring of an additional security individual to monitor taping? If so, who pays for that?
Are they actually used or a visual threat?
Here is an example. A camera is placed at the end of a hall. Vandalism of a classroom is discovered and the tapes help narrow down the potential taggers. Without further proof, there is only a pool of candidates (someone would have to try to match film and super low resoultion ID badge photos). To identify the person, it would require a camera in each classroom. Would this remain completely for securty or would "big brother" be tempted to take a gander at teachers in action. Would the CJ program be able to view tapes for educational training?
What about near restrooms? locker rooms? offices?
If campus is in dire need of security measures, the most effective countermeasures would be prevention. (In a sense, yes, cameras are preventative). However, let's not have new and old computer systems (tower, monitor, cables) sitting in hallways for days at a time. This is not infrequent and often the equipment is left within sight of school exits.
Cameras, if provided from stimulus money, shouldn't be shunned from campus. The tapes will hopefully never be used, but with a community campus, how is more security bad? In this case, the idea is good; I think people are skeptical of use and intent.
Brad, just because we're wearing tinfoil hats doesn't mean KY isn't, Stewiew-Griffin-style, working on his mind-scrambler ray. Besides, Everytime we take our foil-caps off, we hear things like "No one has been fired or non-renewed...." For real security, why not put a two shifts of real police on campus? And, like Janice said, what about Greenville? Where everything is everywhere and the parking lot is poorly lit?
Just wondering if the Bookstore might start carrying tin-foil hats with the Edison logo?
Like the Ed Junta, I too hear some pretty unbelievable things when I take my foil hat off. God forbid i remove the rose-colored goggles.
ctg
OK, security is a good thing.
I recall bringing up my desire for better security during Senate back around 10 years ago. And being a bit bemused when Phil Lootens finally brought it up again in 2002, stating that his awareness was heightened by 9/11/01.
The threats to Edison will be less Al Qaeda and more Al the disgruntled ex-boyfriend, who won't fly a plane into the Emerson Center but who certainly might bring heat onto campus.
Having paid some attention, if we really want to enhance security on campus, here are three low-cost, low-tech, high yield strategies.
1. TRAINING. I for one have had enough of professional development that consists of jokes, games, or feel-good-about-me exercises. Let's devote fall professional development, for a couple of years, to safety training.
2. LOCKS. A good deadbolt on the inside of all classroom doors would have prevented most of the deaths at Virginia Tech.
3. EXTERIOR ROOM NUMBERS. Just print out a full-page room number for each classroom, laminate, and tape to an exterior window. If first responders are given a room number, this saves valuable minutes that they otherwise might lose trying to figure out where the 200s are.
Security cameras--OK, let's get them too. But unless we have someone monitoring screens full-time, they're only useful after the crime.
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