Letter to the Editor
Yesterday, I took my daughter to VCU…Clearly, her safety is not a priority at VCU.
Dawn Redwood
Parent
Yesterday, I took my daughter to VCU. Day one of the graduate school experience, but the lock on her room door was not working.
At first, the lock didn’t lock, but when it did lock, it wouldn’t open from the inside. What if there was a fire and she couldn’t get out of the room? What if she was in the room asleep and someone came into her room and did God knows what to her? What if someone came in her room while she was out and robbed her? The staff told her that, This was not an emergency and it could wait until morning to be repaired.”
To comfort me, I was told that “only VCU students could come up there.” What is wrong with these people? Do they live in some kind of bubble? Crime happens everywhere, even on college campuses. If there was no concerns, no one would need locks on doors anywhere. We do not (live) in a paradise.
Naturally, I objected to waiting until morning to getting the repairs done. After voicing my concerns, someone was sent over to repair the lock. Of course, I was made out to be the crazy villain because I said something. But I didn’t care.
To be truthful, I wasn’t upset about the door lock malfunctioning; I was upset that it wasn’t taken seriously enough to get it repaired that evening without a considerable amount of urging. Apparently someone was available to fix the door, but the staff didn’t bother to call until I insisted it be fixed.
Clearly, her safety is not a priority at VCU. All the other staff and students have locks on their doors. To expect anyone’s family to leave their student in an unsafe setting is unrealistic. I was told that they have this problem with the locks from time to time and it’s seasonal. I am not interested in any excuses, especially when it affects personal safety.
I found it interesting that her room door was the only one in the building that had that problem. They knew we were coming, as it was move-in day and everything should have been prepared correctly. I am outraged that my daughter’s safety was taken so lightly. We were so happy that she chose VCU to pursue her graduate studies. Now, I think we’ve made a poor choice and I really wish she had chose somewhere else. Given a chance to do it over again, we would have chosen differently.
VCU, you stink and I’ll make sure I tell all of my friends and family.
Another helicopter parent taking their singularly occurring anecdotal incident and pretending it’s somehow important or generalizable enough to “warn” her family and friends.
You said it yourself, lady– everyone else had functioning locks. That’s thousands upon thousands of students and staff. I think that overall, VCU and VCU Maintenance staff are doing a pretty good job of providing functioning room and building security. And if you had listened during the VCU officers’ presentations about campus safety during Orientation (which it sounds like you didn’t), you would know that VCU’s overall student safety and security system is extremely comprehensive and is, in many ways, better than at other Virginia schools–in particular, having to show ID to 24/7 building security guards to even enter residence halls.
As far you wishing your daughter had chosen to go somewhere else because of “how you were treated”… I’m not sure a young woman’s academic career should guided by her mother’s experience with what sounds like a customer service mishap.
Your poor daughter. Thank god you didn’t mention her name, how embarrassing.
Regards,
A fellow graduate student.
While I understand your concern, and that as a parent, you likely never shed this attribute; let’s for one second consider that your daughter is a Graduate Student. Where is her voice in this matter? Could she not speak for herself in getting the door repaired? Were you being her voice on her behalf because she asked you too, or were you acting on your own accord? Doesn’t admission to Graduate School even remotely imply that your daughter has the ability to get her door lock looked into?
I don’t mean to necessarily attack you are your daughter in this situation, but you are faulting an entire university – (“VCU, you stick and I’ll make sure to tell all my family and friends”) – because your daughter, and grad student let me remind you, can’t get a door lock fixed.. let alone ask to get one fixed (or for that matter, stay in a security guarded building for 8 hours by herself on the first night of school)?
And to say that no one cared with out urging.. that is just an emotional outburst. I can imagine that you are old enough (at least having a kid in college), that you know how the working world can be sometimes. It is the first day of school, that means LOTS of kids are moving in – and to the shock of all the readers at this point – not just yours! Maybe this repair is already working overtime, maybe he/she has 6 more stops to get to before they can get to your room, maybe someone called in sick so the maitentence person is already stretched thin, maybe…
Actually, this is long enough. You probably won’t even read this.. and truth-be-told, I’m not coming back to read your rebuttal – so let’s call it a day.
Good luck to your daughter. If she needs there are people in shafer who can open her cup o’ soup for her too.