Newspaper Page Text
Clark Atlanta University Panther
December 4, 1990
Page 7
A UC Males Feel Unprotected, Neglected
By WILLIAM BLACKBURN
Contributing Writer
When it comes to campus
security in the Atlanta
University Center (AUC), it’s
the males who usually become
second priority.
According to male students
in the AUC, protecting the
Black man is a note that is
usually skipped over.
“I think society sometimes
forgets that the male needs a
visual protector just like
women and children,” said
Kenyatta Disel, a junior at
Morehouse College, “It’s
apparent that security around
campus reflects that.”
Disel comments come in the
wake of the murder of Duane
Goodwin, a 19-year-old male
student at Clark Atlanta
University (CAU). Goodwin
was slayed during an apparent
robbery attempt less than 50
feet from the guard booth set
up in front of CAU’s E. L.
Simon Courts.
Many male students ex
pressed shock sbout killing, but
were not surprised. The
consensus among the male
students seems to be that if
anyone is protected in teh AUC
it’s the females.
“The security guards seem to
take a personal responsibility
towards protecting the females,
while the attitude towards guys
is “watch yeur back cause you
know you’re in the ghetto,” said
a dejected Keith Forgan, a
CAU senior.
This is an attitude that
should cause concern for the
safety of male students, but few
seem to question it.
The entire campus at
Spelman College is enclosed by
a barbed wire fence with a
concrete security force.
However, at the same time,
Morehouse, CAU and Morris
Brown each have a high
concentration of male students
and have no such barriers.
Women Feel More
By JOCELYN R. COLEMAN
Contributing Writer
Clark Atlanta University women agree that
even though they generally receive more
protection than men, they still must be
constantly on guard against crime.
“I think the boys’ dorm is more relaxed. It’s
easier to get in. The dorm directors are a little bit
more strict in the girls’ dorm,” said Kimberly
Gross, CAU sophomore and member of the
Student Security Task Force.
Ms. Gross, however, still walks around
campus at night with at least two or three people.
“We walk fast especially from the library,”
Ms. Gross said.
According to the CAU Housing Office, there
are four female dorms that house approximately
349 women. Brawley Hall, the only male dorm
on campus houses about 100 men. Two annexes
on Fair street are reserved for male athletes.
Many CAU women agree that female
residence halls are much safer than the male
dorm. In order to gain access to a woman’s
dorm there is a long procedure of signing in
and showing ID for both sexes.
Associate Dean of Students Mary Ware feels
that the issue of female security is more sensitive
than male protection.
“Traditionally we have been victimized by all
types of sex crimes. Nowadays both men and
women are at risk. But with all the rapes and
murders we have concerns that are peculiar to
us,” said Dean Ware.
CAU women interviewed recalled the same
three or four female assaults that were public
knowledge to the campus last year. According to
the students, a woman was sexually assaulted in
her E. L. Simon Courts apartment, another
female’s face was slashed at the dumpster behind
the Bird Cage while she was emptying her trash
and another woman was threatened with a knife
as she got out of her car right outside the gate
surrounding the Courts.
There was also another sexual assault in
Holmes Hall near the end of last school year.
Ms. Gross lived in Holmes Hall last year and
feels that the classrooms in the basement where
the washing machines are located were another
problem.
“Male students would be in the dorm after
hours using the classrooms. If you were doing
your laundry you didn’t know who was down
there. Someone might come up and startle you,”
Ms. Gross said.
I don’t feel the-security around campus is good
enough,” said Sherrie Henderson, a junior from
Unlike Spelman, these
institutions also have more
than two entrances to the
campus, with Morris Brown
having the easiest accessible
grounds.
Females are allowed to enter
the CAU Courts, the gates of
Spelman and the grounds of
Morehouse without being
challenged. In the same sense,
males entering these same areas
must have proper
identification.
A pattern? Possibly. A
potential problem? Definitely,
according to most students
interviewed.
The male students agree that
the only possible solution is a
mental, solution.
“The administration and the
security guards seem to believe
that the guys are more capable
of taking care of themselves
than girls,”said CAU freshman
Paul Schoffer. “I carry no
Safe, Secure
California.
Ms. Henderson had tried to convince her
mother last year that that living near campus was
not feasible.
“My mom wanted me to live close to campus.
She thought 1 was joking trying to get a town
house way out,” she said. “When she saw the
conditions she said ‘Oh no’ and saw that it was
too risky for two young ladies.”
On the other hand, Ms. Henderson notes that
women have a better chance of beating the
sometimes inconvenient security system on
campus.
“At the Courts sometimes they don’t trip if
you do not have your ID and you’re a girl. They
are not supposed to let you in at all without it,”
Ms. Henderson revealed.
“Sometimes they don’t even sign you in. They
rush you in and say they’ll fill it out later,” she
said. “Every guy has to have it (ID). If they don’t
have it they don’t get in.”
According to Ms. Gross, the individuals
supposedly responsible for student security last
year were actually part of the problem. Many
students witnessed security officers flirting with
female students.
"I watch my own back. I don't
depend on security guards. You have
to watch out for yourself around
here."
“Fast year a lot of the girls felt that some of the
security guards were trying to talk to the girls,”
she said.
Sonya Richey, a senior and resident in the
Birdcage dorm located in the E. F. Simon
Courts, commented on the same issue.
“Fast year,there were a couple who tried to
flirt. There were four or five who were trying to
get friendly,” said Ms. Richey.
A former Clark security guard informed Ms.
Richey, who also witnessed two off-duty security
officers shooting at each other behind the E.F.
Simon Courts last year, that the “friendly”
guards were fired as a result of their actions.
Ms. Richey takes special precautions as a
woman living in the Birdcage. She always parks
her car near the entrance, never sleeps with her
windows open (no matter how hot it is) and only
goes to the dark, deserted dumpster during the
day.
“1 watch my own back. I don’t depend on
security guards,” said Ms. Richey. “You have to
watch out for yourself around here.”
Jeter, a Morris Brown junior.
“But we don’t come down here
crazy, and knowing we’re in the
projects we would never
dismiss any notion of having
security around us”.
Disel added that the guards
think just like they act —
without regard for the male
students. “That’s the problem
around here, assuming that the
male wants no protection, but
we have to learn to protect the
Black man also”
Media Has Field Day
In Wake Of Tragedy
By SHERYL M. KENNEDY
Contributing Writer
When the news of a slain student first emerged, many
Georgians experienced a painful reminder of the rapidly
increasing problem of crime in their urban and rural
communities. It frightened students on campuses around
the nation, especially in the Atlanta University Center.
As with any other unfortunate incident, the media were
in full force. Many students resented the intrustion while
others saw it as a necessary evil.
Many students have expressed a concern over whether
or not the media’s attention was for the “right reason.”
“Was it just to shine a negative light on the African
American community?” queried one student. “Or to fill
an empty space on a past deadline editoral page?”
It was early Sunday morning when Duane Goodman
was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head.
From that point on, the media has appeared in swarms in
and around the Atlanta University Center.
The Atlanta JournalConstitution was the first metro
publication to tackle the slaying of Goodman and to
analyze Clark Atlanta University’s method of preventing
that particular incident and others that could occur.
Since then, they have been accused of nonobjective and
careless reporting.
Even though the Atlanta JournalConstitution was the
first medium to cover the issue, they were the first to refer
to Duane Goodman as Dwayne Goodman on more than
one occasion.
According to Monica Kaufman, an anchorperson with
WSBTV, it was a mistake that could have been easily
corrected if someone would have called in and given the
correct spelling.
“Concern is a twoway relationship,” said Ms.
Kaufman at a news conference. “It could have been
avoided by the newspaper and television station if the
proper research would have been done combined with the
proper amount of concern given to produce a quality
article not a gossipy piece of news.”
“The media did a very poor job of covering the entire
issue,” says Jamyee Pleasant, Clark Atlanta University
Student Government Association undergraduate
president. “The media portrayed it as another attack on
the African American institution and its struggle to
continue to hold a vital role in society.”
The media’s handling of the event also alarmed many
university administrators about the onesided coverage of
the incident.
In response to the Atlanta Journal Constitution's
article “The Perils of the Urban Campus,” that appeared
in the Nov. 17 issue, Clark Atlanta University’s president
Thomas Cole, Jr. wrote a letter to the editoral page
editor, Tom Teepen, about the errors throughout the
article.
According to university officials, the article insinuates
CAU administrators were reluctant to provide answers to
several questions raiesed by the press. It also focused on
Sims Security, owned by James E. Sims Jr., and their
training as adequate security officers.
“The editorial misses one fundamental point,’’says Dr.
Cole. “The death of Duane Goodman was a painful
reminder that much more needs to be done in our
communities by all of us.”
weapons like most females and
1 go to school in the ghetto just
like these females, and I want
the same protection.”
No security guard would
comment publicly on the
matter, but when asked
whether the male students
consider themselves to
headstrong to have protection,
most nodded yes.
“Everyone comes down here
cocky,” said an angry Ronald