In “UNM’s homeless seek food, relief,” from last Wednesday’s Daily Lobo, Luke Holmen reported on the University’s homeless population and how it makes students uncomfortable.
The article stated many of these individuals have been seen harassing women, defecating on buildings and demanding spare change from passers-by.
As a result, many feel unsafe on their own terrain, and some are even insisting the UNM police play a more active role in removing the homeless from campus.
This raises the question: Sould UNM increase security in and around UNM campus in order to protect us from this harassment?
Some think this is a good idea, considering the increase in homelessness in recent years. However, it is a possibility that more police monitoring UNM campus may make it feel more like a detention center than a place for learning.
Before we lose our perspective and begin investing more money in security in order to deal with this problem, let us just reflect for a moment.
According to Antoine Germain, a homeless man interviewed in the article, people usually treat homeless people badly.
No one should want to be responsible for the violent or verbal abuse of a fellow human being.
If police officers mistreat the homeless, then to call the police on a homeless person is to mistreat the homeless person by proxy.
I would like to ask the young people on campus, “Would you allow more of a police presence on campus if it means that you wouldn’t be sexually harassed by the homeless?”
I have a feeling that most would say yes.
Granted, no one wants to be harassed, and many homeless people in Albuquerque might do just that. However, are we ready to trade the harassment of homeless people for the harassment of police officers?
And consider this: The money for extra security has to come from somewhere.
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According to an article published in the New York Times, “Violence Tests the Security on Campuses,” many campuses are upping security programs and paying for it, too.
At the University of Toledo in Ohio, the campus police ordered 15 long-range rifles, which cost $13,800, along with $71,000 in additional deadbolts.
Hofstra University has spent $750,000 in emergency communication systems, and almost every campus in the U.S. has invested in a text messaging emergency system.
The reasons for these measures are varied, but they share a common theme: security.
Perhaps these universities’ funds could have been used for more appropriate causes such as hiring professors, upkeep of campus or anything related to academia.
I wonder if any of the increased security measures at the University of Toledo made any one of the students or staff feel safer on campus.
But getting back to local issues, the homelessness problem at UNM isn’t even bad enough to warrant more security. People simply don’t feel comfortable around homeless individuals, which is the real root of the problem.
Homeless people come here because many people on campus are willing to help them with food or money. In turn, we as a collective are making them feel comfortable around us.
One might question the sense in asking police to remove homeless individuals from a place they consider to be heaven.
And if we start thinking of homeless people as people in need, we can see that the homelessness problem should be seen as a social issue rather than a criminal one.
Fortunately, the city of Albuquerque has some great programs to help address homelessness, such as the Heading Home Project, which housed 75 homeless individuals in the city. In addition, there are many homeless shelters around the city, such as Joy Junction or the Metropolitan Homelessness Project.
Perhaps UNM Police and various city entities need to collaborate on homelessness and poverty issues to come up with a solution that would satisfy everyone.
I understand that these are very complicated issues, so in the meantime, when on or around campus one must remain cognizant and aware of people around the area, but one should realize that statistically it’s not likely a homeless person will hurt anyone.
Hopefully a valid solution can be implemented; hopefully it’s a solution that suits a free-spirited rather than security-based academic life.
