The traffic in and out of campus now flows freely after the security department re-opened the campus last Friday, Feb. 28.
“Based on its ongoing monitoring of government information and the situation locally, the University administration has made the decision to re-open all campus entry points effective Friday, February 28th,” read an announcement from the security department.
The security department had chosen to close all the gates used for entering and exiting campus except for the North Benson Road entrance and the Southwell gate on Lower Round Hill Road.
Along with these precautions, security asked the entire community to carry their identification all the time and be alert to suspicious activity. Though the entrances are re-opened, the security department still asks the community to be watchful.
“We invite continued cooperation from the community in maintaining a heightened awareness of any suspicious activity and reporting any such activity to the Security Department,” said the announcement sent via Campus Pipeline.
During the lockdown, many students were upset with the delays caused by the closed gates.
“I sat in traffic for at least twenty minute trying to get into campus,” said Karel Vetrovec, ’05.
Greg DiCamillo ’05 agreed. “It was simply ludicrous. I sat in traffic on North Benson Road for nearly thirty minutes. I didn’t appreciate the wait or the waste of my fuel.”
Other students were upset for different reasons.
“It made it harder to sneak alcohol onto campus,” said a student who wished to remain anonymous “We were forced to drive by security with the beer in our car.”
Now that the lockdown is over, students are happy that they don’t have to worry about the inconvenience of waiting in traffic as well as having to drive across campus to go anywhere.
“I always use the exit by Jogues to go shopping. It’s more convenient and now that the lockdown is over I can use it again,” said Vetrovec.
The security department instituted the lockdown in response to the federal government raising the nation’s security alert to “high.” Colleges and universities were potential targets, according to the government. However, many students found that hard to believe.
“I think if terrorism were to occur at a school, it would be at a larger school than Fairfield,” said Zac Freedman, ’05. “As Sean said in the Mirror a few weeks ago, it’s not like they were going to find Osama Bin Laden in the townhouses.”
Ryan Cleary, ’05 agreed.
“Fairfield University is not a target for terrorist activity. They just caused unnecessary problems and delays. I have a difficult time thinking that terrorists are going to attack Fairfield.”
In today’s world, the possibility of a lockdown exists all the time. With America’s war on terrorism and heightened security, Fairfield must be prepared to take precautions again.
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