University of Virginia Library

Tear Gas Pens?

The attack last week on a coed who was
walking across Nameless Field at night is only
one episode in a series of molestings in the
area behind Memorial Gym.

Security has conceded that this particular
area is a problem area on the Grounds, and
advised the student who was recently
attacked that she should carry a tear gas pen
to protect herself in the future. Rea
Houchens, Chief of police security, informed
The Cavalier Daily that "For their own
security, women would be much safer walking
in pairs (at night)."

This hardly seems a satisfactory solution
to the problem of the protection of female
students who often must, of necessity, walk
alone at night to and from the library, classes
or meetings. Last year the Athletic
Department refused to allow the women's
intramural basketball team to play their
games at night, citing the danger of walking
from the dorms to the gym after dark.
However the life at this University does not
grind to a halt when the sun goes down.

The fact that some women are denied the
right to participate in activities scheduled at
night, whether by official rule, as in the case
of the Athletic Department, or by subtle
intimidation brought on by the fear of being
attacked, is a deplorable reality in an
institution which considers itself
coeducational.

The Department of Buildings and Grounds
has cooperated with the Security Department
in installing more lighting during the past year
but enough has not been done. Other
methods of security must be explored and
implemented. For instance, an alarm box
might be placed behind the gym which would
summon a security officer to the scene
immediately—in contrast to the busy signal
that last week's victim encountered when she
tried for 15 minutes to telephone the
Department of Security.

In the troubled Munford-Gwathmey
Memorial Gym area more foot patrolmen
could be added to the force during the later
evening hours, the time when most of the
molestations have occurred. The guard who is
consistently dozing on the couch in the Mary
Munford lounge is an instance demonstrating
that security is not doing all it possibly might
do to insure the safety of female University
students.

Another approach to the problem would
be for the Physical Education Department to
offer seminars in self defense, instructing
women in various means by which they can
cope with attackers.

The solution to the problem does not lie
only in the hands of administrators and
policemen. The women themselves should
consider the fact that many of the rules in
effect in the dormitories were designed not
for their inconvenience but for their
protection. Many of the molesters which the
Department of Security has apprehended are
profoundly psychologically disturbed men
students as well as non-students, people
whose behavior cannot be predicted. To have
completely open dormitories is ideally the
best arrangement, but unfortunately,
realistically not the wisest practice.

Whatever the methods used to insure the
safety of University coeds are implemented,
they should be done so as soon as possible.
No female student should feel that she must
find someone to walk from the library to her
dorm with her. This is the University of
Virginia—not Columbia or Northwestern; tear
gas pens should not have to be in hand as
women cross the Grounds.