Safe and secure?????

By now, if you have been following Fearless and Female, you know the story of my childhood friend Julie Ladd. Julie was murdered in the basement of her dorm on the Wichita State campus. Julie was on her way to a vending machine in the basement when she was murdered. Now, WSU had security that made frequent stops at the dorms and the front doors of the dorm were locked at all times. Sounds safe right? Well, not exactly. The young women living in the dorm would, innocently enough, prop a basement door open so if they forgot their key or if they had friends coming over they could still get into the dorm. (this is how Julie's murderer got into the basement) That is what I refer to in my program as "risky behavior". We should be able to prop our doors open, leave our homes unlocked and walk around without fear everyday, but that is not reality. I tell you this, not to throw you into a tailspin of fear or to find fault with your behavior but to remind you to think about your actions, as they can have consequences not only for you but also for those around you.
One of the things I like to do when I speak at a college that I have never been to, is to take some time and walk around and soak up the campus atmosphere. I also try to speak to the women on campus and get their take on safety. I hear about all of the safety plans and procedures that their school has in action. Some of the dorms have 4 or 5 safety checkpoints that you have to pass through before you actually get into the dorm. These checkpoints can be such things as a security guard checking your school photo ID, a door key, an electronic key pad, a slide card entrance and so on. Pretty impressive and a great effort on the part of the schools. But, on one college visit, as I was soaking up the campus atmosphere I saw the back side of one of these safe and secure dorms. I snapped this picture and wanted to share this image with you....

This school had 4 different security measures, in place for this dorm. But, as you can see a ground floor window has been left open for anyone and everyone to peer into or easily, crawl into. Not only is this unsafe for the students that live in this particular room, but it is also unsafe for all the other students living in this dorm. Think about your actions every single day.
YOUR personal safety begins with YOU!

Peace, Love and Safety,
Cindy