Following the Oct. 10 armed robbery in the Lavin-Bernick Center, Tulane amped up security in and around the area. Tulane University Police Department now has a more visible presence by the LBC and more recently, yellow jackets emblazoned with “Landmark Security” have become the symbol of student safety around the building. Given that a large amount of crime this year has happened in or around residence halls, however, it doesn’t make sense that Tulane has visibly increased security in the LBC, but not equally in the dorms.

That’s not to say that Tulane shouldn’t focus on increasing security in the LBC — it makes sense following Tre Spadoni’s armed robbery. But Spadoni wasn’t the first to commit a large crime on campus this year. Earlier this semester Tyree Courtney was charged with two counts of unauthorized entry in Sharp Hall and one count of simple burglary, and was also linked to other incidents in residence halls. Spadoni faced additional charges following his arrest for a robbery near Sharp Hall too. A few security officers have been placed in some residence halls, but this is not enough to provide comprehensive safety to all on-campus residents.

While the Department of Housing and Residence Life has asked resident advisors to be more aware of their building environments and even hosted extra training sessions for Desk Services Coordinators with emphasis on stricter protocol for allowing non-residents to enter buildings, RAs and DSCs are not professionally trained security staff.

It’s important to recognize that Tulane has begun taking the steps to increase on-campus security. It shouldn’t have taken this long for them to do so, however, given that Courtney was arrested Sept. 20 and the increase in Landmark Security workers didn’t occur until after Spadoni’s Oct. 10 robbery. While the conversation about campus safety is ongoing, including discussion of increased security cameras in residence halls, more should be done to protect the residence halls, especially those that don’t have desks to control their entry.