Whenever there is talk of campus safety, it’s always about protecting other people from getting into our buildings, our dormitories and our college. It’s as if there is some phantom entity that wants to try to hurt us, and we need to prepare ourselves for this stranger’s possible arrival.

The problem with this way of thinking is that often the person who ends up being the most dangerous is no stranger at all, but rather someone who calls that same campus home.

The tragedy of Virginia Tech made everyone aware that a relaxed atmosphere about security could lead to extraneous deaths, but pointing the finger at the campus safety program is not the way to go about answering why that man so easily got into dormitories and buildings with a concealed weapon.

Here at Ohio University, none of the dorms was locked on the outside, but rather every lobby was unlocked and the stairways and hallways to the rooms were locked. Now, every dorm is locked all the time.

Does this make me feel safer? Somewhat. I’m not sure it means we are protected against a student, who is aware of these tactics too.

What I am not pleased with is the mental health system at my school. People who are violent often seek help, and there is a wait to see a counselor of at least a few weeks. Someone who is suffering from mental anguish doesn’t have a few weeks.

Instead of focusing on preventing the violent acts, we brace ourselves for the impact instead. If there was an increased amount of counseling available for those who are not mentally stable, there may be a lesser need for protection from those people.

It’s tough for a lot of people to imagine such a chaotic and spontaneous event as a school shooting, but I do feel safer with the extra emergency implementations, like a text messaging system and siren, which were set up in the wake of Virginia Tech.

I think it comes to point, however, where we need to stop protecting ourselves from each other and look to the roots of these problems. These aren’t just people who want attention and like to play with guns – these are people with significant mental instability which needs to be addressed before it gets out of control.

If people don’t know they have a place to go to get immediate psychological attention, then they won’t seek it out, and they just might take out their psychological distress on their peers. Often, these people attack their peers because they themselves feel like strangers in their world, which is why I’d feel safer with a stronger mental health care system as opposed to an extra lock on my door.