Kudos to MSU's undergraduate student government and Residence Halls Association for joining the campus safety discussion that has risen since a Case Hall freshman was held at knife point last month.
If there is an authority of campus safety issues, it is the student body who is affected by such measures. We hope the student voice will be the articulation of reason in the discussion that has brought residence hall safety into question.
In addition to the ASMSU-RHA coalition launched Thursday, a group of administrators, students and parents have formed a committee that will report to MSU President M. Peter McPherson in March.
After the Case Hall incident, the parents of the attacked student met with McPherson to discuss campus safety and begin lobbying efforts for improvements they felt might be necessary.
The parents first compared MSU residence hall lock-down procedures to the University of Michigan's 24-hour dormitory access restrictions. They have told The State News they understand a 24-hour swipe-card system like U-M's is not the best answer for MSU residence halls, which are used for different purposes.
The families of the Case Hall victim and his roommate have since brought ideas of restricting access to MSU's residence hall living floors, solicitor bans, adding cameras and alarms to emergency exits and increasing floor lighting to the table as possible ways to help improve on-campus safety.
Some of these recommendations might be topics MSU will want to explore in the future, others might not. But that should be left up for students to decide and administrators to act upon.
It is students who should be assessing whether the university is in need of instituting more safety measures in its residence halls because they will ultimately measure the effect.
It is a noble effort for parents to be concerned about the safety of their children after sending them off to college. The bottom line is there comes a time when parents need to cut the cord and allow their children to venture out into life on their own. We are sure many parents would love the idea of their college-bound students being kept safe in a bubble that is impenetrable to everything except education.
But that is not reality.
MSU is a safe place to live. As with any place of its size and population, there are going to be problems. But those problems have been historically minimal in Spartan country.
We thank the parents of the attacked Case Hall resident for bringing their concerns to the table in the hopes that another Spartan family will not have to share their pain.
Safety always is a worthwhile discussion.
But now, what MSU needs or doesn't need to do about it is up to the student body - the people with the best gauge to measure.
