No student should feel unsafe walking home at night. Although making that happen is impossible, taking action to empower students to keep them from feeling unsafe is the next best step for MSU.
In the wake of two sexual assaults on campus in the last month, ASMSU — MSU’s undergraduate student government — passed a resolution 18-3 last week advocating for students to have the ability to carry Mace or pepper spray on campus.
Currently, MSU has an ordinance in place that stops students from having “chemical, biological, radioactive, or other dangerous substance or compound, with the intent of using the same to injure, molest, or coerce another.”
Students would like to assume they are safe, and the vast majority of the time they are. However, the reality is that not everyone acts sanely and respectfully, and students need to be able to protect themselves from those individuals. But that does not mean students should rush out and purchase pepper spray and Mace simply because they have the option.
And although the resolution does not cancel out the ordinance, ASMSU deserves credit for stepping up and telling university officials that students’ need to have the ability to protect themselves.
This is another recent example of ASMSU keeping abreast of the issues that matter to students.
Pepper spray and Mace are deterrents, not weapons. Even the knowledge students might have the means to defend themselves should be enough to deter potential attackers.
Students who already are concerned about their safety enough to buy pepper spray probably aren’t looking to use it at every turn.
Simply because students are concerned about their well-being does not mean they will begin Macing everyone late at night. It’s doubtful giving students the ability to protect themselves from attacks will cause a rash of pepper-spraying incidents on campus.
Having pepper spray and Mace helps make students feel safer, but it’s not an excuse for students to act irresponsibly either. Just as wearing a seat belt is not an excuse to drive recklessly, having pepper spray shouldn’t enable students to make unwise decisions.
For example, students still should try to avoid walking home alone late at night if at all possible.
Hopefully, the university will take ASMSU’s resolution under serious consideration and allow students to carry pepper spray on campus.
Of course, making that change only will be the beginning of a series of steps needed to encourage students’ safety on campus. But by taking a stand and allowing students to defend themselves, MSU will discourage the attacks from occurring in the first place.
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