By JANIE HARRIS

Sports Edior, Interim EIC

Growing up, I was always warned to lock my door before I went to bed or left the house. 

But sometimes, just locking the door isn’t enough. People can still easily break into certain locks, which is why most homes have dead bolt locks for all the doors leading outside.

Piedmont, however, must not understand this idea.

When I lived in Getman-Babcock Residence Hall, every room had a dead bolt lock, but every room is enclosed within the building. So if someone decided to break in to a room, they would first have to get through the front door before they could even attempt to get through the dead-bolt lock.

Now, I live in Swanson Residence Hall where every room is exposed to the outside. Guess what? We don’t have dead-bolt locks.

How backwards is that?

If I lose my key, I can get into my room with a credit card. And Swanson is not the only building with this problem. Johnson and Mayflower also are open to the outside and lack the safety of a dead bolt lock. 

Piedmont did attempt to solve the problem. They put small guards up on the outside of the door to prevent someone from using a credit card. So now all you need to break into a room is a screw driver and a credit card. 

I understand that Piedmont is a fairly safe campus, but we are not totally crime free. I know that we have had issues with students breaking into other students rooms. 

So, guess what helps crime rates in other areas? Prevention. 

Simply putting dead bolts on the doors of Swanson, Johnson and Mayflower could keep Piedmont from having to deal with the repercussions of a crime. It could show that Piedmont cares about their students’ safety, and it would show future students that they can always feel safe on this campus.