Another necessary skill set is that of security guard. My university, Portland State University, took the position that the university library was a public space. For that reason it made no effort to keep out the homeless.
When I resumed using the library after a long absence, I was shocked to discover homeless people engaged in such non-…
Another necessary skill set is that of security guard. My university, Portland State University, took the position that the university library was a public space. For that reason it made no effort to keep out the homeless.
When I resumed using the library after a long absence, I was shocked to discover homeless people engaged in such non-academic activities as washing in the bathrooms, searching garbage cans for treasures and sacking out on the comfy lounge furniture.
One day I came to one of the library's quiet floors and settled down to work in one of the carrels. Two strapping young men who were obviously homeless were fast asleep on lounges, their duffel bags next to them. After a while they woke up and began speaking in normal conversational tones. As I always do when I am on a quiet floor, I waited to see whether they would leave or stop talking. When the didn't, I did what I always do in such situations: I walked over, told them they were on a quiet floor and suggested they move up or down a floor if they wished to chat. That elicited a response I had never encountered from a student. He gave me a dirty look and said "You can't tell ME what to do." FFS
It was foolhardy of me to have done that. The guy was probably armed. Armed or not, he had no business being there. University libraries are for enrolled students, faculty and other members of the university community and the public, provided they follow reasonable rules of conduct. They are not refuges for the homeless and other marginalized people who are not there to use the facility for its intended purpose any more than the university president's office is.
Since then, the current university president's lack of a backbone led to the takeover of the library by a few anti-Israeli student protesters and a larger number of the usual opportunistic hooligans of the kind who've given Portland the nickname "Little Beirut." By the time the police chased them out for the second and final time, they'd caused at least $750,000 in damages, not including the cost of repairing or replacing electronic equipment. The library closed during spring midterms and is not slated to reopen until the start of the fall term.
If this doesn't cause the school to restrict access to the library, what will?
Another necessary skill set is that of security guard. My university, Portland State University, took the position that the university library was a public space. For that reason it made no effort to keep out the homeless.
When I resumed using the library after a long absence, I was shocked to discover homeless people engaged in such non-academic activities as washing in the bathrooms, searching garbage cans for treasures and sacking out on the comfy lounge furniture.
One day I came to one of the library's quiet floors and settled down to work in one of the carrels. Two strapping young men who were obviously homeless were fast asleep on lounges, their duffel bags next to them. After a while they woke up and began speaking in normal conversational tones. As I always do when I am on a quiet floor, I waited to see whether they would leave or stop talking. When the didn't, I did what I always do in such situations: I walked over, told them they were on a quiet floor and suggested they move up or down a floor if they wished to chat. That elicited a response I had never encountered from a student. He gave me a dirty look and said "You can't tell ME what to do." FFS
It was foolhardy of me to have done that. The guy was probably armed. Armed or not, he had no business being there. University libraries are for enrolled students, faculty and other members of the university community and the public, provided they follow reasonable rules of conduct. They are not refuges for the homeless and other marginalized people who are not there to use the facility for its intended purpose any more than the university president's office is.
Since then, the current university president's lack of a backbone led to the takeover of the library by a few anti-Israeli student protesters and a larger number of the usual opportunistic hooligans of the kind who've given Portland the nickname "Little Beirut." By the time the police chased them out for the second and final time, they'd caused at least $750,000 in damages, not including the cost of repairing or replacing electronic equipment. The library closed during spring midterms and is not slated to reopen until the start of the fall term.
If this doesn't cause the school to restrict access to the library, what will?