Smile, You're on Classroom Camera

The debut of the West Building last semester gave RVCC students and faculty a state-of-the-art technological dream: a multimedia laboratory, 400 computers, and even hands-free-flushing urinals. The building was also wired for the future.

The future is here and some of those wires connect to thirty interior surveillance cameras. The motion-activated cameras can identify vandals, thieves, and predators. They also record footage of students and teachers during class ─ every class ─ all the time.

John Trojan, Vice President of Finance and Facilities at RVCC, says before the cameras were installed the administration gave, “a little bit of thought about objections,” but decided safety was the paramount issue, trumping privacy.

He said they were installed to assist security in the event of an incident, and also serve as a deterrent and investigative tool against vandalism and theft. “The cameras are not an invasion of privacy,” said Trojan.

The prevalence of surveillance cameras throughout society has become part of life in recent years. Still some faculty members have doubts about the use of the cameras, which are designed to cover every inch of each class room.

English Professor Barbara Bretcko has mixed feelings. She does not teach in the West building and only recently found out cameras were in every classroom there. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot. It is a difficult issue,” she said.

She understands the security issue, especially in light of campus violence around the country, but is leery about possible misuse. In the post-9/11 climate in the country she is concerned that, “once you give up things like privacy it is hard to get them back.”

The school’s claim of crime deterrence as a reason for installing the cameras puzzles Bretcko. She wonders why, then, the school did not tell faculty and students about them. “If they wanted it to be a deterrent they should have told people.”

Chapel Hill High School in North Carolina recently used footage from surveillance cameras to catch two students cheating. Bretcko said she hopes the cameras would not be used for that reason. “That is the teacher’s responsibility,” she says. If they were used to nab students cheating, “that would start to feel like Big Brother.”

Still many around campus feel comforted by the eye-in-the-sky. Second-year students Amanda Prisk and Zack Voyce both are happy the cameras are there.

“It’s a good idea after what happened at Virginia Tech,” said Prisk. “I have no concerns (about the cameras). It’s basically for security and safety.” But she adds, “I would hope it is not used for any wrongdoing.”

Voyce said, “I did not realize the cameras were there and I don’t mind them.”

Math professor Sheila Meiman, who has classes in the West building is, “really happy” the cameras are in classrooms. “It makes sense that they have them. You can feel a little isolated out here (in the West building.” She says cell phone reception can be spotty in the new building and if an incident occurs, and her phone does not work, she at least knows security may be watching.

Concerning privacy Meiman says, “I have 30 students watching me during every class so what’s a couple more eyes. If they are that fascinated, let them watch.”

Graphic Design instructor Darren McManus, who teaches in the West building, is bothered about the cameras philosophically. “I’m not worried about an invasion of privacy,” he says. “My specific fear is much broader than that.

“If anything, it propagates the idea we live in a time where fear is bred and manufactured. Ultimately, it’s a form of social conditioning that I feel we are better off, as a whole, without,

Addressing concerns Trojan said, “The college has every right to monitor public areas,” excluding bathrooms and personal offices. “The cameras are not used in an unexpected way,” adding that there is no audio pick up in classrooms.

Currently security has a bank of nine-inch black and white screens that primarily monitor specific areas. According to Trojan, that would include parking lots, loading docks and the child care center, where disputes, theft and security concerns can be more common.

The security room will be moved and upgraded after the semester ends. Two large, color plasma monitors will replace the current black and white screens. Security will have the ability to split the screens to up to 24 images on each monitor. New images automatically display when a camera detects motion.

Law enforcement is “most excited” about the availability of cameras according to Trojan. He says it allows a “structured response” to an incident and lets police quickly see where something may be occurring and, just as importantly when time is critical, to rule out other areas to investigate.

“The main thrust is protection,” Trojan said.