BELOIT, WI -- The storefront of the Beloit Sport Center is one long window, but you can’t see inside. The glass is double-thick and blacked out. Immediately upon entering the shop, there is a rubber-scented, outdoorsy clutter: wire shelves full of loose tackle and bait, all-terrain vehicles with colorful plastic shells, and other standard sports equipment.

A man stands guard over the back counter. He hovers around a showcase, glass, still double-thick but clear this time. You can see the guns inside.

With attacks like the recent Umpqua Community College shooting becoming more and more frequent, and considering the lockdown that rocked Beloit College last year, the presence of a gun shop two minutes from Beloit’s main campus is a source of concern and confusion.

For many colleges, the answer to this concern and confusion is a reliable security system, characterized by efficient, responsible staff, quick response times, and a dependable emergency plan.

Can Beloit College provide the kind of security its students need and expect?

There is some indication that it can’t.

“There are no guaranteed methods to prevent random acts of violence, or terrorist attacks,” said Bruce Heine, Beloit’s Director of Security. He explained that while Beloit security recently installed six new cameras around campus, primarily in high traffic areas, there are still lapses in security protocol.

One of these lapses is the inability to preemptively avoid an Active Shooter situation, though Heine insured that he is working with Beloit College administration to provide more information and training to the campus community regarding these types of incidents.

Heine also admitted that he and his security staff often find it difficult to identify and apprehend intruders from off-campus. According to Heine, this difficulty is unavoidable under the current ID system.

Off-campus guests (like family and friends of students) are not required to get a temporary ID or picture guest pass. This makes it almost impossible for security to distinguish between these guests and harmful intruders.

In the past, intruders have been identified primarily based on their interactions with students. If an intruder attempts to engage with a student, that student is expected to call security. Unfortunately, this means that there is a significant gap between an intruder’s arrival on campus and the apprehension of this intruder, wherein students are responsible for keeping themselves safe.

Some Beloit students have come forward to share their experiences with campus security. Some of these experiences were positive, others less so.

“I was doxed by security because they didn’t distinguish that my position was as a reporter and not a perpetrator,” said one Beloit student, who wished to remain anonymous. Both she and the other students involved in this incident are still enrolled here at Beloit.

One early morning last year, the student woke to repeated sounds of smashing glass and raised voices from the floor above her. When hours passed and the disturbance showed no signs of stopping, the student called security - a routine response to what is, for many, a routine college experience.

Three days later, she received an e-mail from Beloit Residential Life, the administrative office responsible for providing students with safe, clean living conditions.

The student saved this e-mail and has agreed to share it with us. It reads:

“As I read the security reports this morning only one word comes to mind when I think about your actions last night, unacceptable.

I would like to know what possessed you to think that in our community breaking a mini fridge, pouring coffee creamer on the floor, and breaking glass bottles on the wall are acceptable behaviors.

You can expect a charge on your student account and for this to be included in your discipline file. In the future consider who you affect with your actions. Not only were you disrespectful and disruptive to those individuals that live in Porter you also created a situation that will be unduly burdensome to housekeeping and potentially dangerous because of the broken glass."

The e-mail itself was clear. An act of vandalism had been committed, and the students responsible would have to pay for damages. The issue? The e-mail was sent out to both the perpetrators of the vandalism and the student who had reported these perpetrators to security. Most worrying was that the e-mail lacked the safety of blind carbon copy. The reporter’s e-mail address and name were made available to the vandals she reported.

When the student brought this up to administration, she was told that the inclusion of her name on the mailing list had been a mistake.

Despite the apology, the incident still has the student worried. Had the vandals resented her for calling security, or had the issue been something worse than vandalism, there might have been serious repercussions.

“I never received any harassment or anything, but I'm also abroad this semester, so I don't know if something would've gone down,” the student said. “It's really freaking unnerving that somebody along that line is incompetent enough that violent people could have easily gotten retaliation if they wanted."

This student did clarify that most of her experiences with security and ResLife have been positive, and that this seemed to be an extenuating circumstance.

True, there are many redeeming reports – tales of keys locked in the Hendricks Center, retrieved by late-night security officers. However, these reports come interspersed with students who feel unsafe on account of their race or religious affiliation, students who insisted that their stories be kept confidential, but would like to see Beloit security become less intimidating and more accessible.

So are we safe here? While it would be reckless to say that we are not, it is important to understand when and where there are improvements to be made.

When asked how security would respond to a student who reported feeling unsafe at Beloit, Bruce Heine was confident in his response.

“Security is more than willing to provide escorts for students on campus,” he said. “We could also refer them to our website, which has many ideas students could use regarding safety.”