La Salle Oddity: Security Booth

By Jen Colletta
Collegian Editor
March 22, 2006

We’re all familiar with the small Security booths that are manned by La Salle Security employees. They’re scattered around campus, located at almost every parking lot and entrance. They are pillars of safety, which students can approach in an emergency situation. They’re most useful, however, when a security guard is actually occupying the booth. Last semester, a booth was erected overnight at the entrance to the C2 parking lot, across from St. Basil Court.

While all of the other booths are manned all day and night by a security guard, this particular booth has stood empty for months. During the day and even late at night, the door remains locked and the inside empty.

According to Art Grover, Director of La Salle Security, the booth was installed late in the fall semester.

“Although we haven’t had a security person assigned each tour of duty to cover the area in question, the booth isn’t up and running yet, owing to final electrical work to be completed and camera monitors to be installed.”

Residents of St. Basil have especially noticed that the booth serves virtually no function. They’ve decided to use it as a windblocker while waiting for the shuttle or even as a place to bounce a ball off of during outside games.

“I think that the booth is a little odd,” junior St. Basil resident Frank Datillo said. “When it was installed last semester, I thought that it would be added security and provide surveillance for the parking lot and overnight outside of St. Basil’s. But now, it’s three-quarters of the way through the year and I’ve never ever seen anyone in there.”

So although the St. Basil security booth looks just like all of the other ones across campus, without its most key ingredient, a security guard, it might be better labeled as just the St. Basil booth.

collettaj1@lasalle.edu