Montclair State University in New Jersey has a plan to keep students safe – a cell phone plan, that is. All students are required to pay an extra $420 per year for a new wireless device, cleverly named “School Phone.” The fee also includes a plan that provides 50 peak minutes per month, unlimited text messaging and “student-activated” GPS emergency tracking. (It’s unclear how students activate the system, or more importantly, how they deactivate it.)\nWe think this is a bad move. The most obvious objection is the $420 increase in fees for students who are already paying so much for college. And so many students already have their own phone plans anyway.\nBut it also opens the door for the further expansion of the Nanny State, Big Brother, a “Brave New World” – whatever you want to call it. Montclair police chief Paul Cell said, “What it does is allow students to have an extra pair or group of people watching over them when they’re going from one location to another.” Great. The police have a new way to “watch over” people by tracking their location. What country is this again?\nWe have to be so careful any time someone wants to collect more information about us. Dangers exist even if the organization doing the tracking has good intentions. Here at IU, hackers gained access to student information, including social security numbers twice in 2001. And though all of us on the Opinion staff are as pure as the wind-driven snow, we’re not real excited about anyone having a new way to track our movements.\nThe privacy issues this program raises are legitimate, but even setting those concerns aside, there’s something that bothers us. It’s the attitude that the school is forcing this on its students whether they want it or not. It’s the sense that people aren’t expected to make their own decisions anymore. It’s the increasing mentality that someone else is responsible for one’s safety and security.\nSeven-year-olds need constant supervision and protection. They need someone to provide all of their needs. Do you?
DISSENT\nIt is true that Montclair State University’s new policy of requiring students to get a specific kind of cell phone from the university isn’t perfect. Rather than going all-out with the program it could have been tried it on a voluntary basis first. After seeing its effectiveness, the university could have then evaluated whether it works and whether it’s worth expanding.\nEvery time we have to deal with some kind of crisis such as Virginia Tech, many charged with protecting us take the easy way out and try to do it at the expense of our privacy. More often than not, however, someone comes around with a sensible compromise that deals with concerns for both our safety and our rights. \nI am not saying that the cell phone plan is brilliant by any stretch, but right now, the policy is more awkward than frightening.\n-Nathan Dixon
