The State Assembly passed a bill Monday that would force
students and employees who are sex offenders to register with
university police. This will allow students to obtain information
about sex offenders on campus. While proponents say this will
create a safer campus, others say it violates the privacy rights of
offenders. What do you think? Kim Watson
First-year Biochemistry “It would be great to know who poses
a threat to me, but I think the person still has a right to a
degree of privacy. I personally would feel afraid living close to a
person charged with rape or another sexual crime. So even though I
think people should have their privacy, there is still a part of me
that has the fear for a person who has committed a crime against
society.” Ryan Terschluse First-year
Undeclared “I definitely agree with the law. After all, there
are more potential victims here on campus than anywhere else. For
example, in the dorms there are hundreds of girls that can be
preyed upon. It’s a dangerous situation for them, especially
if they don’t know the person has done a crime before. Sex
offenders shouldn’t have any privacy if they assault
someone.” Panagiotis Panayotopoulos
Second-year Electrical engineering “It seems like this law
will just propagate hate. If you know there’s a sex offender
in your community and you can get their information, what’s
to stop you from committing offenses against them? I always believe
in the idea of giving people a second chance. We need to have faith
in people; not everybody is out to get you. If you’re ever in
trouble you can just call the cops.” Aura
Baldomero Fourth-year Ethnomusicology “If people
find out their neighbors are sex offenders, they will probably
outcast them without considering whether they have done rehab or
changed. This campus isn’t really that safe, and people
shouldn’t believe that nothing ever happens here. But one
thing we don’t need more of on this campus is hate crimes,
and this law might lead to these against sex offenders on campus.
If they join a sport team or go to class, everyone will know who
they are and exclude them.” Tova Katz
Fourth-year English “I think this is a smart law. Protecting
students should be the first priority of the university. Everyone
has their own right to privacy, but when you invade the life of
somebody else by committing a sex crime, you lose your privilege to
that privacy. I don’t think they should give out addresses,
but giving out identification is important so people can know about
the person’s history.” Phil Porter
Second-year Sociology “There are a lot of considerations we
have to take with this issue. On the one hand, a sex offense is a
heinous crime. In this sense, I don’t see a problem with the
law. But on the other hand, there’s a lot of privacy issues
involved. If I was the person who committed the crime, I would have
a problem with information being released about me. There will
always be people who abuse that information.” Speaks Out
compiled by Cuauhtemoc Ortega and Maegan Carberry, Daily Bruin
Senior Staff. Photos by Catherine Jun, Daily Bruin Staff.