Campus Security, Safety, and Screening

Security and safety are both difficult concepts to define because they are based on a variety of different assumptions and their meanings constantly evolve as situations change. Indeed, the wide array of different social, economic, political, territorial and cultural contexts in which these words are used will always shape just how they are understood, their salience and their significance. Generally speaking, the first term, ‘security’, refers to a narrowly defined condition of being free of threat or danger. By contrast, safety alludes much more broadly to being or feeling protected and, even more widely, to being and feeling cared for. A growing climate of insecurity on campuses in recent years has led to the increased development of security and safety policies and procedures. Even taking ...