Issue 155

Professors' View: Lee Schweninger

08th May 2007

Lee Schweninger of the University of North Carolina, Wilmington campus, is a visiting Professor here at Swansea. Despite the wide-spread media interest in the shooting incident, he has read very little about it recently as he felt he read enough in the papers in the initial few days.

This event brings back more personal tragic memories for him as when the Columbine tragedy happened in 1999, Colorado was his hometown. It was therefore a harder event for him to deal with as it was within his own community. He was however back in America during the week following the shootings and attended a candlelight vigil held on his campus.

Professor Schweninger spoke about the gun culture which is so prevalent in the United States and said how he is in favour of incredibly strong gun laws. He mentioned the fact that there have been signs around his campus stating 'No guns allowed on campus.' This sort of sign may seem of little significance here in our country but there must be an obvious need for this warning on American campus'. He continued that while they were not allowed, most students still carried guns. There was talk of these signs being taken down as it was felt that they sent out the wrong message.

Having visited Virginia Tech campus himself, he said it is a "beautiful, beautiful campus." He commented on the fact that it has a strong science department, and linked that to Swansea in that respect.

When asked how he felt about the safety of American campus', he commented that there are metal detectors used in high schools over there but not on campuses so maybe that could be a possible measure to take to try and step up the security. He also said that there was the possibility of the presence of safety police being increased. He remarked that while this might make the atmosphere on campus different, it was for safety measures and something that would not be atypical.

To have your say on this topic, head over to our World News blog and leave us a comment.

Kimberley Davies