Sex offenders. What comes to mind when these words comes up?

“Sex offenders? They should learn to control themselves,” replied a student.

A new law concerning sex offenders on college campuses went into effect last October, in an attempt to provide a safer environment for college communities. The law, titled the Federal Campus Sex Crimes Prevention Act, identifies convicted and registered sex offenders who are employed or enrolled at a university.

The law requires the university to provide the campus community with resources on where information about registered sex offenders may be found. Also, it requires sex offenders to notify the appropriate officials if they are to be on campus as an employee or student.

“We are working with the St. Paul Police to notify us in the event that any of these offenders are employed or enrolled at Mac,” Terry Gorman, Director of Environmental Health, Safety and Security, said.

There are, however, no known sex offenders on campus or in the neighborhood. Nevertheless, if there was such a case, would the students know how to deal and react with it?

“It’s a sex offender. Why would the school hire someone with that kind of history? If they’ve committed the crime once, they’ll do it again,” one student commented.

“As long as I was aware, I’d be okay with it. I probably would just be a bit more cautious, that’s all,” Thao Huynh ’06 said. “But it still depends on what they did, how long ago it happened and whether they are repeat offenders.”

The right way to deal with a known sex offender is “not to pre-judge, get the facts, be careful and know who you are dealing with,” Gorman advised.

The Act’s goal is to create a safer community for the campus and to make the citizens aware of a potential threat. “I think being aware of potentially dangerous situations or persons help people be more aware and alert,” Gorman said.

There was a similar law in previous years. However, it was the responsibility of the police to call a meeting and notify the community of a sex offender in the neighborhood.

With this law, if there is ever an incident, the community will be informed and know how deal with the situation safely. Additional information can be found on the Macalester security web site.