Think Fear. We Do.

Trigger Warning: Passing mentions of anti-vax, Boston Marathon bombing, 9/11

Yes, that's a spoof of the URI "Think Big. We Do." Because fear is more accurate, apparently.
Back in April, we had a lockdown because someone suspected an active shooter on campus (there wasn't one.) And we're a state away from Boston, so we did hear a decent bit about the whole marathon thing. (Frankly, the way that they actually shut down the whole city scares me a lot more than the bombing did, because I'm thinking about what this could serve as a prerequisite for.)
And then, with a little more than a week left, URI announces that it is moving the graduation inside, for sure. For "safety."
Um, no.
There are two main arguments I've got here.
1) We shouldn't be letting fear rule us.
2) It's not actually safer.
So, here's the first: We shouldn't be letting fear rule us.
Bad things happen when we let fear rule. The much-hated Patriot Act? A result of the fear following 9/11. War in Iraq? Result of fear, again. Fear largely coming from lies, by the way. The current measles epidemic (Europe, specifically the UK if I recall)? Yes, fear. That fear came from study fraud about a vaccine and from fear of autism, specifically. Whooping cough running around? Fear again, vaccines again. The entirety of 1984? Fear, fear, and fear, mixed with a healthy dose of hate. Because we hate what we fear. Basically every quack cure for autism ever? Sold on fear of disability, discrimination, abuse that parents think they can save their child from if only they didn't have autism, plus a healthy dose of fear about what autism means for the family. I could go on. Or I could remind everyone about how those who give up liberty for security don't tend to get either.
Which brings me to my second issue.
The Ryan Center, where indoor graduation is? NOT SAFER. Here's some reasons why:

• It was already the rain location. That means that if someone was planning to do anything to graduation, they already had a plan for "What if graduation is in the Ryan Center?"
• In the event of an emergency, being able to enter and exit quickly is important. It's not something you can do at the Ryan Center. It's pretty easy on the Quad.
• The "security" measures they are taking are pretty easy to beat. Like, I know several ways to get things through, even assuming that any bags really are searched. (Seriously, bags "may be subject to search, as needed." Realistically, that means that a white man is highly unlikely to be searched, even though they are statistically speaking the ones most likely to do that kind of thing. Oh, and the Boston guys? I haven't kept enough track to know much, but their photos were definitely of white-passing men, at the least.)
• No, really. The security measures are a joke. Go read about security theater. That's what this is, all the way. 

I'm not really expecting that anything will change their minds, but there is a petition. And if people felt like signing it, that would be cool, even if just so that URI has evidence of how unpopular this thing is and hopefully don't try this ever again.