The excitement of being back on campus here at SUNY Buffalo State has been tamed to an extent. So far, in the three weeks of school there have been three serious crimes. The first a sexual assault, the second a stabbing and the third, an armed robbery.

For the second year in a row, a record 2,000 freshmen were accepted. Which raises the question, why is Buffalo State accepting so many students if they cant handle the ones that are here?

Freshmen are dealing with the dilemma of a “double” room, made to house two students, now housing three students. An additional 250 students will be living on-campus, but off-campus at the same time. 166 students will be staying at Canisius’ Campion Hall dorms and Main-Humboldt apartments, and 93 students will be staying at Medaille’s North Hall.

The partnership with Canisius and Medaille will cost Buffalo State over one million dollars.

If it didn’t accept so many, it wouldn’t need to have students stay at Canisius and Medaille. It would also stop the overcrowding of the dorms. Also, it would save money. That extra one million dollars could go towards things that would help with campus safety like patrols, cameras, etc.

Perhaps the reason Buffalo State is accepting more students is blatantly obvious. More students equals more money. However, is making more money really worth risking students’ safety?

Of course we would like to see our student body grow in size and our school acquire more money to create a better learning environment. But shouldn’t sufficient living space and student safety come first?

It seems like Buffalo State has their priorities slightly out of order. College is a business, and we, the students, are customers. We pay for an education, as well as safety services – and for some of us, on-campus housing.

If a business wants to be successful, shouldn’t they leave their customers satisfied?

Instead of Buffalo State focusing on bringing in more customers, they should focus on satisfying the ones they already have. If student satisfaction increases, so will enrollment.

Maybe that’s why enrollment has increased over the past couple of years, because students have been satisfied with Buffalo State. But students aren’t going to stay satisfied much longer with crammed dorm rooms and serious crimes happening once a week.

Crime is something that can’t be fully prevented, but the campus should be better prepared for when it does happen. Investing in more equipment, staff, and training should be a top priority,

It’s been an unfortunate start to the semester with three crimes occurring on campus. The crimes may deter Buffalo State from focusing on fixing the overcrowded dorms problem, which is understandable for the time being.

Both the overcrowding and crime problems should not be ignored or pushed to the side. Buffalo State should use the resources they have to work towards solutions, whatever those may be.