School Injuries: College Bound Not Always Safe

Notre Dame insists it was an accident, and there was nothing they could have done to prevent it. When Senior William Meckling fell to his death from the roof of a campus sports arena just days before he was set to graduate, students and faculty alike began to ask questions as to how he even had access to the area. The university didn’t have an answer.

Securing your property to minimize the chances of someone being hurt is important for anybody, but it is especially important for a university. With thousands of people on campus each and every day, making sure to limit access to dangerous areas is incredibly important.

It might be tempting to believe Notre Dame that there was nothing that could have been done if this were the first time one of their students had fallen to his death. But just a few short years ago, another student was killed when he fell while filming football practice in high winds. Notre Dame has a pattern of recklessness with its young people.

A comprehensive safety program should be in place at every university. At the very least, Notre Dame should have:

• Maintenance staff tasked with keeping buildings secure
• Conducted regular sweeps of campus buildings to make sure there was no sign of unauthorized access
• Secured building rooftops as much as possible to minimize the chance of someone falling

Asking a university to do the bare minimum to keep students safe doesn’t seem like too much. But large institutions don’t often make changes unless forced to. If you or someone you love has been injured on another person’s property due to negligence, please contact an attorney before anyone else is hurt.