Safety is one of the most basic necessities for students and others who work for the University. We need to trust our University to provide shelter from any danger and know the facilities it provides, which we help pay for, are not going to harm us.

D.H. Hill Library has had issues recently with faulty fire alarm equipment. In June, fire officials discovered malfunctions after a gas leak on Hillsborough Street. When the second, third and fourth floors did not evacuate, it was blatantly obvious there was a serious problem. A fire alarm in response to a possible safety hazard was an error that could have ended in injuries and possibly death.

A four-building structure built over the course of almost 40 years, the library has an admittedly complicated fire alarm system. Four separate control systems house the various fire alarm systems that serve the entire building. Strobe lights, an alarm tone and a voice message all sound during the drill, however this is not uniform throughout the building. The library workers themselves are unsure of what warnings happen where. This is not a fault on the librarians, but on the system in charge of their safety. All three warnings should sound in all areas during an alarm to better serve students, even those who are deaf or blind.

Library administrators said they have already developed a plan to revamp the system, however they have not been able to implement the changes due cuts in the state budget. Officials with the University fire department want to work with the library administration on this plan. Apparently, a blind bureaucratic budget cut is wiping funds to secure our safety in our own library. The University and the state need to work together to solve this problem immediately. The funds in the budget that have been cut need to be seriously reconsidered and reprioritized.

Although our fears are slightly quelled by a recent test of the fire alarm system — and the fact that it meets basic fire codes — we do not feel the future of the system is completely in the clear. Despite the cost, the University needs to be proactive about this issue. It is a basic necessity for the University to consider student and employee safety. Thousands of students, faculty and staff frequent D.H. Hill daily, and a part of the collection of books that rivals the Library of Congress is housed there. The risk the University is taking by not ensuring the future reliability of the fire alarm system is higher than the cost.