2008 Woodie Awards
New policies, heightened security result in safer campus
Rachel Yarmosh
Issue date: 2/2/06 Section: News
- Page 1 of 2 next >
Just how safe is our campus?
New startling statistics demonstrate that freshmen are especially at risk.
According to USA TODAY, which did an analysis of 620 deaths of four-year college and university students since Jan. 2000, freshmen are uniquely vulnerable.
Its findings show that freshmen account for more than one-third of undergraduate deaths in the study, even though they only account for 24 percent of the undergraduates at those institutions, according to the National Center for Education Statistics whose data was analyzed by the American Council on Education for USA TODAY.
Alarm has spread among college administrators, public health officials and parents concerning the safety of college students over recent highly publicized deaths on campus resulting from alcohol abuse and other causes.
So what exactly is our school doing to alleviate their anxiety and protect it students?
Jack Fernandez, director of the department of Public Safety says numerous new policies and measures have been taken to tighten up security and safety of our campus.
Among the precautions Public Safety is taking Fernandez stated, "We are going on more frequent patrols of lots and buildings, we've increased visibility, we've assigned stationary post details, and we've assigned specific sectors/areas as their special responsibility."
This will allow students to feel more comfortable traveling across campus late at night.
"We are also training Residential Life staff in drug abuse awareness and its consequences and we participate in the campus alcohol coalition to combat underage drinking. We've increased our staff and increased the number of contact security personnel," said Fernandez.
If Redident Life is able to assist with drug abuse, that would alleviate public saftey's responsibilites when it comes to on-campus drug issues.
"In addition, we promote the self defense program, we have replaced many of our emergency blue light call boxes, improved networking with local law enforcement and emergency agencies, and distributed campus safety tips to the University community," said Fernandez
New startling statistics demonstrate that freshmen are especially at risk.
According to USA TODAY, which did an analysis of 620 deaths of four-year college and university students since Jan. 2000, freshmen are uniquely vulnerable.
Its findings show that freshmen account for more than one-third of undergraduate deaths in the study, even though they only account for 24 percent of the undergraduates at those institutions, according to the National Center for Education Statistics whose data was analyzed by the American Council on Education for USA TODAY.
Alarm has spread among college administrators, public health officials and parents concerning the safety of college students over recent highly publicized deaths on campus resulting from alcohol abuse and other causes.
So what exactly is our school doing to alleviate their anxiety and protect it students?
Jack Fernandez, director of the department of Public Safety says numerous new policies and measures have been taken to tighten up security and safety of our campus.
Among the precautions Public Safety is taking Fernandez stated, "We are going on more frequent patrols of lots and buildings, we've increased visibility, we've assigned stationary post details, and we've assigned specific sectors/areas as their special responsibility."
This will allow students to feel more comfortable traveling across campus late at night.
"We are also training Residential Life staff in drug abuse awareness and its consequences and we participate in the campus alcohol coalition to combat underage drinking. We've increased our staff and increased the number of contact security personnel," said Fernandez.
If Redident Life is able to assist with drug abuse, that would alleviate public saftey's responsibilites when it comes to on-campus drug issues.
"In addition, we promote the self defense program, we have replaced many of our emergency blue light call boxes, improved networking with local law enforcement and emergency agencies, and distributed campus safety tips to the University community," said Fernandez