Plans for a new student escort service are underway after a sub-committee meeting of the Student Advisory Committee. The new services are tentatively scheduled to start on Nov. 18.
The Student Advisory Committee continues to tackle security issues on campus by creating small groups to address topics such as crime prevention, education and escort services. The committee will reconvene next week and begin to put various plans in action.
The committee, chaired by Interim Associate Dean of Student Life and Services Joe DiChristina, began meeting again after several years. The committee consists of local fire and police chiefs, students and staff.
The first meeting, held in early October, was organized to discuss improvements to security. The areas that needed work were crime education, mutual aid, emergency response plans and the student escort service.
DiChristina stressed the idea that the committee is trying to be very proactive with its work. According to DiChristina, this proactive ethic is important when it comes to the issue of student escorts. College junior Lara Rusch, college senior Claire Koczak and Director of Campus Safety and Security Keith James met this week to discuss this service.
"The main concern for a lot of students is being escorted off campus," said Rusch. She explained that the current escort service works mainly to bring students back to campus, but is not convenient for those who live off campus.
In the meeting, the members discussed a proposal submitted by the Feminist Majority. James approved the new plans.
James suggested that volunteers work with the Student Patrol to get on-the-job training. The volunteers will need to be licensed to drive campus vehicles and they will have access to the security offices.
"Keith James was very enthusiastic about the idea," said Rusch. "It all seemed to go very smoothly."
DiChristina said that he feels a major issue that needs to be addressed is education. "People are here from all over the country and the world. If a situation does happen to you, you need to know where to go and when to report it," he said.
"As a committee we need to do a better job telling students what procedures to follow." he said. "By not having a committee for a few years [we] really [lost] prevention and education."
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