While a burnt out light bulb or overgrown shrubbery may seem trivial, such issues have the potential to be major safety hazards on and off campus. In order to identify and address such safety concerns of students, faculty and staff, the Longwood University Police Department (LUPD) and Residential & Commuter Life (RCL) plan to host Longwood's first annual After Dark Campus Safety Walk on Tuesday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m.
According to Associate Director of Housing Operations Doug Howell, RCL decided to team up with the LUPD and conduct the walk after evaluating the department's professional and departmental goals concerning "safety education and ongoing safety initiatives and programming."
Howell said the walk will stress the importance of members of the Longwood community working together to make campus safer. "Every initiative we have as a university to involve faculty, staff and students, every opportunity to make us a safer campus, we should go after that opportunity," he said. "Campus safety is a shared responsibility."
Apartment Manager Jennifer Paulett said she hopes the walk will "raise awareness that the small things make a big impact." She said to always submit a work order if something looks hazardous or out of place or call campus police at any time if an area seems unsafe.
Howell said the safety hazards addressed are generally from a facilities or grounds perspective (i.e., lighting and landscaping). However, anyone who is concerned about peculiar people or situations in certain areas should notify the LUPD immediately.
The walk is going to be run by eight coordinators who will meet at five areas on campus and three areas off campus. The coordinators include Howell, Paulett, LUPD Sgt. Ray Ostrander (who will oversee community policing for the event), Facilities Operations Manager Ben Myers, Space Planning and Real Property Manager Louise Waller, and students Misty Watkins, Kathleen Carey and Claire Williams.
Watkins, a senior who became involved with the walk through her internship with Sgt. Ostrander, said the meeting locations will be marked with red and black balloons. Upon meeting with the attendees at each area, the coordinators will take participants on a walking tour to identify problems or split up each group and later reconvene to share what hazards they identified with the others.
Watkins said, "We want Longwood to be a safer environment to everyone." She said the input of volunteers at the walk would hopefully improve the different areas of campus. "The purpose of what we're doing is to go out there and identify problem areas," Watkins said. "And not only identify them, but afterwards to fix them."
Paulett said attendees should meet at the area they frequent the most because they are more likely to recognize consistent or new safety hazards in those areas. She said the LUPD and RCL may not be aware of certain issues because the staff does not see the different areas every time of day, so the input of students and faculty who do will help identify more problems.
The key idea is for participants to let coordinators know what seems hazardous to them. Paulett said, "We want people to shout out stuff they see that would bother them or needs fixing and we'll jot all that down."
Howell added that students or faculty who are unable to attend the walk are welcome to notify the coordinators of the walks of their safety concerns. The coordinators will look at those areas for the absent people and address those concerns. "If you're not present, you still have a voice," he said.
The day after the walk, the walk coordinators will reconvene to discuss what walk participants identified. No more than two days after the walk, Paulett and Howell will submit work orders for any legitimate safety hazards volunteers recognized. Paulett said all issues should be addressed in some way by the following Friday.
Howell reminded students and faculty that while the coordinators plan to have safety issues fixed as soon as possible, some concerns might take time to repair. There are concerns that can be fixed almost immediately (i.e., a burnt out or broken light bulb) and more time-consuming issues that involve scheduling and planning (i.e., an uneven sidewalk). "But we want to be able to take our findings and turn it around as quickly as possible," he said.
The walk is open to everyone on campus who wishes to help improve the safety of the community. The meeting locations on campus are the Lankford Student Union Mall, Wheeler Hall Mall, Blackwell Hall Fountain, CHI Fountain, and the entrance to the Health and Fitness Center. The off-campus areas are the Longwood Landings front desk and the Lancer Park and Longwood Village clubhouses.
The walk received financial support from the RCL Advisory Board, which assisted with printing materials for advertising, and the Real Estate Foundation, which provided a $100 Visa gift card that all attendees will have a chance to win. The LUPD will also be giving away key-ring flashlights to all participants.
The walk will most likely be held each semester after a time change occurs. Howell said more concerns will be addressed if there is a "fresh set of eyes and ears out there to look around each semester."
The walk coordinators hope to have as many people involved as possible. "We want [students and faculty] to come out and have a say," said Howell. "To get [them] involved, give them ownership and find other ways to make this campus safer."
