From blackmail scams to burglaries on Comstock Avenue, in the past semester and a half the Syracuse University community has faced a wide variety of threats to its safety. Recently, the Department of Public Safety reported that “a driver reportedly shouted a racial slur while passing by two students between Ernie Davis and DellPlain halls.” With painful memories of the tragic acts of hate that occurred on campus just this past November, many students fear that these acts will continue to rock our community and grind down the mental and emotional well-being of its students.

In the light of recent bias incidents on campus, DPS and SU need to work together to establish a first-year program dedicated to crime prevention and campus safety in order to foster a culture on campus where all students not only feel safe, but know how to promote safety when put into dangerous situations.

DPS has provided multiple resources for students to use to enhance their safety and well-being such as the LiveSafe app, walking escorts and nightly patrols. They are underutilized due to the fact that there is not a mandatory educational program for students on campus that discusses DPS safety initiatives. DPS needs to be more transparent to the student body so that SU students can be educated on crime prevention and reporting tactics, in addition to DPS safety measures, more easily.

Freshman Dylan Goldberg said the string of crimes has made him limit where he goes on campus.

“Instead of walking to Bird Library if it’s late at night, I decide to study in my dorm room because I don’t feel too safe walking alone,” he said.

SU needs to do more than send email alerts and post on their social media platforms to make students aware of situations. According to a 2016 study from the National Center for Education Statistics, there were 6,716 reported burglaries in campus residence halls and 5,299 reported in other areas of campus throughout the United States.

Freshman Matthew Reda said he’s worried not many people living at SU know how to stay safe and wants DPS to “establish a more impactful program that can teach every student how to avoid dangerous situations.”

According to the DPS webpage, strategies such as walking in groups with three or more people or using its safety escort service are viable options to promote safety while on SU’s campus. DPS promotes the use of the LiveSafe app, which according to its website and a presentation to parents during Orientation 2019, “acts as a ‘mobile blue light’ that allows users to connect with the Emergency Communications Center at the touch of a button.”

While these tips and programs seem like a way to guarantee safety on campus, without a mandatory event for first-year students hosted by DPS, the culture of knowing how to adapt to crime prevention tactics will never develop.

While DPS does coordinate a program called the Crime Prevention Workshop, like many of their initiatives, most students are unaware of the offering.

In order to reach a large audience and have a discussion regarding campus safety and crime prevention, it is necessary for DPS to present this program to first-year students as part of their first-year experience requirements that must be attended during the fall semester.

The new DPS-sponsored presentation would be similar to Community Wellness requirements such as “Speak About It” and the Be Well Expo that are coordinated by the Office of First-Year and Transfer Programs. By teaching members of the SU community during their first year on campus about safety and tools to prevent being a victim of crime either on- or off-campus, DPS and the administration are vanishing the concern that students now have about their own well-being.

By informing students early on about crime trends and ways to stay safe on their college campus through a mandatory program for all first-year students, SU will be more successful at crime prevention and promoting safety and security for the student body.

Christian Andreoli is a freshman international relations major. His column appears bi-weekly. He can be reached at ctandreo@syr.edu. He can be followed on Twitter at @candreoli12

 

Published on February 13, 2020 at 12:03 am