Alyssa Wisniewski
Equinox Staff
Campus Safety is provided by Keene State College to make students feel safe and protected.
Recently some students have felt that Campus Safety has not been meeting their expectations.
Sophomore Emily Early has had some issues with getting escorts from the Butler Court to the Winchester parking lot.
“I started a new job in Dublin, New Hampshire and my shift starts at 6:45 a.m., I don’t like to walk by myself when its dark. So I called campus safety to get an escort and a couple of times they said no with no explanation at all,” said Early.
Early believes that Campus Safety should provide the escort services that are listed on the Campus Safety webpage on the KSC website which reads: “Available 24 hours a day, Campus Safety officers provide personal safety escorts to campus community members. These escorts are provided on foot or by vehicle, and are limited to the immediate campus area.”
“The problem is they advertise that they’ll give you a ride if you don’t feel safe. They shouldn’t even question it but they do and it’s a huge problem,” said Early.
Not every student has had issues with Campus Safety. James McGovern, a first-year, was helped out by Campus Safety staff.
“My ex-girlfriend was bothering other people and they called me to fill out a report,” said McGovern. “They were being very supportive and caring about our safety because my ex doesn’t go to school here. They made sure that nothing was interfering with our college lifestyle,” said McGovern.
Mcgovern also said that Campus Safety called him the next to check in. “They called me the next day to make sure everything was okay. They definitely were more than supportive,” said McGovern.
The Campus Safety Interim Director Kevin Williams said that compassion and safety is always something Campus Safety should be providing to the students.
“We should always be compassionate about students and we should provide dignity and respect to every member of this community including visitors,” said Williams.
For the future, Williams believes that students and campus safety should get to know each other more.
“I want more face time with the students, and I want them to know that we care about them, and that we are people that you can come to and trust. Were going to respect you and we just ask for respect back,” said Williams.
Williams also has ideas to bring the students and Campus Safety together.
“One thing that I would like to do three or four times a year is a meet and greet with our staff. People can just come in and interact and talk about anything. I would also like to add a private suggestion box on how we can improve our service to the community,” said Williams.
However, Williams is aware of the issues some students are having with escorts. “We need to be more visible in the field and we need to be more accessible to our customers which are the students,” said Williams.
Williams said that the reason some students may not be able to get an escorts is the officers may be busy with other events going on campus
“When we tell a student we don’t have anyone available to provide an escort that’s because our resources are tied up doing something else. I will be making changes here and once we come back in the fall there will be much higher visibility in the field and much more accessibility for escorts,” said Williams.
The issues with Campus Safety are always shifting, but the department is constantly making changes for better service for students.
Alyssa Wisniewski can be contacted at
awisniewski@kscequinox.com
