Making our campus safer
Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2008 @ 2:40 am
With recent crime in mind, students think of solutions to campus safety problems while officials work to finalize the ideas.
University of Nevada, Reno student Jessica Muehlberg, who earned her bachelor’s degree from UNR and is working toward her Ph.D., said it is her responsibility to improve her neighborhood and university’s safety.
As a member of her neighborhood advisory board (NAB), Muehlberg said she has helped get better sidewalks on Seventh Street, and she is planning to create a committee of NAB that focuses on the university district.
While some students like Muehlberg have taken initiative to reduce safety hazards, the university has not followed up to implement campus procedures.
EMERGENCY CALL BOXES
In May 2007, the Associated Students of the University of Nevada senate approved a bill to install 25 more emergency call boxes on campus. Nine months later, no orders have been placed.
There are 77 emergency boxes in campus parking garages, said Buzz Nelson, director of facilities and maintenance. Inside each call box is a button that connects to a police dispatcher.
He said the boxes provide a way for people who do not have cell phones to call the police and give students a sense of security. The boxes could also be used by students who feel threatened or if they’re being followed.
Nathan Maybee, a 20-year-old anthropology major, said adding boxes to directly contact police would help students in an emergency. Maybee, who lives in the same house where Brianna Denison was last seen, said he did not know UNR has emergency call boxes and plans to install more.
Harley Anderson, a university buildings and grounds worker, said he did not know UNR planned to add more boxes until he was notified of the request Wednesday.
He said he has not received an official work order.
“The problem is the money,” Anderson said.
Each box would cost about $7,000, Nelson said.
President Milton Glick said he approved $100,000 in November for the project.
The project will cost $75,000 more than Glick’s budget allows.
The department plans on installing about seven per year if the budget does not allow them the money to install all 25, Nelson said.
Glick said when he approved a budget for the emergency call boxes, the facilities and maintenance department had not yet submitted a proposal for the project.
“Until you have a contract you don’t know the price,” Glick said.
Nelson said the department is still in the process of getting a proposal.
Buildings and grounds workers finalized the locations for the boxes Wednesday.
CAMPUS SAFETY WALKS
Each semester, ASUN conducts safety walks to look for potential hazards like dim lighting, overgrown bushes and potholes.
On Nov. 20, Bret Ruff, a buildings and grounds electrician, surveyed the south end of UNR’s campus on a safety walk organized by ASUN Sen. Michael Cabrera. Ruff made a list of burnt out lights and replaced 19 a few days later.
Cabrera took his own notes on lights that needed to be installed, and sent his list to the facilities operations department after the walk. Cabrera’s list never reached Ruff or his coworkers.
Ruff said the facilities operations front desk showed him the blank work order Thursday after the department was asked to produce a completed work report. Ruff said the November order had been lost, so the work was not finished. He said some of the items were done because he had them on his own list.
“On the walk, I wrote down several places that were dark,” Ruff said. “Thank goodness we had the list to make (those) corrections.”
Ruff said the request to install lights in the front of White Pine Hall and the Scrugham Engineering and Mines building were not done because he never received the work order.
He said the light in front of White Pine Hall is so students can see the stairs on the Virginia Street bridge. Ruff said the light on the SEM building is for security.
He said the buildings and grounds department is working to get the extra lights now.
Nelson said he still has not received the report.
“I’m assuming it’s because ASUN never sent it,” Nelson said.
Brenda Mefford from the facilities operations department said she received Cabrera’s request Nov. 21 and forwarded it to her front desk staff. The staff was supposed to create an official work order for Ruff and his coworkers.
Cabrera said he assumed all of his recommendations were completed because he received a confirmation e-mail.
“I should have followed up,” Cabrera said. “I will in the future.”
Cabrera conducted a safety walk from 15th and Virginia streets to the residence halls Thursday night. Some concerns included not enough lighting for crosswalks, narrow sidewalks and overgrown shrubbery. The next day, the city lighting problems were made into work orders and sent to the Sierra Pacific Power Company. The other recommendations were made to university personnel.
He said there will be two more safety walks later this month to look at possible lighting problems behind the Joe Crowley Student Union and South Virginia and Sierra streets near Ninth Street.
Ruff and Anderson said they plan on walking the campus themselves at least once a month to fix burnt out lights and other safety issues. They said they take campus safety seriously because students are their responsibility.
Ruff said students should report hazards to UNR police services at 775-784-4013 to get campus safety problems fixed. Students should contact their landlord or neighborhood advisory board for housing area concerns.
STUDENTS’ IDEAS
At the Feb. 5 ASUN safety forum, some students asked police why there aren’t surveillance cameras in campus parking garages.
Officer Eric James said installing cameras is very expensive, and it is a hard to know if students are willing to have less privacy for more security.
There are currently 220 surveillance cameras in campus buildings, but there are none in parking garages, Nelson said.
“We pay so much for parking and they don’t even have proper security,” said Lily Sirsy, a 21-year-old biology major.
Nelson said surveillance cameras don’t stop assaults - they are just a deterrent.
On Oct. 22, a female student was sexually assaulted in the Brian J. Whalen Parking Complex on the north end of campus. The suspect has not been caught.
“I don’t think the security cameras is something that is going happen soon if at all,” ASUN President Sarah Ragsdale said. “It’s very expensive and many people argue that they are not effective.”
Other student ideas generated at the forum were selling safety items in the ASUN bookstore and establishing a carpool system.
Ragsdale said she talked to ASUN bookstore manager Marie Stewart Wednesday about adding safety merchandise to the store. Ragsdale said they need to make sure students are interested in buying the items so the bookstore won’t lose money.
ASUN Director Sandy Rodriguez started researching other campuses that have carpool systems, Ragsdale said.
“It’s going to be pretty expensive to implement,” Ragsdale said. “Hopefully, if the car pool thing is something that’s going to work, we can get it by next fall.”
Some students are concerned with off-campus safety, too. For example, several homes on College Terrace and Sierra, Virginia and Evans streets do not have peepholes.
Twenty-year-old nursing major Brionna Henricks made her own peephole by placing construction paper over her windows, and lifting up the edge to look out.
Don Rosenthal, building official for the city of Reno, said the decision to install peepholes is up to the landlord. He said if a landlord will not put peepholes in doors, residents may do it themselves.
“It’s so inexpensive and easy to do,” Rosenthal said. “I find it hard to believe that people wouldn’t just do it.”
Print out this article and give it to ASUN President Sarah Ragsdale on the third floor of the Joe Crowley Student Union to show this issue is important to you.
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February 12th, 2008 at 9:16 am
[…] today’s main story here. Find the editorial here. Find the paper’s guide to proactive protection here. Find a story […]
February 13th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
“I don’t think the security cameras is something that is going happen soon if at all,” ASUN President Sarah Ragsdale said. “It’s very expensive and many people argue that they are not effective.”
How did Darren Mack get caught???? a parking garage security camera read the lincense plate of his car….. why would we elect someone who thinks that security cameras are not effective… type into google “security cameras in parking garage catch criminal”
thank god im a freshman and didnt vote for her
February 16th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
[…] and members of the Old Northwest Neighborhood Advisory Board the Thursday before last on a safety walk to examine problem areas in and around campus. I wish the students well in their efforts to make their environment a place free from violence. It […]
February 17th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
A college campus will never be completely safe. There is too much to cover. Same with malls, parades, events with large crowds. We do not live in a perfect world.