What attracted you to the auxiliary position?
Shelow: It sounded challenging. Any college student needs a little cash in his or her pocket so he/she is probably participating in the work study program or working in the service industry. I heard about this opportunity and didn’t really investigate it all that carefully. I filled out an application, not on a whim, but just having an interest in doing something slightly different than the normal student work while I was an undergraduate.
What kept you there?
Shelow: I felt like I was contributing in a meaningful way to the delivery of a service to the campus community that was an important one. I wasn’t a police officer at the time; I was only a student. I was very much involved, principally, with the auxiliary functions. For instance, I might have been writing parking tickets. It’s hard to associate parking tickets with delivering an important service to the university community. But after all, if we weren’t doing that, our full time police officers would have been doing that. I saw myself contributing in perhaps an indirect way but nonetheless contributing to delivering a service to the campus community that was really important, and still is today.
Are many students interested in joining the auxiliary program?
Shelow: It varies. Right now we have more applicants than we have positions. About two years ago, we were scratching our heads because our recruitment efforts were failing. We’ve had years where it was very competitive. It fluctuates. It’s hard for me to tell what drives that.
Has the number of student officers increased since you were in college?
Shelow: It was exponentially increased when the police took over. Most colleges and universities have security monitoring the residence halls. They check people in the lobby by either checking their IDs, or keys, or they have the person sign in. Penn State was no exception. Back then, that was all being done by student affairs. Campus officials approached my predecessor with a proposal for the police to take over that entire program, and that effectively doubled student auxiliary.
