There’s also a student safety patrol operating seven days a week, as well as a buddy escort program administered through the UWG campus police department. The student-led campus safety walk involves Student Government Association (SGA) members who make a punch list of areas that may need addressing. That list could encompass simple things like pruning trees that are blocking lights on pathways to pinpointing campus locations that might benefit from the addition of technology, such as cameras or access control.
Brittany Goff, vice president of student life for UWG’s SGA, organized the most recent safety walk, and she believes the group helps students voice their safety concerns to administrators.
“Students definitely think about security, but they often don’t have a way to express their concerns or they don’t know who to go to,” Goff says. “That’s why I love being in student government, because I get to be that voice for them. I get student input all the time, and they have great ideas. They just need a way to get those ideas to the right people.
Security Technology Helps with Emergency Response
While not all safety initiatives are student-led, at UWG they are definitely student-focused.
“Another initiative we are extremely proud of is our one-call system,” states Stephen Whitlock, who is UWG’s director of housing and residence life. “With this system, there is one number for students to call 24/7 in the event of an emergency that dispatches staff through radio communications, [improving] response time exponentially.”
There are also daily safety patrols of resident halls and an escort program to accompany students to halls or parking areas after hours.
“We know safety and security has to be real-time, proactive and spawn greater awareness,” Whitlock adds. “We are a big campus, so we have to use technology to make sure we have extra eyes. But safety and security aren’t just cameras and night watches. It’s a comprehensive, proactive plan to do the right thing and make sure our students are safe.”
Assisting the university with its comprehensive security strategies is Stanley Security, which works closely with UWG stakeholders to be certain sufficient plans are in place and that the deployed technology and partnerships yield ongoing successes, says Kyle Gordon, Stanley’s vice president of campus solutions.
“It’s exciting to see a university like UWG and the partnerships that campus leadership promotes within their community, as well as with us as their security integrator,” Gordon says. “It’s refreshing to see how engaged the students and faculty are on security measures, and that’s making a difference like we’ve not seen before.”
Marrero says the university focuses on communication and preparation so everyone on campus knows what to do during an emergency.
“As a university president, this can be the defining moment of the institution, and we have to b
e ready for it every day,” he says. “We are incredibly proud of the work we have done, but we are in continuous improvement mode. We know technology changes, and we want to ensure we have best practices in place and rely on the professionals to help us achieve our goals.”
