By: Omar K. Elmore, Staff Writer
During a recent Campus Union meeting, Dean Bigger told the assembly that they are able to do ride-alongs with Campus safety if they want to see what their day-to-day job looks like. Chris Paschal ’17, student body president, also mentioned the assembly’s yearly work with Campus Safety to keep the campus well-lit. “Every year, we get a group to ride around with a few officers at night to check out the darkest places on campus,” he said. “Afterwards, we pass a referendum suggesting that the school adds some light source to the area in order to promote safety all over campus.”
According to Paschal, the cabinet is working on creating an ad hoc committee or a focus group to work in conjunction with the student body, President Samhat’s office and Campus Safety in order to improve relations between all. “We hope this committee can improve the line of communication between the administration, staff and students,” says Paschal. “We hope to get this started in the Spring.”
He defended Campus Safety in the wake of criticism after the kidnapping incident on campus earlier this semester: “You might not understand, but these guys do a lot more than unlock doors,” he told the assembly.
Olivia Vasquez ’18, Judicial Commission representative, shared the same sentiment as she gave her weekly Judicial Commission report. Usually, Vasquez shares only the empirical data from the week prior—how many alcohol and drug violations Campus Safety issued. However, during this meeting she added another incident that Campus Safety was involved in.
“I feel we need to understand that Campus Safety does so much for our campus that goes unnoticed,” Vasquez said during the meeting. “Last week, Campus Safety responded to a call from a student that wanted to commit suicide. They talked the student through the moment and no one was harmed.”
Part of Vasquez’s role as the Judicial Commission’s representative is keeping the anonymity of all the incidents she references. The assembly is only informed of the type of incidents and how many occurred. Regardless, the mention of such an incident showed the assembly how important the many officers that make up Campus Safety are to the culture of Wofford’s campus.
