Safety on Campus

Due to the recent robberies and car accidents on the USF campus, Dan Lawson, Director of Public Safety, spoke to the ASUSF Senate giving updates regarding what is being done to improve safety at USF.

Within the last two weeks eight rooms have been broken into in the Phelan dormitory, Loyola Village also had three thefts. “All students did everything, but now what more can we do” Lawson said. While some Residence Halls have Once Card locks and new technology as forms of protection, Phelan, the most affected building does not.

It was discovered that several of the emergency exits in Phelan were broken at the time of the thefts. Lawson said the exits are being repaired and that new precautions will be taken to increase students’ safety. Public Safety is fixing emergency exits, installing some CCTV circuits (surveillance cameras), and changing the locks on all residence hall doors, Lawson said.

However there was no specific date for these changes to be implemented. Lawson simply stated that doors locks would be changed in the upcoming summers, or as soon as possible. However Public Safety’s escort service is still running, and students should use it. After all USF remains a safe campus, Lawson said.

Regarding safety on surrounding USF streets, Public Safety is planning to install speed bumps around Lone Mountain, forcing drivers to lower their speeds and hopefully prevent accidents. Lawson asked all USF senators to spread the word and ask students to be safe while crossing streets as well as take necessary precautions to be safe on campus.

In other business, Dr Charlene Lobo, Assistant Director at the Learning and Writing Center spoke in Open Forum to the Senators. The Learning and Writing Center offers tutoring in several different subjects, Lobo said. However the Learning and Writing Center’s space in Cowell Hall does not seem to be permanent space for the Center. Administration has informed Lobo that they will be moving but has not decided where they will be moving.

The Learning and Writing Center hopes to stay on main campus, “because that’s where students are,” Lobo said, however no final decisions have been made.

In other news two candidates were presented for the Financial Committee run by Simmy Singh, VP of Business Administration. Two fellow senators presented the candidates and both candidates seemed to have support from the representing parties. Also International Student Representative reported that preparations for Culturescape, an annual celebration of the diversity on the USF campus, are taking place. Tickets for this event will be going on sale soon, the representative reported.