In response to the unprecedented number of on-campus assaults this year, the University is looking to modify its safety resources and policies. Some changes to campus security measures have already gone into effect, and several more are being considered for Sept.
Statistics about the number of breaches in campus safety are not yet available for 2003 or 2004. Director of University Communications Justin Harmon wrote in an e-mail that while the number of reported robberies this year was “roughly typical,” the number of reported assaults had increased.
Director of Public Safety Maryann Wiggin said the University would be taking steps to increase communication between students, staff, and administrators on issues of safety and security.
According to the Jeanne Cleary Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics, which is published by the Office of Public Safety on its website, 51 burglaries and 212 larcenies were reported at Wesleyan in 2002. That year, two robberies and no aggravated assaults were reported.
The report differentiates robbery from burglary and larceny by the additional elements of “force or threat of force, violence, and/or causing the victim fear.” Aggravated assault is defined as “an unlawful attack by one person upon another for the purpose of inflicting severe or aggravated bodily injury… [usually] accompanied by the use of a weapon or by means likely to produce death or great bodily harm.”
Public Safety alerts about the attacks on six students on April 18 have labeled the incident an “assault.” In addition, several robberies have been reported in the 2003-2004 academic year.
Public Safety has begun to work more closely with the Middletown Police Department since the April 18 assaults.
The first-ever Public Safety/Middletown Police/Wesleyan student snacks and social time was held in the rear lobby of the Science Center from on Monday.
“Public Safety is in regular communication with the patrol commander of the Middletown Police… [and] with the commander of the Detective Bureau,” Harmon wrote. “We have enhanced our own patrols, both of plainclothes and uniformed Public Safety officers, and we have hired Middletown police personnel to augment our patrols.”
Harmon wrote that since the recent assaults, the Office of Public Safety has experienced a greater demand for the Safety Escort and the Safety Shuttle, and has “increased the number of people working on them, particularly on the weekends.”
According to Harmon, the University Master Plan includes plans to increase and improve campus lighting. Wiggin specified that the new Pine Street parking lot will have a blue light phone next year, which will both create a quick link between students and Public Safety, and better illuminate the area.
“We may add some blue light phones or move phones that are already up so they’ll be at the shuttle stops,” Wiggin said.
The Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) is currently working in conjunction with Manny Cunard of the Office of Finance and Administration to develop a proposal for changes to the Safety Shuttle and Escort Services. The proposal currently seeks to encourage student use of the Safety Shuttle by increasing the number of stops it would make.
WSA president-elect Emily Polak ’05 said that the revamped Safety Shuttle system would include two separate routes and two shuttle vehicles, which would improve the efficiency and range of the service. She said that the proposal would maintain a third, escort-like option as well.
“The new proposal will ensure better door-to-door service for students, which should hopefully help them to feel safer,” Polak said.
University officials are currently looking into ways to increase student awareness about security issues. Safety awareness programs have long been a part of first-year orientation, and in the past two years Middletown Police officers have visited residence halls to discuss safety with students.
“[W]e need to think about doing additional programs for upperclassmen,” Wiggin said.
To this end, Wiggin and the Student Life Committee have met to discuss possible improvements to the University’s personal safety outreach and education programs. Neither Harmon nor Wiggin specified the forms these programs might take beyond the current WSA involvement in safety planning, and the recent “lighting walk,” which involved administrators and one student. The lighting walk aimed to identify on-campus locations in need of better safety lighting.
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