The Student Government Association (SGA), Department of Public Safety (DPS) and others have came together to do an audit on lighting and call boxes, according to Marguerite O’Brien, the director of the LiveWell Office.
This audit took place due to feedback from Coastal Carolina University’s Campus Climate Survey and Safety and Sexual Assault Assessment last spring, according to O’Brien. This survey consisted of questions dealing with safety, lighting, whether students feel like they belong, and other factors.
In a video sent to current students on Jan. 30, Vice President of University Belonging and Student Affairs Yvonne Hernandez Friedman defined this audit on call boxes as an evening walk to identify areas in need of more lighting and blue-light call boxes.
“It’s nice that we get feedback,” O’Brien said. “Then, you know, pretty much immediately went out and did this audit, because people were saying like, ‘we have some concerns.’ So, let’s check them out.”
The evening walk took place on Jan. 31, according to SGA President Gabrielle Ryder. She said those who participated in the walk were broken into groups to cover different areas of campus.
The University’s willingness to take on student feedback is a good quality, according to Ryder.
“It just shows that, when the University does large scale surveys like the climate survey,” Ryder said, “is that it’s a testament to show that they’re listening to the concerns and are immediately taking action on how they can improve campus.”
Ryder and Ryleigh Gregory, the executive vice president of SGA, said they handled the center of campus from the Edward M. Singleton building to the E. Craig Wall College of Business, where they noticed poorly lit areas near the pond and a couple of light bulbs that were out.
Ryder said they also looked for locations to put naloxone boxes, a medication which reverses an overdose, focusing on areas with heavy traffic.
In addition to lighting, call boxes were another safety measure mentioned in the assessment’s results. According to O’Brien, when a student is in an emergency and presses the call box button, DPS is dispatched.
She also said DPS does a monthly audit to ensure that call boxes are in working order, and that the University is looking into doing an app-based call box system where students can send a text during an emergency instead of using the boxes.
Both Ryder and Gregory said they feel safe on campus day and night. However, they are aware that not everyone feels the way they do.
“Just because we feel safe,” Gregory said. “That does not diminish their own personal feelings of safety on campus.”
