College Bolsters Safety (Part II)
By Patrick Fitzgerald/Social Media Director
Using a three-prong approach, City College aims to enhance campus safety, increase awareness and be responsive to distressed student’s needs by utilizing better technology, consulting an interdisciplinary strategy board and providing more targeted information to support and restore acutely stressed students.
“So much of the distress people have is a fear of assault,” instructor and Project SURVIVE team member Amber Straus said. “We’re 70 percent people of color at this institution and when you watch the news and when you see Michael Brown, you see Sandra Bland, and you see escalating violence perpetrated by police, that’s not going to make our student population feel safer.”
Implementing two new systems
Arrangements are being finalized on two new systems to enhance communications within the college community. One is an alert system to instantaneously warn everyone of acutely dangerous situations that occur.
The second activates a computer automated dispatch system (CADS) to expedite appropriate communications between departments dealing with distressed individuals. Both systems would be administered through the student development office.
It is still being discussed which instructor or staff person could file a distressed student report with CADS including campus police. Using CADS, a student’s identity and brief background might only be disclosed to campus police and a student’s complete records could be withheld to protect their privacy. Student health services may get a more detailed student profile to provide the appropriate, holistic, supportive services.
New emphasis on safety
A recent attempted kidnapping on Oct. 13, in which the Rosenberg Library was evacuated, and other college incidents nationwide, exposed a need for a more resilient safety system within City College. This and an anecdotal report of mildly increasing incidents involving distressed students and campus police, have prompted administrative action to augment the Distressed Student Response Protocol.
Interim Vice Chancellor Samuel Santos is head of student development and is primarily in charge of campus safety. He engages other key groups to improve communication, identify trends and concerns, enhance training and implement prevention and intervention strategies that promote health, wellness and safety.
Santos regularly consults a 12-member College Assessment, Intervention, and Response (CAIR) Team to identify safety issues from a broad swath of the campus community including campus police, health and counseling services, administration, faculty and staff.
Becky Perelli, interim CAIR team chair and director of student health services, is a key member of the team and unofficially serves as a communication liaison for the board and the college community.
The scope of the CAIR team’s agenda is broad. Topics of consideration vary from fire and earthquake safety to bomb threats and active shootings. All have the increased underlying safety goal of thoroughly permeating the campus culture.
Campus police and health services
Campus police become involved with distressed students either directly over behavioral and criminal issues, or indirectly when instructors turn to them for support in classroom situations.
“For us, being aware of how to respond to certain individuals who have been considered disruptive, having a little bit of their history so we can approach them…in a certain manner; might be more effective and alleviate the situation,” public information officer Tiffany Green of the campus police said. Currently, the campus department does not keep a blog on disruptive students.
Oftentimes student health services, especially counseling, are also called to respond to student behavioral issues. Through training and experience, they provide a broader understanding into the of student stress and are able to initiate treatment plans to address distressed student needs when necessary.
City College, as an institution under Santos, is actively engaged in finding workable solutions to deal with campus safety throughout the system to address the multifaceted safety concern that environment presents.
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Send an email to: Patrick Fitzgerald
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