SGA And OSPS To Host Campus Safety Walk

Liberty University’s Student Government Association (SGA) and Office of Security and Public Safety (OSPS) will be hosting the third annual Campus Safety Walk at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 29 beginning at the marching band field on South Campus.

The Campus Safety Walk will serve as a time for students to point out areas around South Campus that they feel could be made safer. A subset of every department from OSPS will be in attendance to document the areas that students deem unsafe so that changes may be made. Changes in the past have included the addition of another Blue, Light, lighting adjustments and a new bus stop.

Student Body President Isaac Kantola said SGA desires to partake in the Campus Safety Walk to show students that they genuinely care for the safety of the student body. Kantola said that SGA will work alongside administration in order to make the changes to the areas students point out during the walk.

“We want this to be one of the safest campuses in the United States,” Kantola said.

OSPS Vice President Marcus Tinsley said that it is important to have student input when making safety changes to campus because the students may notice things that the staff of OSPS may have not considered.

“The person who walks it every night … or every day, they live it,” Tinsley said. “They will have a different perspective than I have just through the normal course of life.”

In addition to documenting the safety concerns from the students, Tinsley said that the Campus Safety Walk is an opportunity for OSPS to “gain an additional level of trust and actual camaraderie with the students.

“We want to break down that wall with police officers, with emergency management, with all of safety individually,” Tinsley said. “We want that wall gone. We don’t want to be siloed off. We want our community to say, ‘Go talk to them because they will help. They have our best interest at heart.’”

John-Wesley Sloan, the senior community engagement analyst of Emergency Management and Community Engagement, said a survey will be sent to each student who attends the walk so they can list any concerns that they may not have thought of during the event.

On a lighthearted note, Kantola said that Nomad Coffee will be available at the event so students may purchase their favorite drink to carry along with them as they help to make Liberty’s campus safer.

Sturek is the campus news editor for the Liberty Champion.