Dr. Rudin releases Campus Action Safety Plan
February 18, 2020
In light of the Pride Rock Residence Hall shooting, Dr. Rudin has enacted a campus action safety plan. Emails were sent to students, staff and faculty concerning the future of security on campus.
Released on Feb. 10, the plan includes working with increasing patrols around campus and extending shuttle hours.
Increase the number of campus-wide patrols by University Police Department personnel, with a priority on residential living areas (Initiated and will be ongoing)
Expand a campus-wide campaign to increase student, faculty and staff participation in the Pride Alert Warning System (PAWS) and Lion Safe app (Initiated and will be ongoing)
Hire additional personnel to staff the front desks at each of our residence halls to monitor 24-hour controlled-access (Initiated; currently staffed 8 AM-midnight and hiring process will begin immediately to expand hours; will be fully implemented by the end of the Spring 2020 semester)
Increase the frequency of inspections to ensure that access control hardware and software is functioning properly on all campus buildings (Initiated and will be ongoing)
Improve campus-wide lighting, with particular attention to high student traffic and residential living areas (Initiated; this will be a phased project – Phase I of improvements will be completed by Spring Break 2020; Phase II to be completed by the start of the Fall 2020 semester; Phase III to be completed by the end of the Fall 2020 semester)
Work with the Texas Department of Transportation to improve lighting along Highway 24/50 (Initiated; meetings with TXDOT initiated and ongoing; this will be a multi-year project)
Expand the hours for shuttle services on campus (Completed – on campus shuttles now run 7 AM – 10 PM)
Create a campus-wide safe-walk/buddy system program to provide safe travel for students between locations on campus (Initiated; currently hiring and training for full implementation by March 2020)
Conduct focus groups hosted by our University Police Department to hear student and community concerns and respond appropriately (Ongoing; next event March 4, 2020; scheduled quarterly moving forward)
Increase safety training and information sessions for students, faculty and staff (Ongoing; establishing an ongoing monthly schedule)
Invite the Texas Division of Emergency Management and the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service to perform an audit of our safety-related plans, policies, procedures and facilities at the university (Initiated; audit to start February 2020 with report to be issued by the end of March 2020)
The plan is available on the university website and will be updated on a monthly basis.