Campus Night Walk to Enhance Student Safety

The Student Government Association (SGA) partnered with UWG Police to host their second annual Night Walk on Tuesday, Nov. 4. Due to the recent crimes committed on and around campus, SGA and UWG Police saw the Night Walk as a necessary event to raise awareness and enhance campus safety. The event invited students, faculty and staff to join SGA Senators on a walk after dark on the paths frequented by UWG students and aimed to locate any safety concerns. Safety concerns noted on the walk included overgrown shrubbery, lack of adequate lighting and minor maintenance problems.

Participants divided into two groups; the Red Team walked the east side of campus and focused on buildings surrounding the Quad and Greek Village, while the Blue Team focused on Love Valley and the residence halls on the west side of campus.

Along the way, the groups stopped, discussed any issues they had with a particular area and brainstormed possible solutions. A member of each group photographed the areas to document the concerns, and another member marked these areas on a map.

“We noticed and documented a few areas of concern and will be working on improving those in the future for our students, faculty and staff,” said Sandra Santiago, SGA president.

SGA and UWG Police plan to combine the groups’ notes to create a map of the safest pathways around campus. These maps will then be included in brochures to distribute at Freshman Orientation and posted online as part of the SGA Marketing Campaign.

With a 645-acre campus, UWG’s Landscaping and Ground Maintenance has a lot of ground to cover, which why they always welcome student input. All of the light posts on campus have an assigned number labeled on their front facing side, so if a student is ever walking and any type safety concern, they can send in a service request form to the Work Information Center (WIC).

“So if you see a light out on campus and take a picture of the light post with its assigned number, you can email it to wic@westga.edu, and they will come out and fix it,” said Solomon Seaborn, SGA Senator.

Night Walk also served as a reminder that while some areas of campus need some work, overall our campus is one of the safest compared to larger universities in the state.

“I don’t think students realize that safety begins with them and that there are already many safe pathways,” said Stephen Whitlock, Director of Housing and Residence Life. “Of course, there is always room for improvement.”

Erin

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