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Dorm project starts Oct. 4
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by Megan Costello
Wednesday, September 1, 2004
The ongoing project for University of Wisconsin officials and students to improve safety on campus recently took a step forward.
A new electronically monitored door-access system and door security cameras were added to Sellery, Witte, Ogg and Chadbourne residence halls at the end of spring semester.
Paul Evans, UW Housing Director, said the new cameras record images to help aid investigations of illegal activities. The door locks will ensure all doors remain locked and alert security personnel if any door is propped open, he said.
Evans said the installations are part of a project that will eventually create a campus-wide central lock-monitoring system.
“This is not a simple project at all,” he said. “We hope to have all the [housing] buildings done by fall of 2006.”
UW is continuing to do what it has done in the past, which includes fine-tuning and expanding security for the future, according to Kevin Helmkamp, Assistant Director of Residence Life for UW Housing.
“We are looking at all buildings and figuring out the what needs to be done,” Helmkamp said. “This includes designating some minimally used external doors, which currently lead directly to living areas, as emergency exits.”
For a former Sellery house fellow, who requested not to be identified, the new measures are a good start, but not enough.
“Security is definitely in need of improvement,” he said. “[UW Housing] needs to take a look at the larger picture in order to prevent problems and not just wait until they have already happened.”
The house fellow said he feels too much money can never be spent when it comes to safety and security in the residence halls.
“Maybe it’s overkill, but for that one female student who can’t take care of herself, the university needs to do whatever it can to prevent something bad from happening to her,” he said.
He also mentioned that adding security cameras to elevators and stairwells would be an important and necessary improvement. So would employing a full-time security person to monitor them live, rather than watching tapes after occurrences, he said.
Evans said enhanced educational programs for residents are another goal they are trying to meet. One step would be to send out materials about safety to students.
“We are always looking to improve and figure out better ways to make students aware of their roll in their own safety and security,” Evans said. “We also hope to discover a way to make students more aware of unsafe situations, [many of which] have to do with their own use of alcohol.”
Todd Kuschel, assistant chief of UW Police, also said that when it comes to improving campus safety, prevention is much more difficult without proper education.
Kuschel said the Residence Hall Officer Liaison program assigns volunteer officers to specific residence halls to meet with students and get to know them a little better.
“It is not always to the benefit of the community to write tickets or make arrests,” Kuschel said. “Sometimes education, prevention or intervention can create a long-term solution instead of a short-term one.”
Another former house fellow, Sam Alper, agrees the residence halls were basically as secure as the residents and house fellows make it.
“Everyone takes a giant responsibility,” Alper said. “If people get lazy, it isn’t as safe. If people are letting [strangers] in without keys, security systems aren’t going to do anything about that.”
