By Cory Cole
Armed with only glow sticks and light-up foam batons, students hit the streets Wednesday to ensure the USF St. Petersburg campus was safe and secure.
The evening marked the fifth annual Night Time Safety Walk hosted by the Safety and Compliance Department. The event took place from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Guy VanAsten, safety and compliance officer, feels that this is one of the best ways to help secure the campus.
“If I’m going to be the safety guy, we need to identify things 24/7,” he said.
VanAsten, formerly a part of the facilities department on campus, said that after accepting the position in Safety and Compliance he knew students and faculty should be involved in keeping the campus safe.
“No one knows the campus better than those who are always on it all the time,” he said.
VanAsten wants students and faculty to participate in finding the troubled areas around campus – this was the driving force behind the walk.
But how does the Safety Walk work?
Participants are divided into small teams with one team leader. Each team is given a map of the area, a list of possible issues to identify and sent on their way. The teams look for issues like low-light areas, light outages, ambush areas, tripping hazards, and any other broken or unsafe items on campus.
Afterward, a list with high- to low-priority issues is made and sent to facilities for repair.
“(It was) surprising how many lights were out,” said senior business major Ryan Klein. Klein said that most of the lights that were out were around the campus parking garage, which is an area with heavy traffic.
VanAsten stressed the importance of the Night Time Safety Walk because everything looks different at nighttime, the Safety Walk helps ensure that nothing gets overlooked.
In past walks there have been around 25 to 30 participants. Michelle Penn, the safety specialist of the Safety and Compliance office, said the event was a great success and that the free pizza offered at the end always helps draw people out.
However, Penn and VanAsten said that finding the right time for the event so that it will draw a large turnout is the biggest struggle because other campus events can sometimes take precedence.
This year, the campus hosted the debate “Is abortion morally acceptable?” between local anti-abortion activist Scott Mahurin and philosophy professor John Miller, at the same time as the safety walk. With such a controversial topic discussed, both Penn and VanAsten said they would not be surprised if they lost potential participants because of it.
