Boston University’s Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore and members of the BU Police Department hosted a Town Hall Safety Meeting Wednesday night at the College of General Studies to address safety concerns both on and off campus.
Thomas Robbins, chief of BUPD, led the discussion by addressing one of BUPD’s prominent worries on campus: the delay of reports on issues and concerns.
“What worries me is that when we get issues reported to us, there is usually a delay,” Robbins said. “No matter what the issue is, individuals who report usually, unfortunately, wait till the next day to report it to us. Whereas if we get that information on a timely basis, we can act on it right away.”
The speakers focused on the manner of timeliness by which BUPD has tackled past issues, how students can act to ensure better safety for themselves and others and the benefits of the resources offered on campus to accommodate students’ needs.
BUPD is in the midst of its annual Public Safety Week, and spent time at the meeting fielding feedback about the services that they provide and promoting safety for students both on and off campus.
A member of the audience inquired about BUPD’s communication with Boston government officials dealing with matters that are predominantly controlled by government authorities, rather than campus police, such as traffic concerns or pedestrian issues.
Robbins assured that BUPD’s efforts are very strong in areas in which the government, specifically Boston Mayor Martin Walsh’s office, has more control.
“We have governmental affairs, which works really well with the mayor’s office,” he said. “We will go to the city and ask, ‘This is a concern. Will someone look into it?’ Your voice is heard, and we have a good relationship with the mayor’s office.”
Elmore urged students to take more action themselves and encouraged students to vote.
“You don’t understand how powerful that is,” he said. “When someone in City Hall looks through votes, they will concern themselves with an area in the city where 1,000 people vote, as opposed to the BU area where only a few students, hypothetically, may vote.”
At the conclusion of the talk, Elmore invited students to attend Coffee and Conversation on Friday at 3 p.m. in the Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground to examine issues raised by the situation in Ferguson, Missouri, where a grand jury will decide in the upcoming weeks whether the police officer, Darren Wilson, who shot and killed Michael Brown, will be indicted or not.
The session will include “conversations and reflections in an environment in which we don’t indict each other,” Elmore said.
Several students who attended the meeting acknowledged the importance of the town hall gatherings to allow members of the student body to be able to express their thoughts and reactions to current events, such as the Ferguson incident, as well as general safety concerns on campus.
“I’ve never thought about it [the incident in Ferguson, Missouri] as something that could affect us here at BU,” said Taylor Lemieux, a sophomore in the School of Hospitality Administration. “When there are any social problems, however, people on campus do tend to express themselves in very prominent ways, from what I’ve noticed in the past. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were people wanting to express their reactions to the verdict on campus.”
Maya Vural, a freshman in Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, said it is important for BU to spread awareness on issues that perhaps may be more distant to the community.
“Such events make people more informed about issues and create further awareness for them,” she said. “They make it more of an issue, even though it may not be occurring directly in front of us.”
Anna Fang, a junior in the College of Communication, said meetings such as the town hall gathering, as well as Coffee and Conversation, can be helpful and beneficial to students to feel safer on campus.
“They should have more talks like this,” she said. “Many students face problems both on and off campus, and they should know to take advantage of resources like those provided by BU and BUPD, especially online, in order to solve and attend to these problems.”
