The Boston University Student Union is seeking to make the Charles River Campus safer by urging the BU Police Department and administrators to add more blue light emergency call boxes and improve street lighting.
South Campus, Bay State Road and the stretch of Beacon Street between Danielsen Hall and Myles Standish Hall would benefit from safety recommendations the Union is preparing, said
Union Campus Safety Committee Chairman Leo Gameng.
A meeting between the Union and the BUPD is planned for next week, Union President Adil Yunis said.
Gameng said the Union wants to add lights to heavily shaded campus areas and revamp the campus Escort Security Service.
“We need to show students that we want to keep them safe,” Gameng said. “Most of the assaults happen in areas where there is less lighting.”
Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore told The Daily Free Press last semester that members of the Union, BUPD and other school departments conduct a Safety Walk each semester to find problem spots on campus, such as dark areas where tree growth obstructs lighting or not enough streetlights are installed.
Increasing lighting is within Boston’s jurisdiction, he said.
“We call [the city] every chance we get when we receive a complaint,” Elmore said. “We are limited in terms of what we can do.”
School of Education sophomore and Bay State Road resident Jackie Sevasta said she supports the Union’s recommendations.
“I don’t think I’ve ever even noticed [call boxes] in South,” she said. “I realize that there are more upper classmen living over there, but it’s still part of the campus and it feels a lot less safe.”
Gameng said the Union plans to improve the Escort Security Service by implementing community patrolling after dark. He said he hopes the escorts’ presence will further decrease crime.
The Union is also working with various state departments to reach its goals, he added.
“Since we are a very open campus and we have to deal with Brookline, Cambridge and Boston, trying to get everyone on the same page is very difficult,” Gameng said. “But the BUPD is very strong, [and our partners] are making strikes to advocate for the university.”
Though the campus crime rate has remained steady in recent years, BUPD Sgt. Jack St. Hilaire said the department supports the Union’s recommendations.
St. Hilaire said call boxes are a “great tool” for urban campuses because non-university residents as well as students use them. He said people with cell phones should also have the BUPD emergency number on speed dial as an extra precaution.
St. Hilaire said BU is relatively safe compared to other urban campuses and that safety concerns are inherent in all urban and suburban colleges.
“Whether you’re in a small college, closed environment or in the city, it’s impossible to ensure 100 percent safety of anybody,” he said.
Angela Marie Latona contributed reporting to this article.
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