Tag: "Butler University"

Crowded campus

By Katie Kutsko

5 Rights | staff writer

Robertson Hall | photo by Haedyn Scgalski

Butler is normally a barren campus during the summertime. College students go home, the administration is left to prepare for the next school year and there are some summer school students. But not they are not alone this summer.

“Usually during the summer it is pretty dead,” said Marc Allan, Associate Director of Public Relations at Butler University. “There is more activity this week than usual. After commencement, we wouldn’t normally see anyone but deans and admissions people. Now we’re seeing more faculty. I guess with the more modern mentality, people are always working.”

Aside from faculty, Allan said that there are three camps, members from the sororities Kappa Alpha Beta and Alpha Phi and campus visits this week — more than 800 students. The camps include a piano camp, Gadget camp and creative writing camp.

The camps integrate a college experience into younger kids’ lives and provide a week of immersive learning.

According to Piano Camp director Karen Thickstun, it provides a teaching experience for Butler students who act as counselors and teachers. She also said it makes art accessible to all different levels of expertise. Students at the Butler Piano Camp have been playing from six months to years.

“It’s not only for serious students. We believe music should be a part of your life whether you want to make it your career or not,” Thickstun said.

With a different type of student on campus during the summer, Chief of Campus Police Benjamin Hunter said that the police have to change their security. In addition to the campers, there are construction workers on campus. With two different groups of people who are not usually at Butler, the campus police focus on all students’ safety.

“There is lots of major renovation. It opens some change for us,” Hunter said. “There is a lot of movement with different contractors, and we require them to sign a sheet and sign out access keys. We also keep logs.”

The University’s goal is for students to feel safe and to enjoy the campus. Even though the camps use Butler’s facilities, the University doesn’t benefit monetarily. According to Allan, the University gains more.

“We want students to see our beautiful campus. If they like our campus and like our people, maybe they’ll decide to attend Butler,” Allan said. “We have hundreds of events on campus each year, and we’d like them to come back for a lecture or a performance. It’s not always about money. Nor should it be.”

While spending a week on Butler’s campus this summer, students will meet diverse groups of other students and be a part of a college atmosphere.

Allan said, “Butler is part of the community. We want people to feel welcome here.”

Jun 25, 2011 | 0 comments | View Post

College security cause for alarm?

Emergency call box located outside of the Fairfield Communications building at Butler University.

By Leah Johnson

5 Rights | staff writer

The issue of security is at the forefront of many universities. In recent years, some college campuses have become prone to crimes.  For most prospective college students, though, the emergency call boxes on campus provide an important sense of security.

Incoming Huntington University –located in Huntington, Indiana- freshman Paris Williams knows that the safety of her school influenced her college application process.

“Not only does Huntington have the emergency call boxes, but they also have regular patrol at all times,“ said Williams. “Since it’s a small campus, that means there is more coverage of all of the time.”

“It really depends on other factors, whether or not I would attend the university based on security. If it was especially impressive I would have to make other allowances like carrying a rape whistle or mace.”

Safety of students and staff are the first priority of Butler University. Director of public safety and Chief of Butler Police Benjamin Hunter knows that being located in a larger city poses more criminal dangers.

“Butler University is located in the 12th largest city in the country, so for us it is about the awareness and mitigating the risks,” said Hunter. “With college students it is about being proactive.”

During the summer months, Butler University Police Department is undergoing both construction and instructional changes. Butler police will be in training sessions to adequately gear up their forces for the fall. They are also building a new operation system, to prevent operating their department in a vacuum.

Although Butler is not planning on removing their emergency call boxes, other universities have begun to eliminate the system.

University of California Davis will begin taking out all 107 of their safety phones at the end of the summer.

“However, new generations of students, cellular technology and wireless 9-1-1 have made most land-line emergency phones all but obsolete,” Jill Parker, vice chancellor for safety services of the university released in a memo to the school’s executive policy team.

The university receives mostly prank calls about flats tires, instead of the intended emergency phone calls. With the increased usage of cell phones, the need for the boxes is less now than it once was.  Parker also added that the call boxes weren’t in locations that provided the necessary coverage, because they weren’t guided by the campus-wide plan.

The call boxes are among the reasons students still feel safe, despite the recent Lauren Spierer missing person case said incoming Indiana University freshman Nadia Lovko.

“The emergency call boxes definitely make me feel safer. Otherwise I wouldn’t walk around campus at night,” said Lovko. “I just got back form orientation and couldn’t go five minutes without seeing a flyer or something asking for information related to the [Lauren Spierer] incident. It certainly will make me more cautious.”

Despite the cost, call boxes still offer reassurance on many campuses.

 

Jun 25, 2011 | 0 comments | View Post