The AU Department of Public Safety is promoting its free techniques of updating students about safety concerns on and around campus, according to DPS Chief Michael McNair.
Last spring, AU decided to automatically include all students in the Rave program, a part of the AU Campus Connect service that reaches students through text messages, voicemails and e-mail alerts that warn students about safety incidents on and around campus, McNair said.
This program is now not only free, but also no longer Sprint-specific, McNair said. "It's more generic now and able to be used more," he said.
In addition, Rave Guardian is a phone feature that includes a timer for students who are walking on campus late at night, said McNair. It automatically alerts DPS with a picture of the student, his or her phone number, and in certain cases medical information if the student takes longer to walk back than he or she should, he said.
While DPS mostly implemented these changes last spring, they have not publicized them until this semester, McNair said.
DPS is required by law to do this outreach because of changes made this spring to the national law called the Clery Act, named for 19-year-old university freshman Jeanne Clery who was raped and murdered in her residence hall room in 1986.
The original Clery Act, which is concerned with public safety on university campuses, was passed in 1990 with vague language that made it difficult to enforce, according to McNair. This spring, the rules were solidified, resulting in the enhancements of DPS communication systems, said McNair.
"Of course, it's an unfunded mandate -- Congress passed it but didn't provide any funds for it," said McNair.
These changes affect students like Silvana Angeli, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, who said that she was deterred from getting Rave because she had Verizon service instead of Sprint. The cost also made her hesitant to sign up.
"If it was free, I wouldn't mind knowing when there are criminals out and about," Angeli said.
Coward said that she did not sign up for the text messages because as a Resident Assistant, she felt that she would already be informed through another avenue if safety issues needed addressing.
"I only have the e-mail set up at AU because if there's anything big going on, I'll have heard about it anyway," she said.
Crime in D.C. usually occurs away from AU in other areas of the city, according to McNair.
"The farther you get from campus, the more crime you'll see ... [District 2] historically has the lowest crime rate in the city," he said.
DPS currently filters the information they get from the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPDC) to give AU students updates regarding crime in proximity to the campus or that would somehow impact a student or faculty member, McNair said.
But for more detail concerning neighborhood safety, the MPDC also provides free ways to check safety concerns on the Internet, according to The Washington Post.
In March 2004, the MPDC set up eight online Yahoo! discussion groups -- one for each district of D.C. -- and there are currently over 6,000 people signed up for the seven district Yahoo! Groups.
Yvonne Smith, director of Community Services and Youth Outreach, is the creator of the Yahoo! Group site for Division 2, where AU is located.
"Yahoo! Groups allows users to communicate 24 hours a day with police," she said in an e-mail statement. "The listserv would allow students to see any crime trends or crime alerts in the area, which we hope will also serve as a learning tool for do's and don't's."
Blair Coward, a senior in AU's School of International Service, said, "I think it's easier because you can send an e-mail at your leisure any time."
You can reach this staff writer at mfowler@theeagleonline.com.
