As the semester draws to a close, it is often a time for many students to reflect on the past three months as a whole: the ups, the downs, the good, the bad and the ugly. The semester is different for each student, but the fall semester, in particular, had many students concerned about one thing — safety.

In September, a fight broke out near McLean Hall involving several individuals not associated with the university. It also resulted in multiple arrests and injury to one of the responding officers. In October, an assault occurred near the Spiritual Center. That same week, a gas leak forced an evacuation from the Luhrs Performing Arts Center, and an alleged gas leak caused a similar evacuation from the Dauphin Humanities Center.

Many students of color raised their concern in November following the Homecoming festivities regarding the prominent police presence found off-campus. However, the university expressed that it had no control over the abundance of Pennsylvania State Police.

Students want changes made to the current state of the campus, and one of the organizations that can make those changes happen is the Student Government Association.

“Certain members of the campus feel as though their needs are not being met for their own safety,” SGA President Harun Pacavar said when asked what concerns students have brought to the attention of the organization. He continued, “Through SGA, we’ve been trying to conduct much more communication with campus police and talking to the new chief of police Pat Taylor to be more transparent about the police presence on campus.”

“Safety is a huge thing, whether it be for SGA or for a student overall, but when those issues are addressed to us, that’s something that SGA is always thriving to keep a transparent line of communication open with this organization,” Pacavar explained.

The Student Government Association is optimistic that it can keep up with the student body’s concerns, but PAGE Center Peer Educator Jenna Cornell thinks there is a lot more work that can be done. When asked about how safe she feels at Shippensburg, Cornell responded with a hesitant “maybe.” She elaborated further with, “Because I’m so connected on campus and because of my work, I know a lot of the forces that are out there for me and a lot of the behind-the-scenes work that a lot of the departments are doing to create a safer campus community. However, through the lens of a woman who has natural fears and knows the general statistics of campus violence, I still know that it happens and it’s still out there.”

To further understand what safety measures are needed to make the campus safer, Pacavar, along with Chief Pat Taylor, advisers Kim Rockwell and Lorie Davis-Sheetz, and the ELC, conducted a campus safety walk in December. Pacavar said the biggest concern they hope to address with the walk is the issue of installing more blue lights on campus. Pacavar expressed, “The biggest thing SGA can do is advocate for that. There isn’t much administrative work we can do for that, but that’s why we’re here for the voices of all students to address what needs to be done.”

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