Newspapers / The news argus. / Oct. 1, 2007, edition 1 / Page 6
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
The News Argus oct. i, 2007 HOWYOUt SAFHY AVMRENESS Experts share campus safety tips that should be on the radar of every first-year college student Bv JtSSlCA MjLCETiCH McClatchx-rhbune t’s your first semester at college, and chances are it’s the first tinie you’ve been away from home for an extended period of time. You want to hang out with friends, go to parties and explore the new world of opportunities that is available to you. But there are safety risks that go along with being on your own. To help protect yourself, we talked to experts from campuses all over the country to find out what you can do to avoid some of the dangers associated with many common college situations. Our guide gives you tips and advice you can use to stay safe and still have a good time. NIGHT SAFETY Whether you’re walking back from a late-night study session or coming home from a hard night of partying, Ciimpus can be a com pletely different place when the sun sets. Students can decrease their chances of being victims of crime at night by following these lips. ■ Gel to laiow your campus and the ser vices available, says Jon Ahola, the director of public safety at Michigan Technological institute, in Houghton. Most schtxils have some fonn of a shuttJe service or an escort ser vice that operates at night to get students hoine safely. ■ Know where the emergency phones are and keep your cell phone in your hand in case you need to use it quickly, Ahola says. ■ Keep your keys in your hand so you don't waste lime digging in your purse or pockets to find them. They also can make a good weapon if necessary, Ahola says. ■ Travel in groups when you can. says Steven Healy, the presi dent of the Inlcmalional Assix;iaiion of Ciimpus Law Enforcement Administrators and director of public safety at Princeton University, in New Jersey, “'rhcre’s safely in numbers.” ■ Pay attention to areas that could be safe havens. lxK>k for areas or buildings with lots of pctjple if you need to duck in somewhere quickly, says Jerry Matthews, the director of public safety and emer gency management for Reassclaer Polytechnic Institute, in Tn>y, N.Y. AT A PARTY It’s a common college experience — students are going to go out. drink and have a gtxxl time. If you’re a freshman new to the party scene, follow this advice to keep safe when you’re out and about. ■ Go out in givups, especially if you're a female, Healy says. Go to the party and make sure you leave the party witii all the members of your group. ■ Watch out for your friends at the party. If it lixjks like they've luid too much to drink, make sure they don’t accept any other drinks people may offer them, Healy says. ■ Make sure you know where your drink came from, Healy says. Don't drink it if you didn’t pour it yourself. ■ Have a game plan before you leave, Matthews says. Set a fixed number of drinks (whether it be zero or three) for yourself and stick to it. Before you leave for the party, plan what you will say if you are offeixjd more drinks than you want. CAMPUS EMERGENCY After the tragedy at Virginia Tech, many schools are rc-evjiluating their emergency response plans. Should there he an emergency situa tion on your campus, here are some rules to follow: ■ First, make sure campus authorities can notify you of any potential problems, Healy says. Many campuscs arc implementing programs that send alerts via e-mail and text messages. If your cain- pus offers Ihe service, sign up. ■ Have emergency numbers programmed into your cell phone, including campus security, Healy says. ■ If you're in a building with a shooter, lock and/or barricade the d(X)r and call 911, Ahola says. ■ If you’re in an open space and have to run from a shcx)ter, stagger your directions, he adds. You’ll be harder to hit ihan something moving in a straight line. ■ Follow ihc advicc your schtK)l is giv ing, Healy says. They may need you to stay in your donn room, or they may need to evacuate the entire building. THEFT PROTECTION With our cell phones, iPods and BlackBerrys, we’ve become a society that’s in love with our hand held devices. They’re small, portable and carry all the infonnation we need. But their size makes them easy targets for theft. On a campus with Ions of new people, leaving your backpack on your seat while you make a bathroom run could be a costly mistake. The pros offer some suggestions on how reduce your chances of being a victim of theft, ■ Keep your dorm rcx>m d(xir l(x;ked at all times, Ahola says. No matter how long yotj’re going to be gone — even if you are just going to the bathroom — shut and kx;k the d(X)r. Don't leave your properly unattended in libraries or lecture halls either. Thieves are opponunisLs; if they see something sitting unpR)tecied, they will be more likely to snatch it, Matthews says. ■ Secure your laptop with a l(x:k and inscribe an identification number on your other small devices, Ahola says. These ID numbers m;ikc items hard to rc-sell, Healy says. ■ For expensive items, there are lags, such as the STOP ID tracking tag by Secure It ($2.5, www.secure-it.com). These are difficult to remove from the items, Healy says, but if the tag is taken off, it leaves an unnoticeable identification that can be tracked if the item is stolen. RELATIONSHIP VIOLENCE According to a 1996 smdy, one in five college stodents expcriencc some type of relationship violence in the form of physical, economic, emotional or sexual abuse, and those numbers still hold irue loday, says Shalise Bates-Prati, the director of student leadership and the Women s Resource Cenier at Randolph-Macon College, in Ashland, Va. By being aware of some red flags, you could protect yourself or a friend from being a victim of an abusive relationship. ■ If someone has a past history of multiple failed rela tionships, it may not be a sign of an abuser, but il should ai lea.st picjue interest, she says. You should wonder why so many of the person’s other relationships failed. ■ Try'ing lo downplay past violence is a definite red flag. Saying things like, “I used to hit my girlfriend, but she aggravated me,” is a sign thai this person could abuse you, Bates-Pratt says. ■ Look for outright threats of violence and more subtle signs as well, if a partner threatens to tell an embar rassing story or share private information in exchange for something, that behavior could lead to worse prob lems, she adds. ■ The tendencies to break things, throw things or grab you physically during arguments are all signs that point to an abuser. ■ Contn)lling bchavit)r (constant phone calls and text messages and showing up unannounced) as well as jeal ousy and not allowing you to hang out with other people could signal the [xitential for abusive behavior. ■ For students who know t)thers who are in a relation ship that they suspect is abusive, Bates-Pratt recommends speaking with your friend in private, in a nonconfronta- tional manner Express your concem and make your friend aware of resources that arc available. However, do not give your friend a business card or tTier that the abuser could find silting around. This has the potential to cause the behavior to escalate. ■ The RcxI Flag Campaign Web site (www.theredfiagcampaign.org) has a list of resources if you or a friend is the victim of rclaliorLship violcncc. ILLUSTRATIONS BY fRlC COODWIN AND TIM GOHEEN/MCT COLLEGE SURVIVAL GUIDE: PERSONAL SAFETY MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
Oct. 1, 2007, edition 1
6
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75