Acting Chancellor William Jenkins told students Wednesday that safety is his top priority.
About six students asked questions in front of Middleton Library about the campus during “Chats with the Chancellor.”
“When I hear a siren coming on this campus, I get cold chills,” Jenkins said. “My staff now knows, wherever I am, I want to hear what it is.”
He said he worked with the LSU Police Department and the Baton Rouge Police Department soon after System President John Lombardi asked him to serve as acting chancellor.
“My difficulty is I cannot ever guarantee a 100 percent security for every student,” Jenkins said. “We’re going to do the very best we can, and I can’t pretend to do that and know it’s not doable.”
Laura Bratcher, public relations senior and former Daily Reveille columnist, said she is scared to leave her job to go to her car at night.
“I feel like if I’m paying to live on campus, I should be guaranteed some safety there,” Bratcher said, who is also the student manager for the Information Center in the Student Union.
Jenkins responded to Bratcher’s concern by encouraging students to call LSUPD if they would prefer to be escorted.
Bratcher also raised concerns about Campus Transit. She said Campus Transit has repeatedly told her they will not pick her up in front of the Union. Instead, they have told Bratcher they will pick her up on Tower Drive between the Union and Coates Hall. “If it’s 11 o’clock at night, I don’t want to have to walk out there and wait 20 minutes for Campus Transit to come,” Bratcher said. Eric Monday, associate vice chancellor of Finance and Administrative Services, said they recently made an arrangement with Campus Transit to call people when they arrive.
Jenkins also addressed the necessity to raise the quality of life on campus.
“This campus has so much to offer,” Jenkins said. “We have to work on our quality of life – it’s not the same old same old.”
Jeffrey Noel, mass communication freshman, asked Jenkins now he felt about the move of the Kirby Smith Hall from Residential Life to the University’s administration.
Jenkins joked that Kirby Smith Hall was never his favorite.
“The issue is not only the incoming freshmen,” Jenkins said. “What are we going to do about the upperclassmen? They have to have comfortable and reasonable accommodations.”
Lauren Stuart, economics senior, and Megan Sharkey, biochemistry senior, asked Jenkins what his opinion was about the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment.
The Presidents Climate Commitment is an effort by national universities and colleges to address global warming by neutralizing greenhouse gas emissions.
“I don’t want to make promises to you and sign a document that in two years time, I have to say we can’t do this,” Jenkins said. “If we do this, we have to do it right.”
Robert Hoch, political science junior, asked Jenkins what would be the right thing to do if the University received more money.
“Great universities depend on great professors and great students,” Jenkins responded. “The fact is, the measurement of your students is after graduation. In 20 years time, your success will say whether we prepared you or not.”
Jenkins said if the University does receive more money, one of the things he would do is hire better professors.
“We need to get scholarships that can supplement TOPS,” Jenkins said. “We need to attract other students who are not going to be TOPS eligible but at the same time add to our community.”
Jenkins also said the University has to keep up with technology because they could lose the competitive advantage over other schools.
“It is amazing what we’ve accomplished with the appropriations we’ve had,” Jenkins said.
—-Contact J.J. Alcantara at [email protected]