If you have ever felt unsafe on the LSU campus, you are not alone.
It’s no secret that Baton Rouge isn’t a safe city and LSU students and women are turning to alternative safety measures such as online apps.
On-campus safety should not be the sole responsibility of students. Although LSU has on-campus police 24/7, there is more that could be done to improve security on campus and make students feel safer.
One such way would be an implementation of the blue light system, which is a series of phone stations placed in strategic locations throughout campus where students can push a button and receive immediate assistance, according to caseemergencysystems.com. Over 90% of college campuses across America implement this system, according to a special report on campus law enforcement made by the U.S. Department of Justice. LSU does not count on one of these systems but instead offers an alternative through the LSU Shield app.
“I got the Shield app in my freshmen year, but it felt outdated, and I’ve never used it,” said Brianna Matthews, a fashion merchandising senior.
“I felt like I needed something else to rely on,” she said. “I started using the Noonlight app last semester because I can use it anywhere, not just on campus.”
The Noonlight app is a safety app that works by pressing on your smartphone’s screen whenever you are in an unsafe situation, and when released, emergency responders will be dispatched to your exact location. If safe, users have 10 seconds to enter a pin number, and the alarm will be canceled, according to noonlight.com.
On the other hand, the blue light system would not only provide students with an emergency resource but also serve as a warning for nearby offenders and criminals.
LSU’s safety on campus could also improve if the system were implemented, not to mention it would at least give students peace of mind. Updating and simplifying the LSU Shield app is also another step LSU could take to help students feel more likely to use the app.
Extending the LSU bus schedule would also help with student safety on campus, as there are currently only two night routes that run when the day buses stop.
To help women get safe rides home when alone on campus, a GroupMe called LSU Girls Rides has been created to provide secure rides at any time, according to reporting from the Reveille. Personal information must first be submitted to join the GroupMe, and volunteer drivers must first be approved by the admin.
While female students are taking proactive measures to feel safer on campus, LSU should proactively provide new alternatives to ensure that safety.
Isabella Albertini is 23-year-old mass communications major from Lima, Peru.