Campus parking lots and sidewalks may become a bit more blue at night.That’s because the ETSU Safety Committee recently voted to recommend the addition of 18 new emergency phones on campus.

The addition would consist of a combination of both red box and blue light tower phones, said Dan O’Brien, director of environmental health and safety at ETSU.

The blue light phones are easy to spot and can be beneficial in an emergency. Since the phones are connected through a network of fiber optic cable, Public Safety is able to automatically respond to a caller and knows where they are.

“We know where the location is, so if a person cannot talk, we know to send officers to that area,” said Public Safety Lieutenant Michael Orr.

Orr also says it’s important for students to remember that the phones are for emergencies only. He asks that those who may be in need of an escort or help with a dead car battery, etc., use their cell phones to call Public Safety at 423-439-4480.

The locations of new phones came from suggestions by both the safety committee and the Student Government Association. “Basically, what we’ve done is to continue to look at our campus and survey areas to see where would be a good location based on coverage,” O’Brien said.

Some of these proposed locations include the parking lots across from both the Centennial Hall dorms and the Administration Building (Burgin Dossett Hall) and lots 11, 12, 13 and 14 off J.L. Seehorn Jr. Road and Southwest Avenue, near Governors Hall dorms and Buccaneer Ridge Apartments. The walkway around the Summers-Taylor Soccer Complex has also been marked to receive some additional phones.

The reality is, not all 18 of the recommended phones may be installed. “All of these are proposed locations which depend on the budget,” O’Brien said in a phone interview.

Each phone installation cost is different because of the need for both fiber optic cable and electricity. The safety committee has to prioritize the ordering in which the phones are installed in case there isn’t enough money to complete all of the proposed phone projects.

After putting the suggested locations in some type of order, the committee will then begin to look at the cost. Often, isolated areas are the ones in need of emergency phones the most, running the costs up significantly.

For example, O’Brien says an emergency blue phone costs about $3,500.

When the safety committee decided to add a phone near the soccer field, the fiber optic cable and electricity costs were more than the phone itself, totaling about $4,500.

The budget for emergency preparedness has decreased since ETSU had to make extreme budget cuts because of the lagging economy. An increase in funds for emergency preparedness occurred after the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007, which is when the university was able to implement the GoldAlert and alarm systems, O’Brien said.

Installation of the new blue phones will probably begin in the early part of the spring semester, O’Brien said.

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