President Noland talks student safety on and off campus

Students living on and off campus may have differences in how they feel about safety. It is important to not only all faculty members on campus that students feel safe, but it is also President Brian Noland’s priority that students feel safe while they attend ETSU.

Noland shared his thoughts about how he feels about campus’s standard of safety.

“I’ve had the honor to be president here now for a number of years and I’m really proud of the work we have done as a campus to create an environment on campus that is supportive, inclusive and safe,” Noland said. “The things that I see every day in my crime reports look very different than the things that my colleagues at other institutions see in their crime reports.”

From walking someone to their dorm, someone getting locked out of their car, to changing a flat tire, ETSU Public Safety does these things for students every day.

“We have a campus that looks at public safety in an embraced way rather than a combative way,” Noland said. “We have worked pretty hard on-campus to create an environment where safety and security are paramount.”

Noland described off-campus safety as a more complicated situation.

“The challenge for students is that a lot of our students live off-campus, and there is that expectation that we’re going to have the same set of rules there than we have here on-campus,” Noland said.

Although there is not the same set of rules off campus, Noland explained campus has been partnering with the Johnson City Police Department in the areas of Monarch Apartments and University Edge Apartments.

“We’ve increased patrols and enforcement in the baseball parking lot,” Noland said. “A lot of cars parked there did not have ETSU stickers, and those cars are now going to be towed.”

Noland shared his own statement about recent incidents specifically at Monarch Apartments.

“I’m extremely concerned about the things that have transpired at Monarch over the course of the past few years, but so has the community.” Noland said. “I know the management firm from Monarch has heard that, they have assured us that they are going to change their operating procedures.”

Noland believes it is imperative for students to stay vigilant and keep their safety a priority off campus.

“It’s an environment in which we can’t keep you safe on our own, you will have to work together as a community so that things come from the bottom up,” Noland said.

Noland presented how on-campus living in college can be a better choice for students struggling to decide where to live while they attend college.

“If you live on-campus, you have the support of your community, we’ve put in place a whole infrastructure to give you an environment in which you have the opportunity to realize your dreams,” Noland said.

Looking at the current spring semester, Noland listed things that are helping students to make them feel safer on campus.

“We’ve increased the number of security cameras across campus, so that way if something does happen, we’ve got the ability to go back and watch that video to deconstruct the scene,” Noland said. “We’ve also done things with key swipes and entrances on new buildings that allow us to get a sense of who is coming into buildings.”

Technology advancement is another way of making one feel safe on campus. The ETSU app is available for download on both iPhone and Android. Students can use the app to report a tip, get information on emergency plans and even request a friend walk to their destination.

For more information on student safety or the ETSU Safe app, visit etsu.edu/safety/etsu_safe.php.