Friday, August 17, 2007
New students and their parents don’t have new concerns about safety at the University of Kansas — or, at least, they didn’t show any at orientation sessions.
“We thought after the Virginia Tech tragedy we’d have more questions about it,” said Kristin Trendell, director of new student orientation, “but it was about the same.”
Security has increased on campus this year. Students and parents who attended new student orientation learned about new technologies being used.
That came as a shock to the orientation staff. They spent up to two hours researching campus security before presentations, Trendell said.
The lack of questioning followed a national trend. According to an Associated Press article, parents and students at colleges such as University of Florida, University of Georgia and even Virginia Tech had the same level of interest as always about security precautions.
At the University, parents and students might not have needed to ask questions: Safety has always been one of the main topic at orientation sessions, Trendell said.
Each session included a segment called “Making Smart Choices.” It featured speakers from the KU Public Safety Office, Emily Taylor Women’s Resource Center and Watkins Memorial Health Center, Trendell said.
Orientation workers also gave parents and incoming students information about new safety technology this summer. Trendell said they emphasized a text messaging alert system. That system allows students to receive a text message from the school during an emergency. The staff tried to get students to turn in their phone numbers at the sessions so they could immediately be placed on the emergency list.
Orientation sessions also included talks about new security at student housing. Jennifer Wamelink, associate director for student life, said the housing department did hear a few more questions from parents at the sessions. The presentersexplained a new card system that will allow only students who live in the residence halls to enter the building. Wamelink said the University hoped to install the new systems by the end of the academic year. She said the housing department chose to use the system partially because of the incident at Virginia Tech.
“That caused everyone to pause,” Wamelink said. “It was something we talked about before, but that let us move ahead.”
Now that school has started and the orientation sessions have ended, it’s up to students to stay safe. The orientation staff is confident students learned enough through the presentations and the usual amount of questioning.
— Edited by Ashlee Kieler
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