The 41st annual University of Missouri Safety Walk, hosted by the Missouri Students Association and the Graduate Professional Council, took place Monday evening with a multitude of representatives, including several student organizations and campus police.
Participants were sorted into five groups to cover different routes through residential areas, main campus and Greek Town. The goal was to identify structural safety issues through campus such as lighting, low-hanging branches, broken curbs and accessibility.
The walk then headed out at 7:30 p.m. Monday. The walks historically take place at night, to allow participants to easily identify lighting outages and areas on campus that do not appear to have enough lighting options.
“Some areas, while they may be handicap-accessible, there may not be very good signage to show that that’s where you can go to get in,” Director of Student Services Zack Folk said.
Ensuring the university follows the Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines for accessibility was a main focus for the walk this year. Groups were instructed to look for wheelchair ramps to main buildings.
“The ADA accommodations for Parker Hall was the largest safety issue I saw today,” Tim Maness, a graduate assistant for the Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Center, said. “It was difficult to gain convenient access to the front of the building; there was only basement access.”
Parker Hall currently houses the MU Counseling Center, Maness said.
“On Hill Hall, they had a disability sticker but there’s no button,” said Samantha Chambers, safety coordinator for Student Services.
The sticker indicates that there should be a button that would open a door to the hall if someone were unable to open it him or herself. Hill Hall also had two unmarked doors as well.
The emergency call buttons, known as the blue light system, were another large concern. These call buttons offer direct lines to the MU Police Department, in case a student ever feels unsafe while on campus.
A blue light is designed so that at least one is seen anywhere on campus. However, many Safety Walk participants said they believe there should an increase in the number of blue lights, and several noted that the blue lights should be replaced as they faded to yellow.
The West Campus route found a major safety issue in a broken manhole cover.
The manhole lacked a lock and was bent in several areas, which would allow anyone access to the tunnels below.
“Students can get hurt, if it doesn’t get fixed,” assistant director of special projects Samantha Franks said. “It’s one of those things that happens probably overnight, and then it’s really hard to find. I think that was a good catch.”
[Greek Town has been an ongoing issue in past safety walks](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2013/10/2/annual-safety-walk-highlights-issues-lighting-gree/). This year’s walk featured an emphasis on accessibility issues.
“The roads and sidewalks in Greek Town are very bad,” Folk said. “We are hoping to talk with City Council to help improve that and get that on their radar.”
MU Campus Facilities staff were especially diligent in noting lighting outages and said they promised a quick fix. The consensus on lighting was that the newer, LED lights were preferred as they made the areas seem better lit.
“The lighting, in general, is probably the biggest all-encompassing campus issue,” Franks said. “But they’re really responsive, so that’s nice.”
Each group was accompanied by at least one member of MUPD to “get people’s views on safety and to answer any questions people may have and address concerns,” MUPD captain Brian Weimer said.
The results from this year’s Safety Walk will be compiled into an annual safety report, Folk said.
“(This is sent out to) a ton of different people on campus, Campus Facilities, ResLife, MUPD,” Folk said. “Pretty much anyone that has a stake in keeping campus safe and could do anything to improve campus, it’s reported too. It’s also published on the MSA website. That way everyone on campus can know exactly what safety issues are on campus and hold everybody accountable for those.”