ssues & ideas EDITOR ROBERTO TEIXEIRA THE VOICE, THURSDAY, NOV. 10, 2016 7 Campus safety awareness needed Despite feeling safe at college, students want more information about school policies MELANIE GREEN photo ilustration Walking alone at night can be scary for some students and they would benefit from the use of the service provided by security. Safe Walk an underused service Harassment reported on campus With conversations around the subject, students now know how and where to report an assault By CLARE HENNIG come to light again after the pho- tography department at Langara sent an email to students warning them about of a man hanging around the hallways and aggressively hitting on women. The report comes at a time when sexual assault is at the forefront of con- versation at the college, as they final- ize a draft of a new sexual misconduct policy. The photography department de- clined to comment, although students confirmed the email. “Tm frustrated that it happened, that there was a guy leering and being pushy, overstepping the boundaries,” said Stephanie Hunter, a second year photography student. “It kind of caught me off-guard, this is a safe place for learning [and] it’s gross that someone would do that.” Another — sec- ond-year photog- raphy — student, Te issue of sexual harassment has 66 Contradictory information confuses students about Iwasalit- _ the service provided by tle scared security on campus walking to my park- By MELANIE GREEN ing spot. aylight savings are over, nights So now I are coming sooner and student 3 safety becomes a greater con- don’t park cern at Langara College. on Ontario MARIA PETROVA CONTINUING STUDIES LANGUAGE STUDENT The security department on cam- pus has a service called Safe Walk, which allows students to have a secu- rity guard accompany them to a bus stop, SkyTrain station, or vehicle near Langara. Speaking through the manager of communications and marketing Mark Dawson, the head of security at Lang- ara, David Aucoin, stated via email that “Safe Walk is used approximately 20 times a year.” There were no offi- cial statistics available, however. The program “is a huge benefit if people want to use it,” said Aucoin, manager of safety, security & emer- gency management at Langara. How- ever, out of 20 students asked, one knew it existed, even though signs are posted throughout the campus hall- ways. Langara continuing studies student, Jodi Ponto, stays late on campus but has not felt unsafe. “Last term, some of our instructors told us about it [Safe Walk] because I think a woman had been attacked near the SkyTrain sta- tion,” she said. According to a VPD report, two attacks happened last year, one near West 48th Avenue and Manitoba Street on Jan. 28, and an- other near Columbia Park at West 42nd Avenue between Alberta and Co- lumbia Street on Feb. 4. The posters state that Safe Walk op- erates every half an hour from 6:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. However, security staff says that a call is needed to book a Safe Walk appointment. “Tf a call goes unanswered, the indi- vidual should go directly to the secu- rity office,” said Aucoin via email. This presents a problem for stu- dents, especially if their class is on the other side of campus late at night. Maria Petrova, a continuing studies language student at Langara, was not aware of the service. “I was a little scared walking to my parking spot. So now I don’t park on Ontario [Street].” Jena Laroy, said she was pleased with how the pho- tography depart- ment dealt with the concern. “I liked that they — STEPHANIEHUNTER sent outtheemail Second year pho- andtoldeveryone tography student what was going on,” she said. r4 4 Harassment is more common Jhisisa than assault but generally re SS af ep lace ceives less atten- for learn- tion. f “TSexual — ha- ing [ and] rassment is] not {f’s gross reported as much h as we'd like,” said that some- Maggie Ross, one would manager of stu- do that Emergency plan ready, but few know of it Langara has policies on its website, but students think the college should work to raise more awareness By CHELSEA POWRIE cedures ready in case the campus is ever threatened by a violent assault on campus, such as the stabbing at Ab- botsford Senior Secondary earlier this month. In recent years, several campuses in North America - from elementary schools to colleges — have been targeted by assailants with firearms and other weapons. In the event of an active shooter, the Leics College has emergency pro- blue emergency assistance towers lo- cated throughout the campus grounds will broadcast information and instruc- tions, as will interior ceiling speakers in classrooms and buildings, according to the college’s website. The head of se- curity at Langara, David Aucoin, did not respond to a late request by The Voice by press time. Though she had never considered this before, Rachel Empson, a Langara student, said she thinks the college should better explain what to do in case of a violent act on campus. According to her, Langara could put some posters up — just like they are doing with the new sexual harassment policy - to raise awareness among students. “T wouldn’t want to see an increase in security just for show. Langara, I guess, could maybe advertise that they have a policy, because I didn’t know,” said Empson. Glen Magel, director of safety and se- curity at BCIT, said that the problem of dealing with violent incidents is that they are over in seconds, but the conse- quences are lasting. “The very difficult part is how do you take your community back after you’ve been exposed to a horrific event,” Ma- gel said. “What’s really important with [preventing] active threats is the train- ing, the education and how you exercise that in an emergency operation cen- tre.” Erin Aberle-Palm, a second-year Stu- dio 58 student at Langara, said that (they) feel safe at school. “What happened [in Abbotsford] is awful, but I didn’t hear that and think it would happen here,” Aberle-Palm said. WHAT to do in case 1 Don't hide in wash- rooms , stay clear of hallways. If safe, try to exit the building. Go to a room and lock or barricade the door. Hide and stay silent. Cl > @ N Stay calm. Source: langara.ca dent conduct and judicial affairs. “Now that we’ve started the conversation around cam- pus, there are more students coming forward.” Ross said the process for dealing with sexual harassment is the same as with other misconduct issues and is taken very seriously by the college. The penalties could go from a warning, to restrictions - only be allowed on campus during class time, for example — or suspension. She hopes discussions around the is- sue will increase recognition that ha- rassment is not okay and will encour- age students to look out for each other. “T would really like our students to feel confident enough and assertive enough to [be] able to say stop,” said Ross. “Even as bystanders, they can step in and change the environment.” Ross could not comment on any spe- cific cases. The man accused of harass- ing photography students has not been reported since the email was sent.