When I first came to FAU in August 2005 as a freshman, the only thing on my mind was, “Yay, let’s get drunk.” In February 2006, my only concern was, “I don’t wanna get shot.”
On a typical evening in my freshman year at FAU, I would hang out with my friends in their dorm in Indian River Towers, then walk back to my room and go to bed before 2 a.m.
But one night in April of 2006, a drunken kid decided to vandalize some cars in the parking lot of IRT. Police tried to stop the student from further damaging any property or himself. Instead, the situation ended with the student being shot in the hand by an officer.
Since I didn’t live in IRT, I didn’t hear about this situation until noon the next day. I heard about the shooting first from my friends in IRT who saw the whole thing from their window, but I didn’t hear about it from FAU directly until a few days later.
Even though this wasn’t exactly a situation where I was scared for my personal safety, I feel that students were not properly informed about the potential danger on campus.
Since that first incident, I thought that FAU should make its top priority to work on keeping students secure and informed about all criminal situations.
Safety firstLater that same year, FAU police bought Tasers for that type of situation, but they weren’t given to officers and unfortunately still haven’t been.
After that incident, I began to doubt FAU Police – until a night in Fall 2006 when one of the windows in my car was smashed in Lot 23.
I thought: Great, now if I tell the cops that someone broke into my car they might think it was just like before and they’ll start searching for the nearest drunken student to shoot at.
Actually, they were helpful and examined my car immediately after receiving my call. The only downer about my car was when the police said that this case was a dead end because there were no cameras in the area and no reports of a break-in.
Since then, cameras have been added to parking lots and the Breezeway for better surveillance. Too bad they were a little too late to save my car. But at least others will have a better chance with the next car thief.
A year and a half later, another shooting occurred on campus. This one, in Spring 2008, happened at the University Village Apartments where one student brought a concealed gun into a party, then fired off two shots in the night.
This time, however, FAU was prepared for the worst, after implementing new safety precautions to keep students protected and informed.
The shooter fled and FAU police put the entire campus on lockdown by sounding the newly installed sirens, which had never been tested. Along with the sirens, FAU informed students by updating the Web site homepage whenever there was new information about the situation, and by e-mail.
Grading FAUIn the wake of the horrific school shooting at Virginia Tech, and our very own shooting in April 2008, universities nationwide have been improving safety for their students, faculty and staff.
FAU has been working on making this university a secure environment by not only encouraging students to set up their phones for the reverse 911 calling feature but also by having officers police the campus 24-7.
So, if I were to grade FAU’s safety improvements since the beginning of my time here, I would give them a B. There are so many more ways to keep secure on campus, but now I feel much safer here than when I came in 2005.
