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NEWS
| November 10, 2004
Student Governance
Night Walk finds safety problems
The 3 groups that patrolled the
campus found poor lighting in parking lots to be an issue at the
annual event Tuesday.
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| The Shorthorn: Awais Ikram |
| Liz Sykes, information systems senior
and business senator, catches the bus after checking an
emergency call station Tuesday night. |
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By Kate
Bolen
Contributor to The Shorthorn
Student Congress conducted its annual Night
Walk on Tuesday and noted improvements since last year.
Three groups of SC members dispersed throughout campus to check
for inadequately lighted areas, broken call boxes and other safety
hazards. Representatives from the UTA Police Department and physical
plant joined each group in the walk. The walks have been a ceremony
for about 20 years.
One group headed out on foot, checking the inner campus including
areas surrounding the University Center and the Central Library.
The other groups took buses out to the east and west campuses including
the area surrounding South Cooper Street, campus apartment complexes
and the Maverick Stadium.
Lt. William Cox said the Night Walks make significant differences
around the campus.
He said several call boxes were added last year where SC members
deemed them necessary.
“It’s good to have other folks come and take a look,
especially from the student body,” he said. “They may
see problems that others don’t.”
SC Vice President Richie Stuart said the call boxes were updated
due to Night Walks conducted in 2000 and 2001 in order to give students
more security and peace of mind.
Stuart said his group’s main concern this year was poor lighting
in the main Greek parking lot and the Fine Arts Annex lot.
“Although there has been improvement, there are still some
dark areas on campus,” he said.
SC President Casey Townsend said he saw a few call boxes with faulty
lights, and lot 49 had inadequate lighting. However, he is not concerned
about having to wait long to see these problems fixed.
“The police and physical plant members are just not aware
of all the burnt out lights and malfunctioning call boxes,”
he said, “but they are very receptive of input from the Night
Walks.”
SC Program Director Denis Gjoni was in charge of this year’s
Night Walk.
He said he will compile a memo today that he plans to send to police,
the Environmental Health and Safety Department and the physical
plant with any changes that need to be addressed.
Gjoni said there were fewer malfunctioning call boxes this year
than in 2003.
“After last year’s night walk, we asked police to make
periodical checks on call boxes,” he said.
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