EMU administrators address campus safety concerns at town hall meeting

Eastern Michigan University administrators are being even more proactive to improve public safety in response to four incidents on or near campus since May.

Plans to utilize more public safety personnel, start an Eagle Eye crime watch program, add security cameras to buildings around campus, and the use of emergency assistance stations in the Mark-Jefferson science building and Strong Hall were outlined by University officials during a Dec. 6 town hall meeting hosted by EMU President John Fallon and Student Government President Bobby Murkowski.

FIRE DAMAGE: A boarded window and others blackened from smoke are reminders of a Nov. 27 fire in King Hall that caused damage to Student Judicial Service offices. EMU President John Fallon hosted a town hall meeting Dec. 6 where public safety on campus was the topic of discussion.

"Depending on who you talk to, these events offend our sensibility as to who we are as a community or are just downright frightening The fact of the matter is, this is precipitated by actual events," Fallon said.

Murkowski said that several EMU students expressed their concerns about campus safety to student government representatives.

"We want to get the facts out there and how we're handling it. Safety is vital to campus," said Murkowski, who credited EMU's Department of Public Safety for "doing a good job."

Jim Vick, vice president for student affairs, outlined the prior incidents for a large crowd of faculty, staff and students who gathered in the Intermedia Gallery in McKenny Union.

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