Students on campus have voiced their concerns over the safety alerts on campus, among them are members of the MEChA club.
On March 12, the MEChA club invited students to a safety workshop in which Acting Chief of Campus Police Tom Gallivan, Captain Hans Strand, Director of Diversity, Benefits, and Compliance Barrett Morris and Associate Dean of Student Health Hillary Mennella met in room BE 116, which was a last minute room change.
Female co-chair of the MEChA club Juliet Martinez said, “There was incident where a woman was sexually harassed in the restroom, he got caught. We interviewed a lot of students weren’t aware [of] that,”
She added that the workshop was also to show student the kinds of resources that were available.
There was Project Safe, the daily police logs, the Safe Zone training and mental health resources.
MEChA encouraged students to ask questions to the guest speakers.
There was also discussion about implementing more cameras on campus, with students going back and forth on what constituted safety and privacy.
Aside from campus safety, Mennella also outlined resources for mental well being for students, as well as resources for those in abusive relationships or victims of stalking.
“Keep in mind that abuse does not have to take place on campus to get help,” Mennella said during the workshop.
One idea brought up during the workshop was having student peer counselors, the idea behind it being that some students may feel embarrassed or uncomfortable talking to older nurses or counselors.
Isaura Sanchez, business major said, “There’s a lot of resources but like one of the members said, I wouldn’t feel comfortable talking in front of strangers,”
Sanchez learned that there were more police officers during the evening.
The MEChA club plans to host further workshops in coordination with the Black Student Union, the Puente Club and a workshop about latinas in the media.