As one of the safest parts of D.C., Georgetown is not an area in which emergency protocols are often deemed necessary. Nevertheless, a distinct lack of awareness regarding emergency systems in place on campus persists among Georgetown students. A concerning disconnect between how students perceive their on-campus safety and their knowledge of campus security measures highlights a need for greater student and faculty commitment to improving public safety.
This week, the Voice’s blog, Vox Populi, conducted a survey of 75 students asking about their knowledge of public safety issues. When asked how safe they felt on Georgetown’s campus using a scale of one to five, with one being the safest, 80 percent responded with a one or two. When asked about the surrounding neighborhood in general, over half responded with a one or two, indicating that the majority of students feel safe in and around campus.
The survey found vast disparity between students’ feelings about campus safety and their knowledge of campus security procedures, however. Less than half of respondents knew the meaning of the steam whistle alarm system on campus that, when triggered, signals an outdoor emergency. Moreover, just 15 percentof respondents could correctly identify the purpose and function of the Department of Emergency Management and Operational Continuity, which is responsible for determining emergency protocols and making them visible to the Georgetown community. This lack of emergency awareness has not gone unnoticed by students. When asked how well they felt they had been educated by Georgetown about public safety emergencies on a scale from one to five, with five being “not at all,” 88 percent marked a three or above.
Sensational public security threats, such as last semester’s ricin incident, are often catalysts for conversations about campus safety. The problem with this is two-pronged. First, extraordinary events prompt too little actual change in either campus safety protocol or student behavior. When a significantly dangerous event takes place on campus, it is essential that additional precautions be put in place to prevent recurrence and that students’ awareness of these resources be increased. Second, extraordinary events are rare, and direct campus institutional memory declines with each incoming freshman class. Ensuring sustainable student safety must therefore be about habituating students’ responses to potential threats on a consistent basis rather than responding reflexively to extreme events when they occur.
In order to address both problems, and the lack of awareness of campus safety procedures revealed by the Voice’s poll, more dialogue regarding more ordinary emergency scenarios, such as fires or robberies, which can easily occur on campus with regularity. Though events like the ricin incident may generate discussion about campus safety, they should not be relied upon to improve safety. These events are few and far between, and will not accomplish what is necessary to habituate appropriate responses to more common public safety hazards.
The administration and student groups that frequently partner with it should work actively to increase students’ exposure to and familiarity with public safety issues on campus. If these measures are to succeed, however, Georgetown students must likewise take a more active interest in and better understand emergency response procedures. Ensuring safety on campus runs both ways.
