Campus Safety Commission Report

Following the tragic shootings on the Virginia Tech campus in the spring of 2007, I asked Lee Peters, vice president for student affairs, to head a committee to survey attitudes and opinions in our University community about safety and security on our campus. I asked the committee to complete its report by this fall and to include a summary of suggestions and recommendations for improving what we are already doing to help make the campus safe and secure.

I have now received their report, and have posted it on the University’s website for review by the University community. The website includes an executive summary as well as the full report for those of you who wish to read the committee’s findings in detail. I urge you to take a moment to review it.

Lee was joined on the committee by Judy Carlson, director of public safety; Graziano DiCiaula, a senior in The Hartt School and a former student regent; and Lynne Kelly, professor and director of the School of Communication. They met with a wide range of campus groups, including the Faculty Senate, the Council of Deans, the Staff Association, the Student Government Association, the Alumni Council, and the Parents Association.

I want to thank the committee members for the countless hours they put into this important project, and the groups and individuals who met with them and provided advice and suggestions. Your participation in these wide-ranging discussions helped ensure that we are providing our community with the fullest possible report.

It is now time to vet these findings widely. We will begin with the Board of Regents on November 29. We invite other groups and individuals who wish to comment on the report to do so by e-mailing safety@hartford.edu.

We will begin implementing some of the report’s recommendations immediately, and I will make periodic progress reports to the community beginning in February 2008.

Again, many thanks to all of you in our community for devoting your attention to this important topic.

Walter Harrison
President