Cabrini College has recently made the decision to not have Public Safety sit overnight at the desks in the residence halls anymore. Instead, they will be patrolling campus.
“They [Public Safety] didn’t get pulled out of the residence halls,” Susan Kramer, director of Residence Life, said. “The change is they will be doing rounds of the building constantly.”
For years Cabrini College’s public safety has sat at the desk in the residence halls from midnight to 6 a.m. every night. Public Safety would sign students in and assure that only residents and their guests are coming in and out of the building.
The question everyone wants to know is what is going to happen to keep the residence halls safe?
Public Safety has not left the residence halls; they will just not be sitting at the desks.
Public Safety will now have officers doing continual tours of each building and one officer on each side of campus on road patrol. The idea is that the response time, in the case of an incident, will be significantly less. In the past, the officer at desk would have to wait for an officer to back him up and cover the desk while he responds to something in the hall. Now the officer that is continually touring each building can respond right away to an incident without waiting for backup.
As of press time, Public Safety has not commented on the situation. On the other hand, Kramer has spoken about the interim plan and the plan moving forward to keep the halls safe.
Residence Life has a working plan to help with the loss of personnel at the desks. Resident Assistants otherwise known as “RA’s” sit at a desk Sundays through Wednesdays from 8 p.m. to midnight, and Thursdays through Saturdays 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Resident Assistants are also on duty in each residence hall. This means in addition to an RA at desk, there will be another RA that will be doing continual rounds of each building every hour at the top of the hour.
This is only the temporary plan as Residence life is working on a resolution to create a work-study position known as a Desk Assistant. A Desk Assistant will sit at the desks in the residence halls signing residents in seven days a week from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. The Desk Assistant is another opportunity for a leadership position on campus.
Desk Assistants will go through a formal training similar to Resident Assistants but not as intense. Their trainings will be the basics about safety, who to call and when, as well as some confrontational skills.
When this Desk Assistant position is put into action what change will it bring to the residence halls?
There will also be an increase in the frequency residents will see RA’s and have a chance to interact with them and build community in the residence halls. An RA’s job is to build community and this will be easier once this system is put in place.
The idea is that with a student-run desk system students will feel more comfortable. Having a student’s face at the desk instead of public safety, can build more community. Cabrini is not the first school to do this as many schools nationwide have student-run desk systems. However, it is still a concept that is foreign to the College.
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Desk Assistant Details
- Supervisor: Susan Kramer, Kramer@cabrini.edu, 610-902-8410
- Number of students desired for this position: 25
- The Desk Assistant is an integral member of the Department of Residence Life, responsible for helping to facilitate a welcoming, caring, healthy and safe environment, and promoting community. As the first contact to residents, visitors, and persons in and outside of the community, the Desk Assistant must demonstrate professionalism and customer service at all times, while also responding quickly and effectively in emergency situations.
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