BRIANNA HOWARD
Special to The Leader
Student protest turned into student discussion — is campus safety a priority at Fredonia? Student safety on campus has been an ever-growing subject to the student body and how the university can better listen to the concerns of students.
With recent events of the hooded man on campus and now the situation surrounding Dr. Stephen Kershnar, students like Tralee Cotter, a junior photography major, said she has never felt more unsafe. “I think it just kind of pushes the envelope even more based on the attacks that happened early last semester when I was on campus and just attacking girls in the middle of the night. Does our school have to keep us safe when first of all, they can’t keep us safe from people just showing up to our campus, and now they can’t protect us from people who are employed — they pay to be on our campus.”
At the time of writing this article, there were over 15,000 signatures on the petition to fire Dr. Stephen Kershnar. The petition was started by sophomore mathematics major Olivia Sylvester. And those signatures came into play at the latest protest Feb. 6 to fire Kershnar.
Students gathered at Barker Commons to peacefully protest, but the protest ended up with very little turnout. But that didn’t stop students from speaking their mind and having it turn into a discussion on how students feel on the current circumstances.
Derrie Davis, a senior social work major, said he can’t relate to feeling unsafe, but understands how other students may feel that way. “I could imagine that for other people that are more vulnerable, it would not be comfortable for them. I think that in terms of this institution, being trauma informed and practicing trauma information, that should be improved a little,” he said.
At the moment, the school has very few safety implications, with such being the RAVE Guardian app, which is a way to instantly communicate with the University Police. The app also allows a trusted friend to track your location if you are walking alone. Furthermore, there is the emergency Blue Light System across campus, where students are instructed to press the red button on the poles if they are in trouble. If students are being followed, they are advised to walk to the next pole to let University Police track their location.
The safety of students on campus is not an issue to be overlooked, as Katie Lee, a sophomore video production major, said that even though there’s safety implementations, it’s not enough. “I think the school is trying to be kind of safe with that bus system, the parking lots or those late night buses… But that’s not enough for safety, especially when they’re employing people that think like [Kershnar] does and it’s not a good environment.”
Students are continuing their efforts in letting their voices be heard by snapchat posts, calls to the University Police and signatures on the petition getting higher.