The Safety and Security at Our Home Away from Home

With blue emergency posts stationed throughout the campus and maroon patrol cars making their rounds through the night students and their families are assured the campus is safe and secure with the utmost care. However, as with any school there are some safety concerns students share among one another that bring some eyebrow raising questions at hand.

At Iona College safety and security of the students and faculty is one of the most important and highest aspects and concerns at the college campus however, students have also shared their worrying concerns for certain factors in the security department of the college. Many students are unaware of the past safety and security incidents at the school as well as the present concerns the college faces on the day-to-day basis. With the college safety grading of an F+ on collegefactual.com there are some high concerns in question for the school’s security.

When 10 students were asked on their opinions toward the security, five did not want to be identified and five did not want to share their opinions in fear of getting reprimanded by the school, it is because of this that the names of the students have been changed.

Students at the campus raise concerns in regards to the campus security’s nightly rounds. Although security does patrol the campus in their cars some students still seem uneasy to the matter that the college’s back entrance gate is left open till late hours of the night. Right across from the college’s main field is an entrance and exit gate used by students and faculty, and although there is a security post at the front end of the gate, it seems no security is stationed there at night, leaving the gate open and unattended.

Students have also voiced their concern towards the vague details during campus emergencies, specifically when not following up on a topic regarding high alert.

On September 3rd the Iona students received and emergency alert regarding a possible male with a firearm and after were left without a follow-up message on the details of the situation. Students recalled the incident and shared that they didn’t feel safe during the text alerts. Cathy Smith, a senior at the college believes both the students and parents should have received an email and been informed on the entirety of the situation and it’s current status at the time.

“They should have been updating us completely throughout that whole situation”

Brother Devlin, one of the head department chairs for student success at Iona College also questioned the lack of follow-ups for the students.

“Why there isn’t a follow up to let the students know?—I do not know but I agree that there should be one.”

An issue occurring due to the lack of communication with the students has lead to the unawareness of the college’s safety precautions set for the students in the case of serious emergencies such as an active shooter, a natural disaster, or a threat to the school.

The school does have a safety and security manual referencing all the emergency situations and actions to take during an emergency in place on their website under the “Safety and Security” dropdown. However, all the students we asked were unaware the handbook existed, and further had no knowledge on what to do in the case of the emergencies like earlier stated. It brings a high importance to Dean Lawrence, another Iona senior who wasn’t aware there were precautions set at all.

“Not being taught the precautions is a little scary, I didn’t even know there were precautions to begin with, so that can put it into perspective in itself, it’s not good to not know that.”

Students are also unaware that if they feel they are in danger Iona College has a team of professionals known as the CARE team who specialize in the care needed for students in all aspects—mentally, emotionally, and physically. Devlin is one of the members on the team and although the Devlin did not give details due to revealing too much information, it is still assured that the CARE team is aware and goes about the best plan of action when necessary.

“If there should be any kind of a situation in which students may be in danger the CARE team will sit down and take a look at that and make sure all the students are being properly cared for.”

While the intentions are to avoid a panic from the student body, the school refrains from acknowledging the students on some present and previous dangers. The severity of some of the issues are important to note to the residents of the college, such as the caution the students must take while in a lofted bed in the dormitories. In 2007, 19-year-old Adam Lynch died after severe internal bleeding in his brain resulting from a fall off the lofted bed. The caution and awareness must still be present, even if the case happened a few years ago seeing the college still uses lofted beds in the dorm rooms, and even so students are unaware of the incident let alone the caution they must take.

Although there are factors that bring about some questions, there is a reason the safety and security at Iona College is still relatively well when compared to other college campuses. When asked about the positives of the Iona security, students shared that the security guards do care for the students as a whole and do their best especially in the residence halls and on the street when they are patrolling North Avenue or checking for ID’s at the lobby of the residence halls.

“They definitely do their job at the night desk, sometimes it is frustrating to pull out your ID each time you come in the residence hall but, it’s for our betterment and we do appreciate it,” junior Leah Vasquez said.

Devlin also encourages the students to bring up any concerns they may have regarding the safety and security and assures the security is one of the highest respected teams on campus.

“To my knowledge everything has been not only acknowledged but has been respected and also complimented for how good it is,” Devlin said.