Do Wildcats Feel Safe on Campus?
Long Story Short: It’s Complicated
By Morgan Shelley
“Timely warning notice … Wherever your tracks trail from, welcome home … We grieve the losses of Michigan State University students Arielle Diamond Anderson, Brian Fraser, and Alexandria Verner … It is necessary for you to know that our university community stands in solidarity and support with Asian American, Pacific Islander, and African American communities …”
These are words from different people, places and times that have been taking up space in my brain for a while now. At 10:50 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022, a shelter-in-place warning was issued by Ramsey County that was meant to cover “the area between Larpenteur Avenue and Highway 36 and Snelling Avenue and Victoria Street.” The alert went beyond Roseville and made its way to other Ramsey County residents, including St. Kate’s students and staff here in St. Paul. By 11:30 a.m., both Ramsey County and St. Kate’s confirmed that the warning was a miscommunication, but many of us had already recognized an uncomfortable reality: We had no idea what to do if there was an emergency on campus.
Shelter-in-Place reminders included in an email from the President’s Office on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022. It reads: “Shelter-in-Place reminders for external threats. A shelter-in-place practice is different from a lockdown. When a message to shelter-in-place is broadcast, you should: Remain calm. If you are outdoors, seek cover in the nearest building. Do not attempt to leave campus. Once inside, find an interior room or hallway and await further instructions. Stay away from exterior windows. Close and lock all exterior doors and windows (to avoid inadvertent opening). If you are indoors, stay there, even if you do not normally work or reside in that building. Do not leave until an ‘all clear’ is received.” Credit: The Wheel.
The President’s Office sent a follow-up email two days later with more information and a link to our university’s hostile intruder training Alert-Lockdown-Inform-Counter-Evacuate, or A.L.I.C.E., which is available as a self-enrollment course on D2L. There was also a reminder of several shelter-in-place procedures, pictured above.
“I was in class … the loud emergency sounds of all of my classmates’ devices made me very anxious,” shared M Yeager ‘24 (Communication Studies and German, she/they) about the shelter-in-place warning. Natalie Nemes ‘24 (English, she/her) explained that she was attending class virtually and “wasn’t quite sure what to do with [herself]” when the warning was issued. She continued, “Our professor stopped teaching, and it seemed like someone had turned the lights off in the classroom to not give away that there were people in the room.” Dori Denman ‘25 (Computer Science and ASL, she/her) was in her dorm room and felt “worried but not scared.”
Dori Denman, a student dispatcher, working a shift at Public Safety. Credit: The Wheel
Four out of four of St. Kate’s students I interviewed reported that they were on campus when the shelter-in-place warning was issued, received the warning and have not taken A.L.I.C.E. at any point during their time as students. My first semester at St. Kate’s was back in 2019, and students were required to take the training then. Only Denman, who works as a student dispatcher for Public Safety, confirmed that she was aware of our university’s shelter-in-place protocols. “We answer emails, phone calls and send officers to help students or answer questions,” Denman explained about the role Public Safety student workers play in student safety at St. Kate’s. One strength of the department she noted is that they remain open 24/7, allowing students to “get things done throughout the day and night.”
When asked if they believed students and staff would know what to do if there was an emergency on campus, Denman responded yes, while two other students said no. “Not really,” responded Yeager. “I mean, my professors were just as afraid as we were during the Oct. 25th incident.”
The Public Safety office. Credit: The Wheel
Do St. Kate’s students think Public Safety is serving current student safety needs? Who do Wildcats believe is responsible for student safety? Responses to these questions were mixed.
Denman responded yes, and that she thinks “students are responsible for their personal safety, while public safety is responsible of the safety of the campus.” Fern Schiffer ‘25 (English, any pronouns) believes “[Public Safety] does a good job with non-threats like directions and room-lockouts,” but they’re unaware of what the department does for campus safety. “I would hope that administration would be able to respond to changing threats to campus safety and security. … I also think it’s necessary for Katies to work together to make and maintain a safe community.”
Yeager shared a neutral position. When it comes to student safety responsibility, they think of Public Safety first, “... but who controls PubSafe?” she asked. “Student safety is a community effort,” explained Nemes, and that she believes Public Safety is meeting students where we are. “Administrators are responsible for creating and enforcing policies that keep students safe, while Public Safety is an everyday resource for students to use.”
Do Wildcats feel safe on campus? The answer will always depend on who and when you ask: Every St. Kate’s student brings nuance and history with them when they enter the university gates, and there is no perfect answer to such a layered question. For Nemes, safety means that she “generally [does] not fear for [her] physical well-being while on campus.” Schiffer believes, “St. Kate's could do better, especially in theft prevention,” considering the number of on-campus carjacking incidents in recent years.
Bringing a journalistic perspective to this topic has allowed me to recognize that there seems to be a disconnect between the general student body and safety protocols that could make a world of difference in the future. Being a student at St. Kate’s for four years has taught me that this university is not perfect. Students have diverse needs and opinions, especially regarding campus safety. We likely always will.
