DKEPT AILY LOBO IN THE DARK new mexico
Building tomorrow see page 6
February 17, 2011
thursday The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
EMERGENCY TOWERS ON CAMPUS
by Pat Lohmann
editorinchief@dailylobo.com
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s the victim of an on-campus stabbing lied unconscious in a hospital bed, gauze taped over her jugular and a tube inflating her punctured lung, her sister drove slowly through the alleyways near the Anthropology Building. The sister, Kelly, was searching for somebody who could help her understand what had happened the night of Feb. 15, 2010. She implored dark streets west of campus for answers. “I would leave the hospital and just go up and down the streets,” Kelly said. “I would drive down the alley. I would obsessively drive around the neighborhood looking for some suspicious stranger.” One year and two days after her sister’s neck was slashed in two places, Kelly has stopped this futile surveillance, and she’s given up hope that the assailant will be caught. “No, I don’t have any hope. I had to let that go,” she said. “At one point, I was really obsessed with making sure the police found him. I felt like that was the only way that (the victim) and the rest of us would get closure, but I finally realized that that just wasn’t going to happen.”
see Stabbing page 3
Key Location of February 2010 Stabbing Areas without emergency towers
This map shows the concentration of emergency towers on campus. There are 60 stations on campus, with some students suggesting those are not enough to make the University safe.
Low turnout leaves campus areas unwatched by Shannon Alexander sralex2@gmail.com
U
NM organized a campus safety walk Tuesday night, but officials said they were disappointed by the low turnout. More than 75 students, faculty and staff attended the event, but Rob Burford, from the Dean of Students Office, said about 100 students attended last year. He said more students probably attended the walk last year because it was in the wake of an on-campus stabbing. “I think there was more attention to last year’s walk because of the unfortunate circumstance last spring,” he said. “However, I was still disappointed with the turnout given all of the media publicity.” When student participation is low, the entire campus can’t be patrolled. In past years, only main campus has been covered, and the north and south campuses have been neglected. Buford said, in the future, he would like to have enough students to cover main, north and south campuses. Students were asked to focus on four main areas: lighting, the presence of blue lights, crosswalks and other safety issues, such as uneven pavement or construction sites. They filled out forms highlighting the dangerous campus areas. Grandon Goertz, from the Safety
Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 115
issue 101
Amie Zimmer / Daily Lobo Melissa Martin, administrative assistant for UNM Children’s Campus, reviews the safety checklist with Victoria Dimas, program specialist for the Children’s Campus. For the past few years, students have organized safety walks to pinpoint hazardous areas on campus.
Break it down
A nation is reborn
See page 10
See page 4
Students scout for unsafe areas during safety walk by Chelsea Erven and Kallie Red-Horse news@dailylobo.com
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iven the vast UNM campus, students could walk into a dangerous situation without an emergency blue light in sight. Melissa Martin, a participant in Tuesday night’s UNM Safety Walk, said main campus might not be well-equipped to assist a person fleeing a hostile situation. “This is totally scary,” she said. “If I had to run away from someone, it would be really hard to find (a blue light). I’m eager to see when we find a blue light at this point.” During orientation, UNM officials tell incoming freshmen that a blue light should be visible from the 60 emergency phones on main campus, but this is not the case in many high-traffic areas. For instance, there is no emergency blue light visible from the front door of the Anthropology Building, where a student was stabbed last year. “I don’t even see the blue light
see Blue lights page 3 and Risk Services Department, will review students’ safety reports. He will submit work orders based on the reports. Reports submitted to the work order system can’t be removed until they have been repaired. Goertz said that safety concerns from last semester’s walk were completed promptly. “Maintenance here attacks these problems fairly quickly,” he said. “From the last campus walk, around 80 percent were done within three weeks.” The Campus Safety Walk was canceled in 2006 because of low student turnout. The walks began again last spring when a student was stabbed on campus outside of the Anthropology Building. The walks occur every semester, but some students do not know this. Students Tony Hernandez and Skyler Sanders said that they hadn’t heard about the walk last semester, but they heard about the stabbing last spring, and that’s why they participated. Burford said the University should publish records of the changes made because of the walks. “It would be nice if we could get more input back and see what’s been done so students could see the fruits of their labors,” he said. Sanders said he wondered if students’ participation in the walks had any effect. He said knowing this would increase student participation. “If you see results, then you see, ‘Oh, it’s working,’” he said. “I think more people would come.”
TODAY
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