Blue safety phones to be removed

The blue safety phones scattered across UNI’s campus since the ‘90s are being removed and replaced with a 21st century safety solutionan app called Rave Guardian.

The blue safety phones were originally installed across highly trafficked areas of campus to assist those in an emergency situation to alert the authorities with just the push of a button. However, with the introduction of cell phones, these blue phones quickly became outdated and experienced very little usage.

Chief of UNI’s Police Department, Helen Haire, noted how the blue phones were a good idea in the 90s, but are not practical in the 2020s.

“If you are in need and if someone is following you, are you going to stop and pick up that blue phone?” Haire said. “You probably aren’t going to want to do that. At the time that was the only option. But now you have a cell phone and you could call someone and keep walking.”

Haire added, “We have to think about what [the students] want, need and will use. When we talk to students they may be aware we have the blue phones because campus tours may mention them, but when we ask them to tell me where one is, nobody knows.”

The Associate Director of UNI’s Public Safety

Department, Joe Tyler, spearheaded the push to get a more updated safety feature for UNI’s campus. They decided to use the safety app Rave Guardian to serve UNI’s campus. The app has numerous features including safety timers, call directories leading to the UNI Police Department, UNI Counseling Center,

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, Sexual Assult Support and other helpful resources. Additionally, users can call UNI Police or 911 with just the push of a button. Tyler and Haire collaborated with University Relations and IT to create this app.

 See SAFETY PHONES, page 2

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El Programa de Cultura e Inglés Intensivo (CIEP por sus siglas en inglés) de la Universidad del Norte de Iowa en este momento se está asociando con estudiantes de Yucatán en la Universidad Marista de Mérida. De acuerdo con Carolina Coronado-Park, la Directora del Compromiso Internacional, este es un programa híbrido que permite a los estudiantes a recibir el máximo provecho del programa. Es un programa que dura 8 semanas donde los estudiantes se asocian con voluntarias que hablan tanto inglés como español y conversan en línea por dos horas cada semana y después se conocen en persona por las últimas dos semanas. Esta conexión entre el programa de CIEP de UNI y la Universidad Marista empezó hace varios años.

Ver CIEP, página 2