Tuesday evening the Student Government, under the direction of Jerome McMillan, held this year's Campus Safety Walk to get a hands-on idea of the state of campus safety. Members of Student Government, University administration, campus police and the press met at the Belk Tower and took part in looking for safety threats on campus.

At six in the evening, in the pouring rain, Student Government President Justin Richie welcomed all those assembled, then the chair of the new Campus Safety and Security Task Force, newly formed as a local version of the UNC system task force, spoke to the importance of the evening's efforts, saying "Campus safety is a community effort. Its not the responsibility of the police; its not the responsibility of any one group. Its the responsibility of everybody."

With those words, the contingent split into seven groups, each with a representative from the Student Government, administration, and police, and collectively covered the entire campus. Each group went armed with flashlights and notepads to record safety threats they observed. The walk concentrated on lighting problems, placement of blue light emergency phones, clearance on pathways, and, conscious of the rain falling, water accumulation on pathways.

Those in attendance included a large portion of Student Government, including the executive and senate portions especially, as well as high-level university officials. Vice Chancellor for Facilities Management Phil Jones, for example, got a firsthand look at the possible issues that his Department will have the opportunity to address.

Each group covered their assigned area and returned to the Student Government offices for debriefing.

It was apparent from the reports of most groups that the lighting on campus as a whole can be improved, simply by assuring that fixtures already placed are operating properly. The Hunt Village apartments and high rise parking lot are in need of bulb replacements, as well as the south staircase of the west deck, and other areas.

The blue lights on campus operate perfectly for the most part. The theory behind the placement of the blue lights is that from any one light, one should be able to have another in sight, which is the case. In one location, four blue lights can be seen clearly at once. Due to hilly terrain in some places, there are still a few blind spots.

Specially for the Safety Walk, those participating were authorized to test the emergency phones to be sure that they were in operation. Upon depressing the button, or in some cases lifting the phone from the hook, the campus police dispatcher responds in about one second. At least one emergency phone, however, needs its blue light replaced, since it is currently less visible at night.

Despite the pouring rain, water accumulation did not seem to be cause for concern, nor did the clearance of pathways.

One issue not specifically enumerated for the Walk to observe was signage around the footpaths in campus. One group, with a police officer present, had to revert to the map provided to make its way to the next area for inspection.

The Campus Safety and Security Task Force, fresh from its retreat at the Embassy Suites in Concord, waits eagerly for Student Government's report from the Safety Walk, as do the campus police. As the chair of the task force said, "All of your efforts will contribute to our knowledge of safety and our knowledge of perception of safety. We look forward to your report." A plan is in the works for UNCC police to receive a rough report of the findings of the safety walk as early as this Friday.

The Campus Safety and Security Task Force's report as a whole, taking the Safety Walk into account, delivers its report to Chancellor Dubois sometime before early July.

Ritchie said, "We look forward to walking in the rain next year."