Ohio University announced Wednesday it received a $196,665 grant for campus safety from the Ohio Campus Safety Grant Program, which will be used to add more cameras around campus.
Within the last year OU has had two crime alerts. The first was a voyeurism incidentat Dougan House, which happened Feb. 27, 2024. A female student showering in the hall observed a hand holding a phone pointed at her. When the student objected and pulled open the curtain, she observed a man running out of the restroom.
The second was the Ewing House incident, which took place Nov. 4, 2024. A female resident in the Ewing House Left her door unlocked while going to use the restroom and came back to find a man with a knife in the room.
Currently, both incidents are still under investigation, according to Evan Wilkof, the Ohio University Police Department’s community relations officer. He said updates will be provided when they become available.
Student Senate and OU Housing and Residence Life are still creating and implementing efforts to improve student safety on campus. After the Ewing Hall Incident, the Residence Life Commission of Senate began work to implement better security cameras.
“Housing does their security cameras, and actually strategically places them in a way without violating privacy,” Aidan Kirk, vice commissioner of Senate, said. “Also, every exterior entrance or exit is covered by a camera.”
Kirk said he believes it would be very difficult to add more cameras inside residence halls directly because it would violate students' privacy.
Alex Semancik, the OU communications specialist, said OUPD will be using the grant to implement more surveillance cameras around campus in high-traffic areas.
“Surveillance cameras act as a deterrent—potential criminals are less likely to commit crimes if they know their actions are being recorded,” OUPD Captain Tim Ryan wrote in an email.
Ryan said cameras also provide accountability for the events they record. Oftentimes, officers and detectives use security surveillance in investigations to identify suspects and gather evidence. Additionally, officers are able to monitor events as they happen in real time using surveillance systems allowing them more situational awareness.
According to Jneanne Hacker, executive director of Housing and Residence Life, Housing will be in charge of where the cameras are placed. Hacker said Housing and Residence Life welcomes any feedback for locations to place cameras in the dorm halls.
"Student safety will continue to be a priority for Housing and Residence Life,” Hacker wrote in an email. “From the installation of electronic access and surveillance cameras to creating education and awareness campaigns around fire safety, every effort invested into creating safe and comfortable spaces for our students is helpful with creating the best campus experience for our students.”
Recently, Housing and Residence Life has also installed electronic access swipes on each mod entrance door in Hoover, Ewing, Wray, Dougan and True houses over the summer and are working with Facilities Management and Access Control to add an alarm which will go off if a mod-door is propped open.
Hacker said any new halls and future renovated halls will have single-user bathrooms to offer an increased level of privacy for students, and improved lighting will be added to South Green.
“We also want to remind students that the University has resources and avenues to assist them anytime they need help processing stress or difficult situations,” Hacker wrote in an email. “OHIO offers a wide range of on- and off-campus well-being and counseling support options, including 24/7 emergency and crisis services support when needed.”
Kirk said Senate’s Residence Life Commission is looking to currently implement safety walks. These walks will happen at every campus green and possible parking garages once a semester to identify areas that seem unsafe.
“We want to identify areas that are feeling unsafe or have an element of what might make you feel unsafe,” Kirk said. “So maybe, some bricks are missing in the path, and it makes it so people walk up to it and fall out there or a missing light, like a light post isn't working. Maybe we need a new light post to apply more light in an area to help make people feel more safe.”
The main goal of these walks is to provide students peace of mind. Kirk said he understands students do feel unsafe at OU.
“The main thing (Residence Life Commission) has to do is make sure we routinely keep encouraging Housing to analyze and look at how safety feels in what ways because there's always something to improve on,” Kirk said.
These walks will include members of Senate and different organizations. Kirk said if any organizations are interested in participating in these walks they should reach out to the Residence Life Commission.
“We're still in a very initial planning stage,” Kirk said. “My goal would be to do it in April, so it's still a couple of months away. But definitely, (the walks) will be more than just Senate and Housing. Our goal is to have many different organizations there as well to kind of get a scope of many different walks of life's opinion on the safety of campus.”
Wilkof encourages students while on campus to practice situational awareness. This is when a person watches the environment around them for someone or something that is out of place.
“If something seems out of place or maybe some behavior is just a little unusual, someone pacing back and forth, wearing unusual clothes given extremely warm or extremely cold temperatures or behavior that just makes no sense, I think we all kind of have a sense of what is reasonable and what we commonly see,” Wilkof said.
Things that stick out to students are things worth calling the police about or checking in with residence hall staff, Wilkof said.
It is also a good idea to not leave your door open when using the restroom even if the restroom is right across the hall, according to Wilkof. Wilkof said thefts only take a matter of seconds, so students should minimize those chances.
“We do strongly recommend that (students) always close the door, and they treat it like it's their home,” Wilkof said. “ We have our front door locked at night, and you wouldn't leave your front door cracked at night. We want those same habits to be brought here to the University.”
Wilkof said students will also be good neighbors by practicing these habits.
“People you frequently see other residents, your neighbors, that help form good habits for you by being a good community member in the community after OU,” Wilkof said.”Whether they are in a job back at their hometown or an internship elsewhere, this is the time that they're building their skill set and their knowledge.”
