Playing it SAFE

When leaving your students at college, it is easy to worry about them. You wonder if they’re eating the right, studying, hanging out with a good group of kids, and most importantly, whether or not they are safe. Here at UCSD, the staff, faculty, and peers take really good care of each other. When walking around campus you will see that the campus is lit up with lights throughout the whole school at night. Just as well, there are 35 blue call boxes located in various parts of the campus. These call boxes are located for your student’s safety. If they are ever in trouble, or need/want a police escort, all they have to do is lift the handset and press the button and within seconds you will be connected to a police dispatcher.

In addition to the lights and call boxes around campus, UCSD provides plenty of services to make sure that the students on campus get around safely. If you are ever on UCSD’s campus in the evening you will see people biking and walking around with the letters “CSO” and “RSO” on the back of their shirts. These stand for Community Service Officers, and Residential Security Officers. CSOs are available to walk students to and from any point on campus between the hours of sunset and 1:00AM. They are always on call and ride around on bicycles to patrol the campus. After 1:00AM, RSOs and police officers are on call for students and patrol the residential areas.

UCSD not only provides these different services and features, but they also make sure that you and your student are well prepared for any natural disaster, crime, or potential danger. UCSD's Emergency Operation Plan is a detailed outline and description of the different ways that UCSD is prepared for any emergency. UCSD also provides up-to-date information on the emergency status of the campus at, with their Emergency Status site. If you take a look at it, you'll see that they have even been providing information on all the latest earthquakes that have been occurring.

One last resource that I highly recommend for you, and your student, is their phone/text notification system. If there is ever a natural disaster, or emergency, you will automatically be notified by either a phone call, text message, or both. I remember my first year of college, when we had all of those wild fires in San Diego, it was due to the emergency notifications that I received on my phone that I knew not to go out in the smoke-filled air and that classes were cancelled. It also notified my mom of the potential dangers we faced being so close to the fires and how the whole campus was going to be closed down. All you have to do is sign up online. They do not spam you and only contact you when necessary. They do check to make sure that it is a working number, but other than that they will only phone or text you if they have to.

UCSD takes many different precautions and measurements to make sure that your student has the most enjoyable, and safe, experience here at UCSD. Going into my fourth year at UCSD, I have never once felt like I was in danger on this campus. Every time there was some sort of emergency on campus I was always very well informed about what was going on and how I could keep myself and the others around me safe. It may be hard leaving your student, especially in an unknown territory, but you can be reassured that they will be well taken care of here at UCSD. There are plenty of resources for both you and your student, so make sure you both take advantage of them.

Always,

Cami