Photo: Monica McGhee
Tatyana Ross and Alivia Welch
Staff Editors
Recent occurrences on the campus of Jackson State University, including the shooting death of Flynn Brown in Dixon Hall, has led some students to have safety concerns on campus.
According to JSU Police Department (JSUPD) Captain Eric Stanton, increased patrols as well as cooperation with other campus departments to identify potential areas of concern are some of the steps being implemented to keep students safe.
“We want to ensure that we can identify if we don’t have things like proper lighting and access to the building’s security,” Stanton said. “(This means) having conversations with other stakeholders on campus to ensure we aren’t overlooking something.”
He added, “We believe it takes all of us as a campus community to ensure the safety of all the faculty, students and visitors who come to Jackson State.”
Stanton suggests students group up with a friend or peer and/or contact the JSUPD for a police escort if they have safety concerns while navigating the campus. They can be reached at (601) 979-2580.
Stanton also said that JSUPD reaches out to local, state and federal agencies for assistance.
Although officials are working diligently to try and resolve and identify problems, students that reside on campus still have safety concerns.
Elijah Karriem, a senior journalism and media studies major from Columbus, Miss., has resided on campus since his freshman year during the fall of 2020. He said that crime on campus and surrounding areas has become an issue for him and his peers that public safety measures need to increase.
“As a resident of the university, staying safe is my top priority. With recent events, I believe JSU safety officials should aim towards more safety plans for the betterment of the student body and visitors,” said Karriem.
Karriem also said that his former roommate stays in fear of retaliation after he was involved in an armed robbery incident on campus. Karriem expressed he remains thankful his roommate was not harmed but he’s left questioning how someone was allowed on campus with a firearm.
“The key to protecting students and reassuring their parents that their children are safe is to have strong communication skills with the student body and sadly our school lacks that,” he said.
Some students, like Kaiden Ivey, offered suggestions on how safety at JSU could be improved.
“I would love for the campus to be more monitored and enclosed,” said Ivey, a freshman accounting major from Tulsa Oklahoma.
Jackson State wants to actively provide security to its students, faculty and staff and as a result the university released access to the JSU Safe App. The app was created for students to have 24-hour access to campus police.
Students can share their location with campus police on the GPS that is available within the app. Karriem explained that the JSU Safe App is a good resource tool, however the inadequacy of security and structure around the campus needs more work.
“The JSU Safe App is helpful in some ways but the lack of lighting and fencing around campus makes the app a waste of time because of the delay in notifications we receive from the school,” he said.
Contrary to his peers’ experiences, Thomas Beard, another journalism and media studies major from Chicago Heights, Ill., commutes to campus and his concerns are somewhat different.
“One thing that bothers me is how easy it is for unauthorized persons to access the campus. Certain areas like the Walter Payton Center and the library need to be more security-detailed in my opinion,” Beard said.
He also expressed that he would like better communication from campus officials regarding issues on campus before arriving at campus to be turned around.
“I would like better updates from campus officials when incidents occur on campus that could affect students, especially us that commute. The updates they send out are very vague and are not helpful in my opinion,” he added.
It should be noted that on the official Jackson State website, JSU Police is required to post crimes reported on campus under the Public Safety’s Crime Log.
To view the log and access other information on JSUPD, visit https://www.jsums.edu/campuspolice/
