The UC Davis police and facilities management departments will host a campus safety walk Wednesday in response to concerns raised following a hate crime at UCD.
“We’re taking back our campus,” Police Chief Matt Carmichael said of the event, scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Memorial Union flag pole. Students will team with members of the police department to identify lighting and other safety deficiencies on the campus core.
Hot chocolate and treats will be provided at the start of the walk and participants are encouraged to wear comfortable shoes. For more information, contact Linda Schlager-McKenna at 530-752-3104 or laschlager@ucdavis.edu.
The hate crime occurred at about 3 a.m. Feb. 15 in the West Village neighborhood, where a female African American student reported that several people were throwing items at her while shouting racial slurs. Police arrested three men in connection with the incident.
In the days that followed, students raised a variety of concerns about campus safety, including poor lighting in some areas, a lack of emergency call boxes on campus and the need for increased transportation services.
“In response to these concerns the UC Davis Police Department and the UC Davis Facilities Management have started a concentrated effort to focus on ensuring all lighting systems on campus are functioning appropriately,” Carmichael and Allen Tollefson, assistant vice chancellor for facilities management, wrote in a recent open letter to the campus community.
“The UC Davis Police Department has assigned the Aggie Host Security Unit to strategically review campus and report all lights out to Facilities Management over the next few weeks who will in turn expedite the fix. Facilities Management will also be directing their staff to include grounds and custodians to report the same.”
Community members also are encouraged to report all lighting outages to Facilities Management at 530-752-1655 and security deficiencies to the UCD Police Department Dispatch Center at 530-752-1727. The long term strategy will include quick reporting and correction as well as the review for the installation of new lighting.
Other safety concerns will be addressed in subsequent letters and future actions in partnership with the community, campus officials said.