Safety Tips

General

• Be aware! Recognize your vulnerability.
• Report all suspicious persons, vehicles and activities to the Campus Safety Department immediately.
• Use the "buddy system" and watch out for your neighbor.
• Keep your doors locked whenever you find yourself alone in a building.
• If you see someone being victimized, get involved and notify the Campus Safety Department.

Walking

• Avoid traveling alone at night.
• Confine walking to well-lit, regular traveled walks and pathways. Avoid shortcuts and keep away from shrubbery, bushes, alleyways, or any other areas where an assailant might be lurking.
• Do not accept rides from casual acquaintances.
• When walking to your vehicle or residence, have your keys ready in hand.
• When being dropped off by taxi or private vehicle, ask the driver to wait until you get inside.
• If threatened by an approaching vehicle, run in the opposite direction. The vehicle will have to turn around in order to pursue you.
• When getting out of a car, take a look around to make sure that you are not being followed.
• If you think you are being followed, cross the street and, if necessary, keep crossing back and forth. If you are pursued, call for help and run to a campus building, business, residence, enlist the aid of a passerby, flag down a passing motorist, or as a last resort pull a fire alarm. Do anything that might attract attention or summon assistance. If you are walking alone and someone passes you, check to be sure that person has continued walking in the other direction.
• If you find yourself confronted by an assailant you must remember that while screaming and struggling may in some instances frighten off the assailant, in other instances you may further antagonize the assailant and bring forth a more violent reaction. Above all you must keep your head and assess the situation before choosing your course of action. Whether or not the assailant is armed or has made threats against your life should be a determining factor in your decision. The key word in this type of situation is survival.