An Optimistic Future For Campus Safety

Source: Photo by Arno Senoner https://unsplash.com/photos/42t-DKecmPk

In light of the recent Marriott shooting and construction of the Dutchess County Urban Trail, student government leaders and safety officers have been working together to reassure the student body, faculty and parents that Marist College and the surrounding community are safe for everyone. 

The Office of Safety and Security provides multiple services to the student body through campus patrolls, monitored building access and 24 hour watches of fire protection equipment. The Office also has weekly meetings with local police, sheriffs and firefighters every Tuesday regarding any issues that occur in the surrounding area and are alerted immediately if a threat to campus arises. 

“We are no longer a soft target, we are a hard target for people,” said John Blaisdell, director of safety and security. The campus has the MaristAlerts system, over 200 views on the CCTV system, gunshot detection devices and more. 

One of the more recent issues that have put the community on edge is the upcoming Dutchess County Urban Trail. Split into three phases, the first phase will be a 1.4-mile section that will run from the Hudson Heritage development site in the Town of Poughkeepsie to Parker Avenue in the City of Poughkeepsie, which runs straight through the east side of Marist’s campus.

“We have very little outside problems that come into campus,” said Blaisdell. The most common crimes on campus are property damage to the residence halls, possession of alcohol or marijuana and very rarely petty larceny. 

“At first, I was very against it,” said Vice President of Safety and Security Jordana Nadile ‘24. 

Nadile, like most, found out about the project a week after the Marriott and East Fishkill shootings and a few car break-ins. During a worrisome time, she understood a raise in student, faculty and parent concern.

“I don’t blame people because the only time we ever hear about Poughkeepsie itself is when something bad happens,” Nadile said. “It's hard when the only thing you hear is ‘oh there was a shooting this week.’”

Student Body President Gabriel Borbon ‘23 said everyone in the Student Government Association was “caught off guard” with the response to the trail. He said since the project was approved during COVID, there wasn’t a focus on it until the Instagram page @barstoolmarist brought the project to light in a post, which has now been taken down. “It actually was really helpful in terms of gauging what students really think about that,” Borbon said in regards to the Instagram post. 

“At the SGA, we are going to be working very closely with Dr. Geoffrey Brackett and John Blaisdell to ensure when the project happens it's going to be as safe as possible for the students,” Borbon said.  

As for the current trail proposal, there will be tall fences surrounding the trail by campus entrances and cameras run by the city. 

Some suggestions brought forth by Borbon and Nadile to integrate the trail safely into the Marist community are installing bushes on the sides of the trail to block the view of dorms, having security officers by trail entrances near the campus, and cameras that the security office can operate as well.  Marist parents Michael and Marnie Kerin have suggested gating off the entrances at dusk, similarly done by the Walkway Over the Hudson. 

Nadile has been working closely with the safety and security office alongside her board to make security on campus more community based. “After the unfortunate shooting at the Marriott Hotel I've noticed that the community was very uneasy,” she said.

Since many students and faculty don’t know the faces on the security team, Nadile proposed to post headshots and bios of all the security team members on the SGA Instagram page and/or the official Marist page. Additionally, she aims to have SGA host fun events for security and students bridge that missing trust. 

“[This] way students don’t just see uniforms and go ‘ugh it’s the campus security’ but instead they just know the names of people like ‘Oh it's Brian Dolansky’ or ‘Oh it's John Blaisdell’” Borbon said. 

Many of the security officers that used to sit in the lobby of dorms are now out more on campus, which is another shift towards community policing, Blaisdell says. 

“The enforcement, the police officer mentality, that’s not who we are and that’s not who I want us to be,” he said. “Our job is not to catch students doing something wrong, it's about getting them through this process and making sure they are safe and secure, and they have an advocate for them.”

While noting new safety policing, Nadile reminds the community that isolation from the community seen at Marist currently, is not going to last for long.

“We are not going to be living in a bubble for our whole life,” Nadile said. “We are going to be moving away from college, we are going to be in neighborhoods, in communities, so I don’t believe we should start isolating ourselves.” 

Similar in view to Nadile, Borbon believes the campus should remain an open one. 

“It’s well known that the Marist bubble is a very real thing that exists. You talk to certain students and they think very lowly of Poughkeepsie and they think it's, you know, a bad spot to be,” he said. “It's in our Marist mission that students be more worldly and are able to be active citizens not only within Marist, but within the greater community.”