Like all colleges, McDaniel College has an office of safety and security, which we call Campus Safety (or “Campo” for short). Some students think that all Campus Safety is good for is crashing parties and giving students trouble for drinking alcohol, but most students, including me, know that this is far from the truth.
I can’t even begin to tell you what an important role Campus Safety has played in my time on campus and in the lives of my friends. For example, if you’re sick or hurt and you need to go to the hospital or urgent care, a quick call to Campus Safety can get you transported to those places so you can receive the help you need. They’ll even drive you back from the hospital or urgent care when you’re finished there. In the fall, I came down with a pretty nasty ear infection, and even though I have a car on campus this year, Campus Safety still gladly drove me to and from the local urgent care center.
It’s not too likely to happen, but if you ever feel unsafe around campus or if there is some sort of disturbance on your floor or in your suite, give Campus Safety, and they’ll come investigate the situation. And if you’re out late at night and need to get from one place on campus to another, if you call Campus Safety, they’ll send an officer to come escort you to where you need to go.
Campus Safety is also responsible for fire safety on campus. They come around to check all the fire extinguishers once or twice a year (I forget how often) and they conduct fire drills in conjunction with Residence Life, the office responsible for housing and resident students. If your smoke detector’s battery is dying and needs to be replaced, Campus Safety are the folks to call. And if your fire alarm goes off unexpectedly, calling Campus Safety is a must. My affinity house’s fire alarm went off at 3 a.m. this morning while everyone was asleep, so we had to call Campus Safety to get them to figure out what caused it and to get them to turn it off. We found out later today that a pinched wire caused the alarm to sound, so hopefully, everything is fine now. (And hopefully, I’ll soon be able to catch up on the sleep I lost last night from waking up at 3 a.m.!)
Campus Safety is also the reason McDaniel’s Hoover Library has been able to be open 24 hours a day, four or five days a week. When the library closes at midnight, a Campus Safety officer goes on duty on the main floor of the library so students can continue to use computers and do work in a quiet, safe environment. Students also need to have their ID cards activated so they can swipe into the library during these times, which adds another level of security.
And of course, if you ever get locked out of your room or dorm, Campus Safety is who you’ll call to get back in.
I truly appreciate Campus Safety and everything they do. The officers are very involved around campus and I’ve never met an officer who wasn’t friendly. One of the first things you do when you start college, wherever that might be, is to add the phone number to the college’s campus safety and security office to your phone contacts–you never know when you might need a hand.
Here are some of McDaniel’s friendly Campus Safety officers. (Photo from McDaniel College Department of Campus Safety on Facebook.)
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