For the Classroom – Public Safety Reminders

We are on an urban, open campus, which allows Charleston residents and guests to freely enter our buildings. For the most part, those who wander into our buildings are appropriately interested in The College. This week, an individual visited several of our campus classes, disrupting lectures and unnerving faculty, staff, and students. All is well, but it gave us a chance to debrief and game plan with leaders in the Office for Public Safety.

If you encounter someone suspicious, err on the side of caution and alert public safety immediately.

1. Avoid confronting the individual. Avoid escalating the situation before public safety arrives.
2. Step away from the individual and call public safety. If you are in class, excuse yourself to make the call. Try to be discreet.
3. Provide as much description of the individual as possible (clothing color; identifiable characteristics; etc.).
4. Always take your cell phone with you to class.
5. Save the public safety dispatch number in your cell phone: 843-953-5609. Consider saving it as AAPublicSafety, so at the top of your contact list.
6. Make sure you are registered to received public safety notifications from Cougar Alert.
7. If the situation escalates, call 911 immediately.

Our Public Safety captains want you to know they are there to help, and make sure we all stay safe. Look out for each other, just as members of our community did with the incident this week.

Go team.