Campus Safety and The Blue Light Special

Mark points out the “extra-special security system” at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, on his recent visit to the college. About 15 years ago, these were cutting-edge technological systems.  Now they are really not so special.
Check this video out as he speaks about the importance of a security system at any college campus, or read the transcript below:

Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant
*****************
TRANSCRIPT
I’m on the campus today of Augustana College, which is in Rock Island, Illinois. It’s in the Quad Cities. There are four cities that are along the Mississippi River, and one of them is Rock Island.
Augustana is a Lutheran College, that’s about 2,500 students and I learned just a minute ago, that only about 12-13% are actually Lutheran. This is a much more diverse place religiously than you might think being a Lutheran college.
I’m standing here next to the Blue Light, and this is always one of my favorite points on a college campus, because invariably every tour guide stops at the Blue Light and says, “We have this wonderful campus security system, and if you push this button for help, then the campus police will come in three seconds, five seconds, fifteen seconds, fifteen minutes”, however long it might be, but every campus and every tour guide tends to think that these are unique. In actual fact, they are not unique. These were security systems that were developed a decade ago, two decades ago before the invention of cell phones and security systems that the campus police uses to do sort of reverse 911. Anything you want to know about our campus, they will text your cell phone and you’ll know faster than anything, or if you’re in trouble on a college campus, it’s more like that you just call 911 or have campus police on your speed dial, than have to run over to one of these blue kiosk, push the button for help and wait while whatever is threatening continues to be around you. Well, that’s it.
On this campus, it’s a lovely tree line place, it’s gorgeous. There are not a lot of campus security problems over here but every campus system is going to be talking about safety. There are questions that you should ask, but the blue light, well, it’s a little out-dated.