Project Blue Light targets safety around campus

Online Poster

Online Poster

By Mary Zemaitis

Octavio Duran, junior in LAS, was walking home alone from the Undergraduate Library to the intersection of Lincoln and University avenues last year after a late night of studying.

He realized how far away he lived, how dark it was and how dangerous this situation could be.

Duran said he thought it would be a good idea if the University had places where students that are out late at night could go to if they felt endangered.

In response, Duran developed Project Blue Light, a registered student organization that aims to improve campus safety by establishing a safe house system. Students out at night who feel threatened may find shelter and aid at designated safe houses, which are distinguished by a blue light, said Duran, president of Project Blue Light.

In the safe house, a student may telephone Safe Rides or another source of transportation and wait inside the shelter until their escort arrives.

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On Nov. 1, the Public Safety Advisory Committee will have a meeting in the Levis Faculty Center at noon where Duran will give a status update on Project Blue Light to the committee, said Krystal Fitzpatrick, assistant director of the University’s division of public safety.

Duran said he will present his findings and Project Blue Light to the University police at this meeting, and they will decide whether to support Project Blue Light or not.

“The support of the police adds legitimacy to Project Blue Light,” Duran said.

The current goal is to establish safe houses in fraternity and sorority houses.

“The people in the Greek system already have certain ideals and already have to be responsible,” said Christopher Quartier, junior in Engineering and treasurer of Project Blue Light.

Quartier said the group is focusing on sororities in particular, since the organizations already have a “Sober Sisters” program, where members of the sorority stay home Thursday through Saturday in case anyone in the sorority needs a ride home or other assistance.

“If (the Sober Sisters) are there, they might as well do this,” Duran said. “They can extend their services to the campus as a whole.”

Interested houses must go through an application process, which also includes a background check done by the University Police, Duran said.

The tenure of a safe house will be one semester, with safe houses required to re-apply if they wish to continue with Project Blue Light, Duran said. He said he thinks this length of tenure will allow houses to try out Project Blue Light without losing energy towards the project.

Project Blue Light “would be a great resource” to students, said Heather Taff, sophomore in LAS.

She expressed concerns that “if an entire building made themselves a safe house, that would open themselves up to anyone who wanted to get in and invite risk.”

“We do everything possible to ensure safety (in the project),” Duran said.

In order to protect the safety of those running the safe house, students seeking to enter it must present an I-card. If a student cannot present their I-card, the person running the safe house must “use common sense” to ascertain if the student is in immediate danger, Duran said. If the student is not in immediate danger, they can be asked to wait outside while the person running the safe house makes a call for them.

Once Project Blue Light receives support from the police, they plan on having the police give presentations on safety to the participants.

“We use the police to educate the people in the safe houses,” Quartier said. “(Those running the safe houses) must pass their inspection.”

Project Blue Light has been in development since last year, and this year, the group will be able to implement it, Duran said.

Locations set to be safe houses include the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, 209 E. Armory St. in Champaign, and the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity, 902 S. Second St. in Champaign.

Project Blue Light wants to expand to homeowners in the future and establish a map of all of its locations, Duran said. The organization is also trying to recruit members for its board, he added.