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Gabriella Fernbaugh:
Welcome back to the podcast. A recent TikTok trend has brought ASU campus safety issues to light. I'm Gabriella Fernbaugh.
Abby Bessinger:
I'm Abby Bessinger, and this is State Press Play. We also sit down with Campus Safety Escorts to tell us about the program and its impact.
But first...
Abby Bessinger:
The concern for women's safety has always been a prevalent topic on college campuses. With the recent rise of this issue, women are warning other women about those dangers on social media. I’m with State Press Community Reporter Senna James, who has compiled a guide to staying safe on campus. Hey Senna!
Senna James:
Hi Abby!
Abby Bessinger:
So, what made you want to report on this concern?
Senna James:
I had saw a TikTok basically saying how this one girl was followed and I thought that was pretty scary and I've heard a lot of other stories from friends or just random people on the street so I thought these people should know about like what ASU offers safety-wise and what they can do to protect protect themselves.
Abby Bessinger:
Yeah, that's so freaky. Your article mentioned ASU's LiveSafe app. Could you break down some of those features?
Senna James:
LiveSafe announces a lot of crime on campus or off campus that students need to be alert of. It tells you where it happens, who it might have been, and things like that for students to be aware of their surroundings. They also, within LiveSafe, have multiple phone numbers, so they have 911, which is the emergency phone number to ASU PD. They also have a non-emergency phone number for ASU PD which is 480-965-3456 and then they also have a Safety Escort phone number which is 480-965-1515.
To hear more from James, please tune in to State Press Play.
READ MORE: HOW TO STAY SAFE ON CAMPUS: A GUIDE FOR WOMEN AT ASU
Gabriella Fernbaugh:
Campus safety is becoming a rising concern for ASU students. I sit down with Campus Safety Escort's Gabby Dyess and and Isabella Lirtzman to gain insight into the impact and importance of the service. Thank you guys for coming on the podcast.
Gaby Dyess:
Thank you for having us.
Isabella Lirtzman:
Thank you.
Gabriella Fernbaugh:
So can you guys just kind of explain a little bit about how you got into becoming a Campus Safety Escort?
Gaby Dyess:
I'll go first. My freshman year, I saw these golf carts driving on campus and I was like, "What is that?" I didn't know anything about it. I was working another job on campus, and then I decided I don't like this job very much. So I went on the ASU student jobs and I saw "campus safety escort driver needed." I was like, "Oh, is that the golf cart?" because I've seen so many golf carts. I was like, "Wow, okay, I'll just shoot my shot and did it." And then I got the job. Turns out I was right, it was the vans driving on campus at night. And I was like, "Okay, I can get down with this."
Isabella Lirtzman:
For me personally, fun fact, today is actually the one year anniversary of my first ever shift at Safety Escort. So I started working here, spring of my freshman year, and I actually found out about the program through Gaby. So my friendship with Gaby began before we became coworkers at Safety Escort. We're both in the same sorority and at all of our chapter meetings, she would sort of give us her little speech you know every every week and say "You know if you want to safe ride home you know feel like walking use your LiveSafe app order a Safety Escort" and she had mentioned something briefly about how the program was hiring and so I figured I would apply and here I am.
Gabriella Fernbaugh:
Can you guys explain what exactly is it? Say I'm a freshman at ASU, I'm just now hearing about this, what exactly is a campus safety escort?
Isabella Lirtzman:
We're a completely free service. You don't have to pay to use the service. We don't accept tips either. And you can place a request either by calling us at our phone number or through the LiveSafe app, and once we receive your application, we'll dispatch a driver in either a van or a golf cart to come and pick you up. Wait times depend generally on how busy we are that night but usually you know within the realm of 10 to 15 minutes we can get somebody to come get you and then yeah just drop you off at home. We do have certain boundaries so we can go anywhere on campus and then sort of the immediate vicinity, so all of the apartments that are close to campus and then sort of things within that boundary.
Gaby Dyess:
The only thing I would add is that we are fully student-run and operated. So like we are students with full-time schedules that are taking the time out of our nights. Yes, it's a job but we don't have to work if we don't want to. So we sign up for the shifts we want and it's the same schedule every week. We are there to serve the students of ASU. So I think a lot of people don't recognize that. So when they hear the 15 minute wait time, they are like, "What? I thought this was like an actual service." It is an actual service, we just have other calls to get to before you and we are students trying to get to work as well. So that's one thing. And then, any ASU building we go to, as long as there's a building that says ASU on the side, we will go to you.
To hear more from Dyess and Lirtzman, please tune in to State Press Play.
Gabriella Fernbaugh:
And that's all for this week's State Press Play. I'm Gabriella Fernbaugh.
Abby Bessinger:
And I'm Abby Bessinger. State Press Play is produced by our podcast desk editor, Gabriella Fernbaugh. Original music by Ellie Willard and Jake LeRoux.
Gabriella Fernbaugh:
Special thanks to are managing team, Alexis Heichman and Morgan Kubasko.
Abby Bessinger:
You can check out all these stories and more on statepress.com. See you next week.
