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The UA's Dean of Students Office is using a range of social media sites and delivery methods to get campus safety-related information to University students.

By Bethany Conway, Dean of Students Office
September 25, 2009

Students at the University of Arizona this fall have access to a brand-new program that is bringing safety to the forefront of campus life.

Safe Cats, a proactive educational campaign that disperses information related to safety, is approaching students, their families and the community through an all-familiar arena – the Internet.

After identifying numerous areas of concern through a student safety survey, staff members in the Dean of Students Office developed Safe Cats. 

The program is meant to "equip students with current communication tools to get information related to health and safety on campus," said Jason Casares, UA's assistant Dean of Students and campus safety coordinator.

Citing the campus tragedies at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University as well as increased crime resulting from today's tough economic conditions, Casares said that the issue of safety is more important now than ever. 

The impetus for Safe Cats is to be able to help individuals understand how, when and where to report an incident on campus.

The UA program will use Facebook, Twitter, the Safe Cats blog, the YouTube channel and a soon-to-emerge page on the Dean of Students Office Web site to spread information and important updates. Facebook users will have to visit the site, search for Safe Cats, then add the program to get updates that way.

Also, Safe Cats employees will answer questions via a Web-based chat and instant messaging. Those interested in the service should visit AIM and add "UofASafecats."  

"The big thing right now for Safe Cats is the multimedia campaign that we are working on. It's the first component of the Safe Cats program," Casares said.

"We are meeting students where they are most – social networking sites," he said, noting that estimates indicate that more than 90 percent of students have a Facebook account.

Casares also noted that number of students using Twitter grows daily, adding Safe Cats employees intend to add new information to the Twitter account about every two to three hours. 

"For us, that's an opportunity to provide information, provide tips on how to stay safe on campus and get emergency information out to students and parents," Casares said.

The UA has a range of existing services, programs and resources that promote campus safety. Among them are the UA Police Department, UA Life and Work Connections, Campus Health Service, Safe Ride, Safe Walk, emergency blue-light phones and UAlert!

The UA Safe Cats blog will allow students to post questions and comments related to health and safety on campus anonymously. The site will also contain information about UA's safety initiatives, safety-related ideas and also videos featuring students, faculty, staff and community members speaking about safety.

"We realize that not everyone blogs, but it gives people another opportunity through this multimedia campaign to get information from the university and the Dean of Students Office and share their perspective," Casares said, adding that the blog would be updated on a weekly basis. 

Through its YouTube channel, the UA program also will begin broadcasting videos related to campus safety that focus on peer-to-peer education, with interviews of students talking about what they do to stay safe on campus. Videos will also feature UA staff offering tips and other information related to campus safety.

While all of these resources will be available to all, Safe Cats is also working to develop special broadcasts for parents and families.

"The other component will be a parent component where they can hear from other parents on what to do," Casares said.   

Partnering with numerous campus organizations, said he hopes that the budding Safe Cats campaign will become a one-stop shop for campus safety.

"Everyone here on this campus has different programs addressing safety, but we want to bring all that together so student can come to one place and find all that they need," he said.

"We are trying to get information to students so that they can practice safer habits and be a little bit more aware of what is going on," Casares added. "We want to get students accurate details and accurate information; so that they have the resources they need to make informed decisions."