Schmidly responds to constituency concerns
At the direction of incoming president David J. Schmidly, the University of New Mexico has formed a Safety and Security Task Force, made up of students, faculty and staff, who will review the current state of safety and security on campus as well as explore new strategies being proposed to strengthen both areas. The group will then make recommendations to the President and senior administration.
“President Schmidly asked that we form this task force when he was here earlier this month, after hearing the ideas of faculty and staff who have an interest in campus safety issues,” said acting President and Executive Vice President for Administration David Harris. “We were already pulling the group together when the tragic events happened at Virginia Tech.”
Harris said the work of this task force would complement the security integration efforts that have been underway on campus for the past year, as well as the work of Governor Richardson’s Campus Safety Task Force. The UNM group will be charged with:
* assessing best practices used by comparable institutions nationwide;
* reviewing and making recommendations regarding ongoing campus communication in conjunction with the Security Integration Initiative;
* evaluating systems and infrastructure and making recommendations on closed circuit security cameras, lighting, electronic access control, etc.;
* evaluating personnel and equipment resources needed for expanded campus safety and security; and
* making recommendations with respect to coordination of all campus security components.
UNM’s Safety and Security Task Force will be headed by Breda Bova, Special Faculty Advisor to the President. Its members include Kathy Guimond, UNM Chief of Police; Don Scott, UNM Emergency Manager; Jackie Hood, Faculty; Joseph Garcia, Graduate and Professional Students Association; Hollie Medina, Staff Council; Randy Boeglin, Dean of Students; Jim De Zetter, Safety, Health and Environmental Affairs; Denece Kessler, HSC Faculty; Amy Boule, UNMH Operations; and Greg Sanchez, Manager, City of Albuquerque Emergency Services. Representatives from ASUNM and from the Albuquerque office of the FBI will also join the task force.
The group is expected to make its preliminary recommendations to President Schmidly by May 31, 2007.
Media Contact: Susan McKinsey, (505) 277-1989; e-mail: mckinsey@unm.edu
Posted by scarr at April 24, 2007 04:32 PM