By Laura Jean Null

Staff Writer

After the incidents that occurred on or around campus, such as the Domino’s delivery driver being shot and the Shawnee Quad stabbing, you may have noticed some changes.

Security and police officers are driving through campus more and is a common place for one to notice. I have personally seen officers driving around campus more, compared to before.

Additionally, I have witnessed officers on foot patrol, and an officer roaming the halls of Stroud occasionally.

Also, as of last Thursday the Official East Stroudsburg University Email sent out a message that there will be

“Additional stops, and other changes announced for ESU’s Warrior Shuttle schedule effective March 26.”

With that, the Gwendolyn R42 lot and Marguerite C/R40 lot have been added to the Black Shuttle route, which runs Monday through Friday, from 7:20 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. These two lots have also been added to the Late-night Shuttle route which runs Thursday through Saturday, from 8:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m.

The Official ESU Email also made mention that the Fine Arts stop has been deleted from the Silver Express Shuttle and added to the Black Shuttle route, thus “Replacing the Fine Arts stop will be the Upper University Apartments Lot R26.”

The Silver Express route runs Monday through Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and Fridays from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

So, as students it is clear to see some changes, but are they enough?

For starters, the Late-Night Shuttle should be running to the University Apartments just as it does now during the week days for the Silver Express Shuttle. As a university, the administration must take into consideration that the University Apartments mostly have upperclassmen living there.

Thus, a high number of those students take the Late-Night Shuttle for shopping, going to the bars on Main street, etc.

To leave them out of the loop for Late-Night Shuttle transportation is saying as a university, we only care about a portion of our students, the rest can walk to Res-Life through a dark campus.

Second, the shuttle does not check if you are an ESU student or ESU visitor/guest. Every other bus in the United States, you either pay to get on or have some form of identification to get on that transportation Students who pay for their tuition and have guest with visitor identification should be able to ride the bus for free, not random people that just want to hop on our school shuttle.

ESU has us scan to get into our buildings, why not scan to get on our school buses?

Third, lighting, lighting, lighting.

The lighting on campus is a major issue. The campus walkways have lighting, but there is not enough lighting on campus. Every single parking lot on campus needs more lighting.

Personally, I get nervous walking out to my car right next to my building because the lots are dark anyone could be hiding a few feet away.

The university doesn’t want to spend money? Let’s be efficient about this and get solar panel lights raised high in the parking lots and planted in the grass areas by walkways. It’s cheaper, smarter, environmentally friendly and will work out better in the long run.

Finally, I’ve written articles previously, addressing the need to increase the blue security pod lights. I have addressed the locks we need for classroom doors, the effectiveness of the LiveSafe App and a speaker system for classrooms.

As a writer, I write for a purpose.

As a student I write because I am sick and devastated of school shooting after school shooting on the news.

I am disgusted with the crime.

I’m upset that these other schools did not have a plan of action in emergency crisis.

And I am infuriated that it takes one terrible event to change all the rules and the way we must operate.

I know as school community, we cannot stop everything, I understand we aren’t all superheroes. But the administration of this school, I’m asking you to fix these issues and help prevent these horrific events that are happening on every other campus.

As a student of East Stroudsburg University, I am asking you to make a plan, spend the money on security updates that can help keep us safe.

Email Laura at:

lnull@live.esu.edu