PITTSBURG, Kan. — Each year, colleges and universities across the country recognize September as National Campus Safety Awareness Month (NCSAM) to bring attention to the issue of safety on campus.
With Congress approving the recognition in 2008 to promote violence prevention on American campuses for all students, the month offers an opportunity to raise awareness about the safety concerns, preventative measures, and services available to support students and faculty.
This year, in recognition of NCSAM, Pittsburg State University has planned various activities for its students, faculty, and staff.
Starting on Monday, members of the PSU Office of Police and Public Safety Services, as well as the Pittsburg Police Department (PPD), had representatives at The Oval on campus to register bikes. A free service open to all, bikes registered are issued an official PPD tamper-evident label with an identification number correlating to PPD records, which will help officers identify lost or stolen bikes and return them to their rightful owners more quickly than bikes that aren’t registered.
On Tuesday, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the Robert W. Plaster Center, Jim Otter will teach a self-defense session. Otter is a longtime PSU faculty member in the School of Construction and the owner/instructor at Japan Karate-Do Genbu-Kai martial arts school in downtown Pittsburg. The event is free and open to the public as Otter will teach when to run, when to respond, how to evade, how to create barriers, and what works with an emphasis on awareness and decision-making in different situations.
Then on Wednesday, the Office of Police and Public Safety Services is scheduled to host ‘Coffee with a Cop’ at Einstein’s in the lower level of the Overman Student Center from 8 to 10 a.m. The event is on a come-and-go basis that gives a chance for students, faculty, and staff to interact with members of university and community police agencies including the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office and Pittsburg Police Department. The event also features a free coffee and bagel for attendees.
As for Thursday, the Student Government Association and officers from the Office of Police and Public Safety Services plan to meet at The Oval at 8 p.m. and walk the campus to identify areas that need improvement to existing lighting, possible tree trimming to increase existing lighting efficiency, and any lights that are not operating or need to be replaced.
For more information on safety services at PSU, visit police.pittstate.edu.
