ATLANTA — Four Atlanta-based Historically Black Colleges and Universities are working on upgrading their security measures to make their campuses safer. Students at Morehouse College and Clark Atlanta University have raised concerns about outdated emergency posts and inadequate communication between campuses during emergencies.
"Security on campus is not the best. I would definitely hope that it gets better," Devyn Bullock said.
Bullock is a junior at Clark Atlanta University. She says her safety concerns were amplified in February when a fatal shooting near campus housing left student athlete Jatonne Sterling dead in February.
August Taylor, also a Clark Atlanta University student, says the event particularly traumatizing for her because she lived in the residence hall near where the shooting took place.
"We were affected tremendously, like literally hearing and seeing that very traumatizing," Taylor said.
Dr. Michael Hodge, Executive Director of the Atlanta University Center Consortium, has announced that some upgrades are on the way. A unified alert system for the four schools in the center, increasing lighting, and adding speed bumps to streets surrounding the campuses are just some of the adjustments planned. However, he noted that these upgrades may take some time due to bureaucratic processes and government regulations.
From his perspective, the speed bumps would be particularly helpful because they force vehicles from outside of the AUC Center to slow down to a pace where someone could identify information about the car if something were to happen.
Additionally, individual campuses are taking steps to increase security. Charles Prescott, chief of the Morehouse College Police Department, explained he used the knowledge that came with being an alumnus of the institution to address concerns during his 11 months on the job.
"I'm actually sitting with vendors now to try to upgrade those call boxes," he said. "We've had over 40 cameras put on the outside of campus."
Prescott says he added license plate readers and hired 17 new officers. He hopes to add 10 more by summer.
No one at Spelman College was available for an interview. The following statement was provided.
"The safety and security of our students, faculty, and staff are paramount and we are engaged with our Atlanta University Center (AUC) partners and local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, in working together to ensure the safety and wellbeing of everyone across of our entire AUC campus community.
The Spelman Public Safety Department is continuing to work with local law enforcement and our AUC neighbors to implement measures to improve safety across our community, including legislative proposals, additional safety training for our campus community, increased patrolling, improved camera surveillance, active shooter training and stronger emergency communications coordination on-campus and across the AUC – among other actions."
A representative from Clark Atlanta University was also unavailable for comment. The following statement from the university was sent to 11Alive.
"We take the safety of our students seriously and they are our top priority. Significant improvements have been within the last thirty days.
Our approach is to first communicate our safety improvements to the Clark Atlanta University community. We will be sharing our safety updates in the coming days."