Page 68 - Security Today, January/February 2021

Safety First
6 Tips to Stay Safe on Campus
The challenges that keep parents awake at night
Chief among any college student parent’s concern is how their student will stay safe on campus. Parties are an obvious source of worry, but other chal- lenges keep parents awake at night, too. So how do you protect your student even though they’re far away from home? Here are six tips to stay safe on campus.
The quick answer is preparation. But the better (and more nuanced) answer is having an awareness of and a plan for many potential situations. From smart cybersecurity practices to protecting older family members from the dangers of COVID-19, here are six ways your collegian can stay safe on campus and beyond.
Use common sense – especially after dark. Get to know the campus security office. It may not be the first thing your student thinks about when starting in college, but it can an essential resource for all things safety, as well as offering additional benefits like free rides after dark. They can show you the safest routes to travel on and around campus, in addition to the locations of the blue safety lights you learned about during your prospective student tour.
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Learning campus-specific best practices is important, but you’ll also want to stress the importance of commonsense safety tips, such as:
• Never let a stranger – even a familiar stranger – into a dorm or
apartment building if they don’t have a key.
• Never walk alone after dark – use a campus-sponsored safe escort
service instead.
• When using a rideshare service, check the car to make sure the
license plate and driver ID matches the information on the app before getting in.
Learn how to drink alcohol. Teens who might experiment in high school still have a lot to learn about safe drinking in college. And though not driving after drinking is the cardinal rule of alcohol, col- lege students, in particular, have more to consider.
• Never consume a drink delivered by someone else, especially a stranger.
• Never leave a drink unattended on a bar top or table.
• Avoid drinking too much, too quickly – remember, it can take up to
30 minutes to feel the effects of alcohol.