Campus safety concerns require student action

By Jennie Mae Sprouse and Sophia Fleischer

It has been almost two years since Rider required students to purchase passes if they wished to park on campus, yet multiple complaints regarding parking have appeared in The Rider News. Grumbling students stuff parking tickets in their pockets, while women continue to feel uneasy when walking alone at night in the lots. 

In her opinion article published Nov. 6, 2024 in The Rider News, senior journalism major Sarah F. Griffin argued that “if Rider wants their female students to be more comfortable, they must hire more women to work in Public Safety.” By voicing her opinion, Griffin took the first step in pressuring Public Safety to address student concerns and implement changes accordingly. However, to ensure that Public Safety follows through, there needs to be direct action taken as a community – and it can be done. 

In November 2023, we organized a student protest in an effort to address unsafe conditions in the C/Z/R Lot. More than half the street lights did not work leaving large patches of darkness in the area. In a preliminary student survey we conducted in 2023 prior to the protest on parking conditions, one student noted that the lot seemed “pretty dark” and it was “very anxiety-inducing as a woman” walking to her car at night. There were also no visible security cameras or emergency blue lights. Several women reported in our survey that they had felt that they were being followed across the lots.

After only one hour of protesting at an open house, we got the attention of Rider’s administration. The next week, we met with a group of male administrators including the Vice President of University Operations Mike Reca, former Public Safety Director James Waldon, Vice President for Student Affairs Nick Barbati and Vice President of Enrollment Management Drew Aromando. Ultimately, we were able to get the administration to commit to a timeline for making improvements to the C/Z/R Lot. Broken lights were repaired and temporary lighting was put in place until those repairs could be completed. New digital security cameras were installed to provide better coverage and RAVE, an online system for emergency communication, is scheduled to become available this semester, according to Residence Life Director Sean Killion in a universitywide email sent out Feb. 6. With direct action, the university listened. 

As our parking protest demonstrates, Public Safety will make these meaningful changes if we keep the pressure on. Students like Griffin have the right idea in speaking out about their concerns with Public Safety, but there will be no meaningful change unless we remember our capability to advocate. It is our collective responsibility as students to hold Public Safety accountable for ensuring its mission statement of “community, integrity [and] service”. 

The recent departure of Waldon offers an excellent opportunity to do just this. As students, it is critical that we remain engaged and vigilant in pushing whomever is hired as the new Public Safety director to reevaluate how its promise of “safety and well being of all members of the Rider community” actually makes members of this community feel safe.

Jennie Mae Sprouse is a senior sociology major

Sophia Fleischer is a  junior behavioral neuroscience and sociology major