Last Monday, Interim Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Dr. Clarice Ford hosted a discussion panel entitled “Real Talk,” featuring various student and faculty leaders from across campus.

The panel, which focused on sexual assault and campus safety, came on the heels of news breaking about a former UIS employee facing trial for two counts of sexual assault.

The panel, which included figures like Title IX Compliance Coordinator Deanie Brown and UIS Police Sergeant Mike Stewart, answered questions from the audience for roughly an hour that Monday, Jan. 30. 

One topic consistently touched on throughout the evening was the Code Blue lights installed throughout campus.

As explained by Brown and Stewart, Code Blue lights are phone lines that are connected directly to the campus police dispatch center. The phone contacts the dispatch center once someone presses the red button on the unit, sending officers the unit’s location.

According to Stewart, the campus police manually test all of the units on campus every weekend. “Even if they look bad,” Stewart said, “every weekend they’re tested, and if they don’t work, a work order’s put in and they’re fixed.”

A map of the Code Blue light locations is available on the UIS Police webpage, under “Campus Safety.”

Another topic of discussion was Title IX regulation and responses in regards to students and student organizations. One student in attendance questioned whether organizations like the athletics program or Greek Life groups receive “special treatment” when dealing with Title IX related matters.

“Based on our policies, there is no preferential treatment according to organizations or students based on their affiliation,” Brown said. “That doesn’t mean we won’t work with advisors of student organizations or coaches and administrators in athletics to partner on a response.” 

Brown continued, stating that it would be “potentially unfair to shield or protect” a student accused of wrongful conduct based on their “status.”

Beyond official university responses, the question of what students could do to help each other was often brought up.

Austin Mehmet, the president of the Student Government Association (SGA), noted that campus safety has been an issue for this SGA to focus on. 

Last semester, the SGA hosted the “Protect the Prairie” safety education event and encouraged the chancellor’s office to allocate funding to address lighting concerns around campus.

This semester, the SGA is funding a Friday evening shuttle to the downtown Springfield area that allows students to safely travel to and from campus. 

In regards to individual student efforts, Brown remarked that UIS students’ response rate to the offered Haven and Haven Plus online training courses were “much lower” than the student responses at UIC and UIUC.

“I think about 30 percent of our students completed the opportunity to learn more about sexual assault, prevention, and awareness,” Brown said.

At the end of the event, Ford stated that she hoped to hold similar panels “on a monthly basis” and requested that people send her ideas.