As Tyler Junior College Student Danielle Williams leaves from her last class, she quickly grabs her purse and proceeds to take out her keychain. On it, she has a six flags key chain, a picture of her newborn cousin and pepper spray.”My dad gave me the spray when I first moved out,” she said. “He tried to give me one of those mini blow horns, but I flat out said ‘no.’ That would have been too much.”Williams said she has to have protection when she is let out from her night class. “It’s dark in between the buildings,” she said. “So if you come to the school around 4 p.m. there is still sunlight. But when you leave around 9 p.m., it’s dark. And since the parking lot is crowded during the day, you are not guaranteed to get a spot that’s close to your last class.”TJC student Michael Johnson said he has to take a night class because all of the earlier classes were full.”When financial aid drops you, for whatever reason, you have to take the leftovers,” he said. “All of my classes are spread out and at night.”Johnson said his teachers recommend the budy system after a night class is released so that students can walk together.”They say to walk with a friend or group of people so that you’re not walking by yourself,” he said. “There are some students that hang out in the parking lot and in front of the cafeteria that come off as intimidating. So in case they harass you, it’s nice to have someone with you.”Director of Marketing and Public Information Fred Peters said he had a meeting with the Safety Committee on Feb. 4 in order to talk about the lighting on campus.”The committee is composed of faculty and staff,” he said. “Right now we are working to re-design the company Web site. I know it’s not a safety issue but the information on the Web site will inform the faculty, staff and students when an emergency situation is present.”Peters said Campus Safety is also active in making sure the school is secure.”Campus Safety officers are here 24 hours,” he said. “They fill out a light report that goes over to our campus electrician. So if a bulb is out or if there are some areas on campus that are not well lit then they can document them. There have been no reports lately.”Once a semester, Peters said the committee does an evening walk in order to see how things look after hours. He said the walkthrough is available for any student, staff or faculty member to participate.”There are usually four to five groups of people,” he said. “We basically walk around the campus looking for anything that should be fixed. We didn’t do it last semester because it was very busy. But we plan to go sometime before the time change, so within the next eight weeks or so.”Williams said her friend’s car got broken into. She said that maybe if the campus was better lit along the street, thefts and vandalism may be a little more noticeable.”My friend sometimes parks along Baxter,” she said. “Her car got broken into but nothing was stolen. It’s as if they just wanted to bust windows and vandalized people’s things.”Peters said the school can’t do anything about the amount of lighting on the roads.”Streets would be a city issue,” he said. “The city would need to help us with an issue such as that.”Peters said the committee is doing their best in trying to address any problems on campus. He said the college spent roughly $65,000 replacing bulbs and installing lighting fixtures during the 2008-2009 school year.”I’m sure we may have more concerns in the future,” he said. “As the campus grows there will be more and more students taking night courses.”Peters said if there are any problems, the public should feel free to voice their concerns.”We don’t recall having received any messages or any complaints,” he said. “However, please let us know if there are.”
