When I wrote to you last week, I told you I would have more to say about South Campus. It appears that a suspect in Simeon Popov's murder may have been hiding at South Campus immediately following the shooting. This was the second time in one week unregistered South Campus guests were suspected of serious criminal activities. Situations such as these put all students at risk, and we must do more to avoid them in the future.
Starting later this week, all overnight guests at South Campus must be registered with the Office of Residence Life via a new web-based registration system. Students who host unregistered overnight guests at South Campus will be subject to disciplinary action. As always, students will be held accountable for the behavior of their guests. Random health and safety inspections of South Campus apartments will continue to be conducted to encourage compliance with campus security policies.
In addition, I have asked Parking Services to review its procedures for issuing guest parking permits for South Campus and its enforcement of parking regulations. I expect this review will result in additional measures to promote safety.
I realize that these new procedures are likely to be inconvenient for some students and their guests, but recent events require greater community attention to safety and security. We will review these procedures at the end of the semester. I call upon all students to report suspicious behaviors to the Department of Public Safety and to take reasonable steps to prevent crimes from occurring. Anonymous reports may be made by calling 443-TIPS or by sending e-mail to the "Silent Witness" web page at http://sumweb.syr.edu/pubsafe/silent.html. Emergency situations should be reported immediately to the Department of Public Safety at 443-2224.
You will receive specific information shortly concerning the implementation of these new procedures, which will take effect on January 31, 2002. And we will continue to review South Campus security strategies, including the effectiveness of the announced initiatives, as we prepare for the opening of the South Campus Welcome Center in the fall of 2002.
As a community, there is much more we can do in partnership to improve safety both on and off campus. Later this week I will be announcing new initiatives related to off-campus living.
Sincerely,
Kenneth A. Shaw
