Chief of the University Police Department Adam Brown served as the keynote speaker in a Campus Security Forum, which was co-sponsored by the Undergraduate Student Government Association (USGA) and Graduate Student Council (GSC) on Monday, Oct. 3.

The event consisted of a panel of university staff, though Brown was the primary speaker who addressed the crowd, which was made up of seven students: all of whom were members of either the USGA or GSC e-board.

When opening the forum, Brown said that “safety is everyone’s responsibility,” and that students hold responsibility in addition to UPD. He told students that when transport vans are not available they can call dispatch and request an escort to their next location if they find discomfort or a sense of lack of safety in walking.

Brown discussed the new gates at many university entrances, and spoke with heavy emphasis on the new golf cart, having the subject consume a significant portion of his rundown of security during the forum. He also told students that UPD has hired more security guards and that they are in the process of hiring another police officer.

This is all in addition to the security guard booth that is now visible in the library parking lot, for which construction was completed last week.

Brown said that it “doesn’t seem like a lot, but it does help” in regards to his summary of the changes and additions being made to campus safety.

After he spoke on the new measures being implemented, Brown opened the floor for those in attendance to ask questions.

The members of the student government e-boards asked questions primarily surrounding transportation and security concerns to locations off-campus and at the Orange campus.

At one point during the forum, Brown said, “I was waiting for all those parking pass questions” in reaction to not being presented with an inquiry on the subject.

When asked about how he sought to improve transparency with the student body in the event of instances on campus such as the recent thefts and robberies, Brown said that “There’s some things that we can put out, and there’s some things that are against the law to put out.”

“I put out as much as I legally can to you guys,” he also said.

When asked about whether student voices were a considered factor when deciding what additions to make to campus security, Brown said that he met multiple times with USGA, as well as other groups of students and some staff, and that when it came to items such as transportation, they took student suggestions about more nighttime transportation into account. He also said that much of what they have implemented was decided on by campus security.

“When it comes to gates, we have some people that think it’s a great idea, and some people that think it’s a bad idea,” Brown said about the controversy surrounding the gates being put up at many entrances. “Some people want the university to be a closed campus, and some people want it to be a wide open campus.”

“I think that the things that we’re putting in are good things,” he said in reflection of the controversy surrounding some of the changes. “There are ways we can try and make it safer as long as we all work together.”