Campus Safety Office is quieter than usual

by Matt Jones
edited by Alycia Brandt

The shuttle drivers changing shifts at 11:30 a.m. marks the beginning of Dispatcher Marilyn Lyons’s quiet portion of her eight hour shift.

Shuttle driver Daniel Roberts finishes his shift, handing the keys to Christopher Perez, who then signs the out shuttle and drives Roberts back to his room. After Perez leaves to begin his two hour shift, the Campus Safety building, known as St. Peters, becomes much quieter, with only the sound of CNN softly playing on the TV. Occasionally, the phone rings, and Lyons answers and transfers the calls to other locations on campus. “Mornings are when I get the most calls, but usually around noon things get much quieter.” said Lyons, who works from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. “This particular day is quieter than most days.” During the day most calls are for Res-Life, Admissions, the Registrar, or Financial Services.

Lyons uses the lull in calls as a chance to print out new I.D. cards for students who have reported losing their cards to the Cafeteria. Once the cards are printed, they will be given to one of the Campus Safety officers, who will take them back to the Cafeteria so the students can pick up their new cards for their next meal. Occasionally, while printing the cards, Lyons would have to walk from the back room to the front desk to answer the phone. In a half hour span, she received and transferred nine phone calls in all.

One student, Gareth Dudney, stopped by the office to register his friend Mollie O’brien as his guest for the weekend. Lyons then recorded O’brien in the University’s guest book, and issued her an I.D. and temporary parking permit.

 

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