The DeFord Gatehouse greets arrivals with security officers to check for IDs.
McKenna Howenstine|Marlin Chronicle
Virginia Wesleyan University employs a full-time security team which is available 24/7. The security team offers services including on-campus escort requests, motor assistance and utilization of the LiveSafe app, allowing students to send concerns to the security team and receive alerts in case of emergencies.
Students at Virginia Wesleyan expect the security team upon arrival at DeFord Gatehouse, where arrivals are checked to make sure they are either students or registered guests. The team can also be found making rounds across campus.
“This is my fourth college presidency. And I can say through 35 years as a college president, this has been the safest campus I’ve had in those 35 years,” President Scott Miller said.
According to the message from the Director on VWU’s Campus Security page, one of the security team’s primary goals is to deliver quality customer service.
“I was having a fire and using the grill in Honors [Village] and the security officer came promptly to ensure that all the safety precautions were taken,” junior Tyler Noll said.
Sarah Richards|Marlin Chronicle
“Then as I struck up a conversation, he hung out the entire time I was building the fire, offering school advice, cracking jokes and talking to me about his daughter who is graduating high school,” Noll said. “Shortly after I was attempting to light the charcoal grill and another security guard came, and he helped me to start the fire quickly. It was a great interaction, and if they didn’t have to keep working, I would’ve invited them to stay and enjoy the fire.”
Freshman Grace Whitt said that in all she has heard, the community has a positive consensus about individuals on the security team. “I know a couple people who are actually good friends with them. All of the security is really nice, and that reflects since I don’t really hear bad things about the people themselves.”
Whitt said she has noticed a critique: “The most concern is how lax they can be with some people coming onto campus.”
The Campus Master Plan included updates to security regarding the campus perimeter. “One of the advantages of this campus is it’s a very safe campus. As a part of the Master Plan, in 2017 we added the perimeter fencing,” Miller said, due to concerns that residents from the Campus East community would walk through campus to the newly constructed Norfolk Outlets.
Miller explained the reasoning behind limited entrance points: “It’s not to create a prison atmosphere. It’s decorative fencing, but it’s also high enough that it’s a discouragement for people that aren’t supposed to be here, so that they’re not cutting through our campus and providing any type of safety issue.”
Miller further discussed the safety of the VWU campus and the benefits of the campus’ geographical location.
“It’s a benefit to us that Norfolk Academy, which is a non-residential selective Academy, is off the one side of the campus, that we have Lake Taylor off the back side of the campus, and then on the third side, we have the woods that has a rather deep marshy area that runs the side,” Miller said. “So we are sort of on an island and can protect the campus even more as a result of that.”
Miller said the team is “commensurate with the statistical data of what you need for a campus, a residential community of this size.” The team consists of Director Victor Dorsey and Assistant to the Director C.J. Sholler, along with 11 additional members.
By Mia Diehl
