'Your bravery and strength are clear': Delaware State gives next steps in campus security

Kelly Powers, USA TODAY NETWORK
·3 min read

They shut down a campus street for hours. Hundreds surrounded the public safety building to protest against university police and the handling of sexual assault cases. They packed an entire auditorium for a town hall meeting that stretched nearly nine hours long.

This week, students demanded to feel safe on their Delaware State University campus. Now, they're starting to see the next steps from their school.

"Your bravery and strength are clear and compelling," said President Tony Allen in a statement Friday evening, following the town hall that ended around 3 a.m. the same day. "Now is an opportunity for us to support you better and with the care and compassion you should expect."

Allen outlined what he stressed to be "initial steps" for the Dover institution. These measures join the president's previously shared plan to pair university experts with a student coalition, the counseling center, police and the Title IX office to create “sexual assault awareness activities and interventions” on campus.

Some new steps

  • Assigning Deputy Chief Joi Simmons as the university's “Sexual Assault Awareness officer.” Allen noted she has extensive training in sexual assault education, investigations and survivor services.

  • Upgrading security to include lighting throughout the main campus and DSU Downtown — including the emergency blue lights system.

  • Ensuring that the existing public safety escort service is “fulfilling the needs of students.”

  • Enhancing camera use on campus and in the residence halls. Allen did not specify further where these cameras would be located.

  • Extending counseling hours to Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturday, 9 a.m. to noon, through the end of February — at which point Allen says DSU will reassess its regular hours. Additionally, virtual health services are available. This will join special support groups for students who are survivors or allies, he said.

  • Allen also plans to convene the first in a series of “mandatory sensitivity trainings” for the entire university community throughout the remainder of this semester.

More:Delaware State responds to protest cries with town hall meeting — but closed it to public

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Why were Delaware State students protesting?

A protester speaks on a megaphone, claiming campus police at Delaware State University are concerned more with students smoking cannabis than them getting sexually assaulted, during a protest at DSU on Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2023.
A protester speaks on a megaphone, claiming campus police at Delaware State University are concerned more with students smoking cannabis than them getting sexually assaulted, during a protest at DSU on Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2023.

Calls without answers, long times spent waiting for response, avoiding stairwells, fear of walking alone at night — students had a lot to say about campus safety. And they found a megaphone to do it.

Hundreds of students protested in Dover on Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 18, calling for change within the Delaware State University Police Department. The protest pushed into the late afternoon.

Students called for better response times, better training and more transparent handling of sexual assault cases by the Delaware State University Police Department. Several said they do not feel safe on campus. Others fear more sexual assaults are going unreported because they say they are not taken seriously.

Background:Delaware State students protest for more action, better response from university police

The university responded with a town hall meeting, set for 6 p.m. the next evening in the Education and Humanities Theatre. Media was barred from attending. Parents also told Delaware Online they were unable to attend.

The meeting would end up stretching nearly nine hours in the night, several students said Friday. Ending by about 3 a.m., the packed house heard emotional testimony, firsthand accounts and cries that the meeting be a first step to more action.

The university community now absorbs some early steps in what their president deemed a long-term effort.

"I want to emphasize that these are initial steps, aimed at immediately improving our current practices," he wrote Friday evening. "We will work closely with the coalition as we build out our long-term plan."

Have a story to share? Kelly Powers is a culture reporter for the How We Live team — covering race, culture and equity for the USA TODAY Network's Northeast Region and Delaware Online. Contact her at kepowers@gannett.com or (484) 466-9121, and follow her on Twitter @kpowers01.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Delaware State gives next steps for campus security after protest