DeKALB | Last Thursday the Northern Star sat down with Student Association President Adam Novotney to discuss the campus security forum, the current state of campus security and what is planned for the future.

Northern Star: What do you believe is the SA’s responsibility in improving security on campus?

Adam Novotney: I think that our responsibility has a somewhat smaller scope — I wouldn’t necessarily call it limited. We have services in place, such as Late Night Ride, which we fund directly. I think that better promoting services like that lie under our purview.

NS: What security issues do you believe are the most important on campus?

AN:I think it’s pretty much the same that they’ve always been. Like I talked about last night [at the security forum], and like I’ve talked about for years, most things that happen in a community like this are crimes of opportunity. So, not allowing yourself to be placed into circumstances where it would be easier for an aggressor to possibly attack you, rob you, what have you, would probably be the easiest way to prevent them.

NS: The Greek system falls under the SA and many of the crimes reported have taken place close to Greek Row. How are you working with the Greek community to make that area safer?

AN: The way we’ve been working with the Greek community and the way we’ll continue, we have the Greek Row security force that was started up last year in joint efforts between myself and various other entities. I think that has had a market improvement. This year was kind of a test run on how that system will go. We’re looking to expand that because it’s been successful as it has been.

NS: What would those expansions include?

AN: Just additional forces. I think right now it’s just a couple of people Thursday through Sunday.

NS: What do you believe the security forum accomplished?

AN: I think the security forum accomplished a couple of things. It allowed Student Affairs and [the Department of] Public Safety to kind of outline what has been going on, their perceptions of it, preventative measures that are already in place and kind of what’s on the horizon. It also gave students an opportunity to not only listen to what’s been happening, but also tips to take away from it and also just kind of what they’ve seen has been happening.

NS: What’s in store for the future of campus security on the SA’s end?

AN: From our end, we’re pretty much going to keep up the services we’ve got now with Late Night Ride. I‘d like to see students use that more. And if they were, we would be able to justify adding additional services, but when they’re not running at peak it’s kind of hard to figure that out. But it’s a balancing act, just like everything else is around here.

So, on our end, it will be the same thing along with our constant input with Student Affairs and [the Department of] Public Safety, not necessarily that we’d be able to initiate policy changes, but they always ask for our input on things.