Anna Hummel

Photo illustration

Pockets of Loyola’s campus are aglow with a faint blue light. These lights are supposed to be beacons of safety, but they are largely dubbed to be ‘out of order’.

The blue lights, or call boxes, are attached to a speaker and microphone that directly connect to Loyola University Police Department’s office. The intended purpose of these lights was to provide an immediate contact with Loyola’s police should a student or staff member feel or be unsafe on campus.

“When we tested them at the beginning of the school year, several did not work or did not work properly.” Said Director of University Police and Emergency Management Todd Warren.

The call boxes throughout campus are old and outdated technology, and due to their subjectivity to weather, many of the speakers have rotted, the phone lines have corroded, and electronic boards have degraded, according to Warren.

“I feel like it’s a little concerning and saddening that they’re not working,” said Rowan Sawyer, Student Government Association’s speaker of the house.

Because of her concern with so many lights being labeled ‘out of order’, Sawyer has been working with LUPD since last year to identify the issues related to the blue lights. Additionally, she said that no blue lights work on Broadway campus.

Their work began when Sawyer identified an issue with LUPDs organization of the call boxes. According to Sawyer, the LUPD had a list of call box numbers, but with little way of knowing where the call box was actually located if a call came in.

For example, a call could come in from a box that was located on the first floor of the Law Library, but the box could be anywhere on the floor. This made police response time lower.

Sawyer proceeded to make a map of each box’s precise location with its number. Due to the number of blue lights throughout both main and Broadway campuses, Sawyer described her experience as difficult. But the map proved to be helpful and accurate to Loyola’s police.

Many students on campus don’t know where to locate the call boxes or how to properly operate them, if an emergency arose, said Sawyer.

Sawyer said she and other SGA members are continuing to work closely with LUPD to ensure usability and effectiveness of the call boxes throughout campus, as well as increase students’ knowledge on how to locate and operate them.

Currently, the map of the call box locations is given out through admissions and is available in the SGA hub and on the Dana Center TVs, however “SGA is planning on updating the map once [they] get more information,” said Sawyer.

LUPD has a plan set in place to upgrade Loyola’s blue lights, however no comment was provided on when to expect them.

For now, Warren suggests that students put LUPDs number – (504)865-3434 – in their phone to ensure easy and quick access to contacting the police if an unsafe situation or an emergency arises.