While news of consecutive murders and other violent crime in the city has dropped off in the past few days and weeks, Loyola continues to examine ways to keep students and the surrounding neighborhoods safe, university officials said last week.

Following the beginning of the spring semester that saw eight murders in the first week of the new year, the Rev. Kevin Wildes, S.J., university president, appointed a committee to review what Loyola is doing in regard to improving on- and off-campus safety.

“That committee … continues to review our current safety initiatives, advise me and investigate ideas for new initiatives,” Wildes wrote March 16 in a bi-weekly e-mail update to faculty and staff.

Working in conjunction with the New Orleans Police Department, the committee, headed by Paul Fleming, vice president for administration and director of Physical Plant, and Robert Reed, director of Residential Life, presented to Wildes a list of what it has accomplished so far.

Since January, the committee and NOPD completed a lighting survey of both campuses and drafted a letter to the City Council requesting the repair of several broken street lights in the 70115 and 70118 zip codes, where an estimated 1,300 Loyola students live.

While the Office of Co-Curricular Education is sending a monthly publication with crime prevention tips and information about campus services to those students living in the two zip codes.

Committee members are also investigating the possibility of expanding the cab ride program to include students who live off-campus.

The university is also doing a cost comparison study with “several” private security services to perform area patrols versus NOPD officers.