The Associated Students of California Lutheran University Government’s Senate is teaming up with Campus Safety to potentially purchase the “Rave Guardian Campus Safety App” to be available for use for students, staff and faculty at Cal Lutheran.

Samantha DiMaggio, a first-year senate representative began working with the Director of Campus Safety Fred Miller, to search for an emergency service readily accessible to students at Cal Lutheran in the fall of 2014.

Originally DiMaggio was looking into installing another “Code Blue Telephone”, a telephone on campus to add to the four stand-alone phones already located in various locations throughout Cal Lutheran.

“Code Blue Telephones” are to be used in emergency situations that dial directly to Campus Safety and flash a bright blue light when a student pushes the emergency button.

However the estimated cost of $12,000 for a new stand-alone telephone made Miller and DiMaggio look into cheaper options.

This semester Miller and DiMaggio introduced the idea of a campus safety app for smart phones to the ASCLUG senate board because an emergency service app would be more accessible and less expensive.

“The stand-alone phones dial directly to campus safety. The fixed phone is great for when somebody has slipped and fell, but when it comes to personal safety where you are the potential victim, your best to use your cell phone if you can,” Miller said.

DiMaggio said she thinks it would be a great idea for the ASCLUG senate board to vote on a campus safety app that would be beneficial to the students of Cal Lutheran.

“I just think it is more accessible and easier because so many kids have smart phones now and everyone has their phone on them rather than trying to go out and look for a call box around the school.” DiMaggio said.

DiMaggio said the initial starting fee of the app is estimated to cost $7,000.

Miller said the application has several interactive features. One is a panic button with a GPS location and personal profile information that would directly connect the user with campus safety.

“Rave Guardian Campus Safety App” would also include anonymous tip texting for crime reporting.

ASCLUG senate director Ryan Fleming said the app would give the university the option to publicize many services that campus safety offers that students should take advantage of.

“I think it will be beneficial for offering things that students don’t know about, and is not as well publicized. For example they will come pick you up if you’re on one side of campus and you feel uncomfortable walking back,” Fleming said.

Fleming said that Nick Wells, the sales representative for Rave Mobile Safety, will be doing a demonstration at an upcoming senate meeting to inform the board more about Rave Guardian Campus Safety App’s functions and capabilities.

“We definitely want more information to know that we are properly spending student fees and not just spending it on something that won’t be utilized or fitting the needs of students,” Fleming said.

Freshman Cynthia Castillo said if the app were made available she would definitely utilize the features if necessary.

“I would download it, especially since the app makes help readily available.  A lot of people have phones. We might as well use them in a constructive way,” Castillo said.

DiMaggio said students would download the app because it would be a safety net no matter where they were located on campus because they seldom ever part from their cellular device.

“The fact is students are using their cell phones. So rather than making the students go to a place to call, why not bring an application to the students that they can carry with them?” Miller said. “ It makes a lot more sense to bring it to the students.”

The next step in the process of potentially bringing the Rave Guardian Campus Safety App to the students of Cal Lutheran is for the ASCLUG senate to decide if this is a project they would like to move forward with. If senate agrees to support the project DiMaggio will propose a bill to purchase the emergency service app for Cal Lutheran’s campus.

Brooke Straeter
Staff Writer
Published March 11, 2015