Marist Security Adjusts to New COVID-19 Roles
Just three weeks into the fall semester, parties and social distancing violations resulted in suspensions and even temporary lockdowns of dorms like Champagnat Hall. To prevent contamination and a return to all-virtual classes, Marist enlisted multiple departments to ensure the safety of students and faculty.
Source: Cole Armstrong ‘22
John Blaisdell, director of the Office of Safety and Security, explained how his department works alongside others to keep the campus safe.
“What’s important to understand is that Security is a piece of a much larger puzzle that every department, from the Physical Plant to Health Services to Student Affairs is involved in,” Blaisdell said. “We’ve done everything from the 2000 plus signs you see on campus and the wayfinding paths to minimize bidirectional traffic in certain places on campus to a transportation system that not only exists between the main campus and Conklin Hall but also to and from the hospital for testing. We’ve also increased our hiring of EMTs to address ill students in an appropriate way.”
Along with physical alterations to the campus to promote social distancing, enacting shuttles for necessary transit and the hiring of professional health staff, Blaisdell and his team have also provided free personal protection equipment (PPE) to students ranging from masks and gloves to face shields and gowns.
“For two weeks we distributed to everyone who wanted it on campus,” Blaisdell said. “Now, all we ask is that they email ppe.requests@marist.edu and tell us what they need and we will get it taken care of for them.”
Blaisdell is also working to enact a phone hotline to better handle the numerous complaints they are receiving regarding students not wearing masks or social distancing. The phone number is expected to be released soon.
“You go through it, make a selection of on- or off-campus complaint, faculty or staff complaint, put your information into there, and it will be parted out to the appropriate people, be it human resources, student conduct or safety,” Blaisdell said.
As for the incidents, such as the quarantining of freshmen dorms and the occurrence of off-campus parties, Blaisdell assures that necessary action is carried out in order to protect the entirety of the community.
“We want to be good neighbors. It’s not about catching students doing bad things, it’s about shutting it down before it becomes a problem for other people.”
“When the police are dispatched to a location and they believe it could be a Marist-related party, we ask that they call us so we can go up there as well and address it because it is a violation of our student COVID-19 code of conduct,” Blaisdell said. “We want to be good neighbors. It’s not about catching students doing bad things, it’s about shutting it down before it becomes a problem for other people. To date, the things that have happened off-campus have been dealt with as a result of neighbors complaining because they are well aware of the expectations we have of our students.”
With the freshmen quarantines, the majority of students were alerted of the situation via an email from Deborah DiCaprio, vice president of Student Affairs.
“When we were told that Champagnat and Leo were going into quarantine, we placed an officer at the desk to keep additional people from going in while reminding them that the college is quarantining the floor,” Blaisdell said. “We weren’t imprisoning people, we weren’t detaining people. If in fact a student wanted or had to leave, or if a parent wanted to pick them up they certainly could do that but they could not come back until the quarantine period had been completed.”
These quarantines were lifted in less than 24 hours, but if another outbreak occurs, Blaisdell and his team will work to protect both the community and those infected. After an infected person has been properly identified along with anyone who came into contact with them, Health Services gives the information to security to execute the necessary measures.
“We will pick up students, we will make sure they have what they need, and we will drive them to quarantine,” Blaisdell said. “When somebody says, ‘Hey, I’ve tested positive and spent time with my boyfriend or girlfriend,’ we’ll help find them. We’ll do whatever it takes to assist in containing the problem as quickly as we can so it doesn’t get out of control.”
COVID-19 is the primary concern for the Office of Safety and Security, but another developing issue is the strain that the pandemic has put on student’s mental health.
“Students in isolation have different needs,” Blaisdell said. “Whether it’s people coming in from hot spot states or coming into close contact with a positive case or whether we’re shutting down a dorm, that wears on our students and we completely understand that. We work closely with the counseling center to ensure that students have the mental health support they need.”
Even though the Office of Safety and Security is equipped with the necessary resources, the bulk of incidents on campus have been discovered and handled thanks to the help of students rather than officers writing people up.
“The way we’re dealing with this initially is with an educational approach,” Blaisdell said. “We’re hoping that the community effort, what you see when you walk on campus right with 99.9% of every student you see wearing a mask and social distancing, for the most part, is working.”