Jessica Schurz | Lariat Photographer
By Rachel Leland
Staff Writer
Student Senate unanimously approved a bill to increase the number of security cameras on Baylor’s campus on Thursday.
The bill was introduced by McKinney freshman Senator Jessica Porter at last week’s senate meeting.
Currently there are approximately 600 cameras on Baylor’s campus.
Porter won a senate seat her first semester and has already introduced her first bill called “Security Cameras.”
“This was something I was really passionate about and one of the things I came into student government and wanted to get done,” Porter said.
Porter, who lives close to Eighth Street, said she noticed there weren’t any surveillance cameras in the parking lots near there.
“I started thinking I see a lot of girls in sororities who are going to the Stacey Riddle Forum, and I was like ‘That’s not safe!’” Porter said. “I think as college students we can be sometimes a little naive and we are not thinking about our safety all the time.”
Students in sororities are also concerned for their safety when walking to the Stacey Riddle Forum at night.
“It’s definitely a place we are encouraged to study at and it’s unsettling to walk there at night and I’m glad it’s being addressed,” said Dallas freshmen Alison Gage, who is member of Alpha Chi Omega.
Some of the buildings don’t have surveillance that is up-to-date, Porter said.
“I think campus safety is an important issue, especially to young women here. We have to watch out for each other and as Baylor students, we have to have each other’s back,” Porter said.
Faculty and members of staff will also benefit from more security cameras, especially staff, who often work late at night.
“Some of the members of staff who clean the residence halls, they get off pretty late and I see them waiting for their ride and someone could do something to them, too,” Porter said. “Once you’re here you have to think about other people and not just yourself and kind of be selfless in that way.”
Porter met twice with Vice President of Campus Safety and Security Mark Childers to discuss increasing the number of security cameras on campus.
Childers indicated that Baylor wanted to increase the security on Baylor’s campus by doubling the number of security cameras to 1,200, Porter said.
While Childers couldn’t give Porter a definitive date for when the project would be completed, Porter hopes the cameras will be installed within two years.
